Hoop Wars Kick Off 88th NCAA Tilt

In a week’s time, the historic National Collegiate Athletic Association will open its doors for its 88th season.

Dubbed as “Celebramos 88! Conquistar po tu honor nuevas glorias! (Celebrating 88! Conquering new glories)” by season hosts Colegio de San Juan de Letran, the year-round tournament in multiple athletic disciplines will kick off with the opening ceremonies and men’s basketball tilt at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City.

In this new season, the league also forged a partnership with a new TV coveror — AKTV on IBC 13 — to telecast its games in major sports including basketball, volleyball, and the highly-anticipated cheerleading competition.

One major step made by the league and its TV coveror for this season has been to move the start time of the games from mid-afternoon to primetime, starting at 4:00pm to 8:00pm.

Following a grand opening ceremonies, hosts Letran tackles San Sebastian College at 4 p.m. and followed soon after by the Jose Rizal University vs Mapua Institute of Technology match at 6 p.m. (note: no scheduled game for SBC on June 23)

Defending seniors overall and basketball champions maintain to be odds-on favorites to retain their title under newly-installed head coach Ronnie Magsanoc, despite losing key players such as Garvo Lanete, Sudan Daniel, and the unexpected pre-season departure by Fil-am recruit Julius Armon from their lineup.

Following an off-season of brouhahas that included a highly-controversial move to Ateneo de Manila University, twins Anthony and David Semerad will make their return to the Lion’s Den. The sweet-shooting Anthony was key in the Red Lions’ sweep of San Sebastian College in the championship.

Other contenders include SBC’s perennial finals foes San Sebastian, who will field in mercurial forward Calvin Abueva and steady low-post man Ian Sangalang in their lineup. Ronald Pascual, who suffered an ACL injury in their ill-fated campaign in the Champions League last season, is expected to make his return to the lineup despite skipping the pre-season wars.

From a copy of the official schedule obtained by Fullcourtfresh.com recently from an inside source of the NCAA, there are no games scheduled at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City at least for the first round, despite the league signing a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the venue operators last year.

Other key dates in the said version of the schedule include Emilio Aguinaldo College vs Arellano on June 25, Mapua vs Letran (Battle of Intramuros) on July 16, San Beda vs Letran on July 21, San Beda vs Mapua on August 2, and San Beda vs San Sebastian on August 9 to close out the first round of eliminations.

Also noted there is an out-of-town twinbill pitting Letran against EAC, followed by Arellano vs College of Saint Benilde on July 25, with the venue to be determined on a later date.

source:  Diego de la Paz, Fullcourtfresh 

image from: Filoil Flying V Sports