NCAA 85th season to open amid H1N1 outbreak
By TJ Manotoc, ABS-CBN News | 06/24/2009 7:21 PM
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MANILA - The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) on Wednesday launched its 85th season with the theme "Winning Drive @ 85".
The oldest league in Philippine basketball history will have a lot of new faces and new challenges to hurdle this year.
To begin with, the NCAA board decided to fill the void left by Philippine Christian University (PCU) with not just one but three new schools. The PCU is on indefinite leave from the NCAA.
Emilio Aguinaldo University, Arellano University, and Angeles University Foundation will be joining the league this year as guest teams, but will more than likely stay on starting next year as permanent new additions granting they can commit to field teams in at least five sports as per NCAA rules.
The league is embracing this major change with the vision of differentiating itself from other leagues like the UAAP.
The NCAA board felt that moving on by expanding the depth of teams not only adds to the flavor and competition, but also moves them in a different direction with the other major collegiate league.
New coaches
Aside from the new schools, there are also a lot of new faces on the benches of some schools.
There are four new coaches, and three of them are former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) players.
San Sebastion now parades former PBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Ato Agustin as their head coach, St. Benilde promoted last year’s assistant Richard del Rosario to lead the Blazers, and Mapua has tapped former point guard Chito Victolero to man the Cardinals.
Another new coach on the block is Perpetual’s Boris Aldeguer, who hopes to bring his championship experience with the De La Salle Zobel Jrs. over to the NCAA.
But one issue that the NCAA could not move away from is the impact of the influenza A (H1N1) outbreak on public attendance to the games.
League officials said they will still be able to fill up the Araneta Coliseum for Saturday's opening ceremonies.
They assured the public that they are coordinating with the Department of Health and are taking all the necessary steps to keep the games as safe as possible from the spread of any viruses, especially the H1N1 virus.
Fr. Mat de Jesus of San Beda also said that all playing venues will have soap in the restrooms, and that extra medical personnel from the respective schools will be on hand for any assistance.
They have also advised schools not to field players not fit to play. And in the event a player contracts the H1N1 virus, only that player and others showing symptoms will not be allowed to play. But the games will go on since the league sees no reason to cancel or reschedule games.
Game fixing
The NCAA also reiterated its policy of transparency in its efforts at curbing the “invisible enemy” of game fixing.
NCAA Board member Henry Atayde assured that they will continue with their protocols such as confiscating cellphones of players and officials an hour before every game.
This, they said, is to avoid game fixers feeding last minute information if there are any players involved.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will also continue to survey all games and venues to support the league’s efforts.
But the board also requested the NBI not to directly apprehend players who may be suspected of game fixing as they would rather try to resolve matters internally before heeding the help of authorities.
As for the competition per se, San Beda still looms as a favorite, together with season 84th season finalist JRU, and ever reliable Letran.
The league opens its doors this Satruday at the Araneta Coliseum with a triple-header offering, with San Beda playing Mapua at the opener, followed by JRU vs Letran, and Perpetual vs San Sebastian in the third game.
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