CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu basketball fans will have something to look forward to as the 8th Cesafi-Partner’s Cup unfurls today, May 21, which will feature their favorite collegiate teams, including the 2015 CESAFI champion University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors.
The tournament, which went on a hiatus for two years, will run until June 12 barring any changes in the game schedules and will be held at the New Cebu Coliseum in downtown Cebu City.
According to CESAFI commissioner Felix O. Tiukinhoy, they had to call off the tournament, which serves as a pre-tournament for the regular CESAFI season, in 2014 and 2015 because they were only left with 4 collegiate teams as some of the teams such as the Warriors, Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras and the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars opted to play in Manila during the off-season.
However, in a meeting for this year’s basketball competition, school directors of the members schools suggested to bring back the Partner’s Cup, to which Tiukinhoy gave his nod. But even then, they weren’t sure that the teams would be able to get sponsors especially after the National and Local Elections had just taken place.
Sponsors were very important as the schools themselves had to contend with the changes brought about by the K-12 program.
UC Webmasters team manager Atty Baldomero Estenzo explained that universities will not have incoming college freshmen while some of them also have to contend with the expenses for the Senior High.
However, these fears were allayed with the USC Warriors to be sponsored by Cebu Landmaster, SWU Cobras by PHINMA, University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers by Worthy, USJ-R Jaguars by Mighty Sports, Cebu Institute of Technology University (CIT-U) Wildcats by My Led Opto, University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters by Highlands Corned Beef and the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Panthers by Tyron Properties.
Estenzo explained that when commercial basketball competitions ceased to exist here in Cebu, they decided to bring in the collegiate teams and have them play a pre-CESAFI season tournament with corporate sponsors. The tournament will serve as part of their training, adds to their experience and a good avenue for tryouts.
“We wanted to improve the school teams’ performance but not become a budget burden to the sponsors,” Estenzo said.
The tournament will adhere to the recently agreed and approved CESAFI ground rules, and whatever sanctions incurred will be carried over to the regular season.
There are, however, some exemptions as some schools are still in the process of rebuilding their teams and having tryouts.
According to Tiukinhoy, any team can field in any player in the elimination round, provided they qualify based on the ground rules of eligibility. The tournament will only observe having an official lineup of teams when it enters the final four stage.
For new players, Tiukinhoy assured that teams will not need to present anything pertaining to the academic performance of the player.
Rebuilding process
The title could go to anyone with most teams still in the process of acquiring new players to compensate for those who have graduated or transferred.
Even the USC Warriors have not flashed their winning form since bagging the CESAFI 2015 title, having lost all of their tune-up games.
USC athletic director, Father Adriano Ocariza, said that it is part of the process and that they are currently conducting tryouts.
It was also recently announced that Rommel Rasmo will take over as head coach of the USC Warriors after Britt Reroma and Bong Abad opted to pass up the job. Rasmo is the same coach who helmed the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles to 3 titles in the Cesafi Junior contest.
First runner-up UV Green Lancers, for their part, assured that they will always be ready despite reportedly losing key players Jun Manzo and Leonard Santillan to the UP Maroons in the UAAP.
The SWU Cobras are in the process of bonding their team with 6 holdover players and 9 new players. SWU athletic director Mike Reyes said that they do not have an import yet as they are still waiting for him to arrive.
Just like in the regular season, each team will be allowed to field in just one import player.
The CIT-U Wildcats seem to have a a bigger problem on their hands as the 7 holdover players that they have are all point guards. The USJ-R Jaguars themselves have 7 holdover players and seem to be the only team doing well in tune-up games.
UC and USPF are also in the process of having their tryouts. UC, however, has been seeing action in tune-up games under its new coach, Kenneth Kerrn Sesante, who used to play for the Webmasters in the college years.
The tournament will follow a single round robin format in the eliminations with the top 4 advancing to the next round and playing another single round robin series to determine the finalists. The top 3 and 4 will play a knockout game for the third place honors while the top 1 and 2 will play a game of Best of 3 for the eventual champion.
Upper Box and General Entrance tickets are priced at P20 while Lower Box tickets are priced at P40.
Smart Communications, who partnered with CESAFI during the regular season, is sponsoring the Partner's Cup for the first time..
According to Smart manager for Integrated Marketing and Community Carmencita Nancy Nacua, they are committed to supporting the event because they know that many of the commendable players in the sport comes from Cebu. – Rappler.com