Barako assures PBA participation; SLR's fate uncertain

(From GMA News)

What's the future in store for Barako Energy Coffee and Sta. Lucia Realty?

The Photokina franchise said that it will continue participating in the Philippine Basketball Association's (PBA) 36th season while Sta. Lucia's fate remains uncertain.

Newly-installed PBA chairman Rene Pardo of B-Meg Derby Ace told GMANews.TV in a telephone interview that Barako management assured the board that it would field a team when the first conference opens later this year.

"I was informed that they will continue participating in the PBA," said Pardo. "But I told them that it will need board approval as well and we want to make sure how long can they commit."

Barako Coffee coach Junel Baculi also assured of the team’s participation next season.

"I was given directives by the management headed by boss George Chua. He told me what direction we would like to take next season and that we want to form up a more competitive team," said Baculi, who is also National University's athletic director.

Whether the board will approve or not Barako's continuous participation remains to be seen, but the PBA’s main thrust in the coming season is to generate better gate receipts and a much-improved marketing program.

"People would want to see games played at a more competitive level and they want to see competitive teams. If we have competing teams with inferior line up and not winning games, it will definitely hurt the league's attendance," added Pardo.

Barako Coffee is one team affected by the economic pinch. The team has had financial difficulties, trading their marquee players and some members of the squad reportedly encountered delays in the payment of their salaries.

Before the start of the Fiesta Cup, Barako Coffee entered a co-branding agreement with Harbour Centre, but the two companies reportedly had a "falling out", according to a source privy of the matter.

"As far as I know, Harbour and Barako had to cut short their initial agreement because of misunderstanding," said the source, who requested anonymity.

Harbour Centre team manager Erick Arejola said that the two companies had an agreement regarding the co-branding, but not the sale of the franchise.

"We came as a sponsor," said Arejola. "It was offered to us, and we agreed. It's for the Fiesta Cup only. But we've never discussed the sale of the franchise. So far, our main objective now is the coming Asean Basketball League."

As for Sta. Lucia, its participation remains up in the air and a PBA insider said that the team has sent notice of its intent of "taking a leave or non-participation starting next season."

"Of course, the next step there is probably the announcement of sale of its franchise to another company," said the source.

Asked for comments regarding the matter, Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez was advised by team manager Buddy Encarnado to "wait for the team meeting."

"So far, we're still on vacation and we're waiting for the meeting with boss Buddy," said Fernandez.

GMANews.TV tried to get Encarnado's side but calls were not answered.

Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has expressed its desire of returning to the PBA, but whether it will take over Sta. Lucia's franchise or come in as an expansion squad hasn't been made official yet.

Great Expectations

(From Inbound Pass)

AT THE start of each UAAP Men’s Basketball season, hopes are high for all teams. Even the perennial bottom-of-the-standing teams envision the season as a new chance to crack the Final Four. Especially for the coaches, anything can happen and, with the right amount of effort and luck, winning is within reach. But, the success of each team in a given season rests largely on what is expected of them at the beginning – Will they perform according to expectations? Will they fail to meet expectations? Will they exceed expectations? These are the questions that lead to more questions within the season and may even run into the next.

As a season progresses, things change for many teams. Some that are expected to be “championship contenders” fall to lowly teams and, in an instant, lose grip on any championship hopes (Ateneo remembers “the NU game” from 2007). An injury befalls an important player, and an entire team’s chemistry is damaged beyond repair. And, as De La Salle discovered last season, a team cannot rely on reputation alone and expect to be effective as usual.

Season 73 opened over the past weekend and we eagerly watched the games with much curiosity and interest, to try and gauge the potency of all eight teams. Looking at the opening weekend matchups, we made bold predictions inside our college-basketball-savvy heads and, based on our assessments of team rosters, previous matchups between teams and personal preferences, expected certain teams to win over others. How did the opening weekend go, and how much did it live up to our expectations? Let us take a brief look at each matchup, and assess.

In the offseason, the long-starving Maroon Nation was abuzz with Final Four aspirations and high hopes unseen in so long. UP finally had seasoned veterans to go with young sparkplugs, and the additions of scorers Saret and Silungan had fans giddy with excitement. La Salle, many think, is not Final Four material this season. UP should win, right? Once again, State U fans were left crying, wondering what went wrong…AGAIN. Fans wondered aloud why UP did not field certain players long enough for them to make an impact (Mikee Reyes?), why Magi Sison is on the National Team, why the team’s new guys can’t be saviors like that big new guy in 1986, and why UP had to be so, well, like UP has been for a long time. UP played so out of sync, that Simon Atkins, who has not been a factor in his entire UAAP career, looked like a superstar. On Day 1, UP miserably fell below its fans’ expectations, while La Salle, without a doubt, exceeded theirs. To top it all, UP was supposed to have a new team name this season, in lieu of “Fighting Maroons” – a university-wide contest was even held to suggest the new name, but the announcement of the winning moniker was deferred. After the game, a UP diehard commented, “tanggalin nalang ang ‘Fighting’, kasi hindi naman pumalag.” Tsk tsk…

Now, East and Santo Tomas historically give us good, action-packed games, but not in the second half last Saturday. UST totally dominated the second half and, much to the surprise of everyone, except maybe the Tiger faithful, blanked Paul Lee and the Warriors to score a convincing victory. Jeric Teng was phenomenal on both ends. UST went way above expectations, especially since some rank them in dead last for the season. The Warriors will recover, and we know Lee & Co. will perform better next time, but the opening weekend performance of UE was a little below expectations.

Adamson and NU play hard whenever they face each other. They seem to consider themselves peers in the UAAP – underachieving teams that are usually fighting to stay out of the cellar, and a win against the other can be the win that keeps them out of it. And battle they did. But many look at Adamson now, with their veteran lineup composed of athletic players with high energy, as a sure Final Four team; thus, the Falcons were expected to handily beat the Bulldogs. Even though expectations for NU have risen considerably since billionaire Henry Sy backed up the team two years ago, the truth of the matter is, it is almost impossible, to make a 180 degree turnaround, or anything close to it, in such a short amount of time. A new owner and a new coach do not make an immediate winner. NU was more of the same – turnovers galore and an opening weekend loss, which will surely not be its last. Adamson, on the other hand, was right on target in beating NU, but failed to live up to its early Final Four ranking. In this game, NU was well within expectations, while Adamson was a notch below. It is interesting to see how Adamson deals with its Final Four projection, a ranking it is not used to.

Finally, it was Ateneo versus FEU. This was the game everyone was talking about as “the game” for opening weekend. Both teams delivered. Being the defending back-to-back champs, Ateneo has the proverbial bull’s-eye on its back, and the Tamaraws took aim, and hit! The game had more of a “Game 3 of a championship series” feel than an opening weekend, first-game-for-each-team tussle. The Eagles understand that many believe this is the Tamaraws’ year, and, even without three main men from last year, fought tooth and nail until the very end. The game could have gone either way. However, RR Garcia just announced that he is the best quarterback this season and the rest of the league has to respect FEU as a favorite – a complete team inside and out. For the Eagles, Salamat was a bit of a disappointment, being that he is looked at as their leader for this year. But Salva, Buenafe, and even Kirk Long, seem to be as capable of leading their team, if need be. At the end of the day, Ateneo is still champ, until FEU can wrest the title away. Surely, all expectations were met in this game. How we wish all games can be as intense and entertaining!

Expectations…which will be met? So much already happened, so much showcased for the basketball-crazy UAAP fans. And that was just opening weekend. We look forward to the rest of it. Season 73 is now open!