PCCL Day 2: CSJL vs DLSU & ADMU vs. Lyceum

I finally was able to catch the PCCL games today and it's time for some thoughts on the games:

Letran vs La Salle

> Both teams played with about just 70% of their mother league line-ups. Letran was missing Jazul, Guevarra and Dela Paz, while La Salle didn't have Mangahas, Malabes and Co. (Not that La Salle was actually going to use this guys ever anyway.

> I was hoping that Franz would put the 4 RP Youth Boys (Tolentino, Marata, Banal & Andrada) some decent burn together and probably put them in with Bringas so we could see what DLSU has in store for the future. But it didn't happen...

> Somehow, Franz looked a bit disinterested in coaching what they were hyping to be his "last game." One of the commentators slipped too when he said that Franz would come back after the elections. We all know he's coming back anyway. If he weren't, DLSU would be in some deep trouble because they wouldn't be able to recruit.

> Belencion hits 10 threes. Damn!

> I don't know if anybody noticed but Jameson Cortez seemed to be wearing a different color uniform because his seemed a darker shade of red than everybody else... It's either a different colored uniform or the dude just really sweats a lot!

> New PCCL Champion!


Ateneo vs Lyceum

> I was expecting that Ateneo would actually not play Baclao since he's on duty with the Philippine Patriots, but they didn't have Al-Hussaini instead. For some reason, I was hoping that the Gilas boys would actually be present during games. Hopefully, they had practice or something, and that's why they missed attending the game.

> It was funny how Norman Black was put into a tight spot by Job De Leon. He was revealed to have not prepared at all for Lyceum. I bet he even forgot that they played them in last year's PCCL in the same game.

> As expected, Ateneo dominated the game, and was a bit careless in the latter portions. But again, too much talent for Lyceum to handle.

> Lyceum actually qualified because University of Manila fielded in ineligible players for the Zonals. They should be penalized by SBP just to send a message that they wouldn't be taking anything lightly from any team.

Milo Warrior 3-on-3 Championship

The team over at patayangbutiki brought this tournament to my attention with their blog post linked. This is in connection with the Chris Tiu-Jayvee Casio ads we've been seeing all over tri-media recently. I first got some inclination of this when I played over at the Ateneo College Covered Courts over the weekend, and it seems that there was voting done to pick the teams for each school. Voting is now done, and they're all playing at the Blue Eagle Gym in Ateneo on Dec. 1 @ 1 PM.



The teams are pretty interesting as their's a healthy mix of team B players for some exposure. Also, the imports from Africa are now being revealed to the public with NU and UP parading them in the tournament. The only exception being FEU, which nominated a line-up of Team A players + the UAAP juniors MVP, and will send a Cervantes-Sanga-Garcia combination.

The first thing you'll notice is that Milo has chosen to hold the tournament for UAAP Schools only. Since we all know this is a marketing tool, this might be just a target market deal kicking in. Not to be derogatory, they're probably targeting the A, B and C economic brackets, that's why they chose not to include the NCAA schools. Of course, I could be very wrong and this might just be a matter of convenience or sanctioning by the league.

Second, La Salle is the only UAAP school not participating. Why? We can conjure up a number of reasons why, but I'd rather not (to avoid sounding like a hater). I just think this is an unfortunate event that they didn't chose to participate simply because of the experience and exposure it could have provided to their young players. 3-on-3 is very, very different from a UAAP game, but just familiarizing themselves with possible UAAP opponents (like the FEU boys), could have been a direct benefit from the tournament. Also, what makes this more sad is that Jvee Casio is the co-endorser of the product along with Chris Tiu. The tourney snub from your alma mater would kind of hurt if I were him.

Well, there goes half of Milo's target market...