CESAFI 2009

It’s CESAFI season once again as Cebu Basketball eagerly welcomed the biggest basketball show in town at yesterday’s opening ceremonies. And just like all previous editions of the basketball tournament, the biggest question being asked this year is if the UV Lancers can bag a ninth straight CESAFI championship.

The Lancers may find themselves in their most vulnerable state, but they’re still the eight-time defending champions and will have to be toppled down from their thrones. Lurking on the prowl with better chances of defeating UV are UC, SWU, USC and USJ-R (not in any order). They all have better chances of scoring an “upset” as compared to 2008. But then again, the Lancers will come out prepared to defend their turf and aren’t willing to let go of their crown just yet.

The Lancers will still be the team to beat even with the departure of Von Harry Lanete and the injured Harlowe Villanil. MVP Greg Slaughter is back for his third tour of duty and fans are itching to see how much improvement he has made since he joined the Smart Gilas Philippine national training pool of the SBP. We’ll be looking if he can up his 2008 averages of 19.1 points, 9 rebounds, 3.2 blocks a game and 51% field goal shooting. The Lancers, however will not be a mere all-Slaughter show. Their backcourt rotation is solid, and expect break-out seasons from UV’s future leader Harold Cincoflores and Chris Diputado (9.9 ppg, 6.7 apg combined). Ritchum Dennison (11.4 ppg) will still be the same tough offguard and if he can be consistent, Phil Mercader will also contribute better this year.

UC 2009 will feature the blooming of June Mar Fajardo. He was a one-man wrecking crew for UC last year, averaging 20.4 points, 13.2 rebounds and 3.4 blocks a game. He led the league in statistical points during the elimination round last year, and will do it again this year, hoping to add the playoffs and finals stats to this feat. We’re going to see an even better version of Fajardo who must now take the leadership role for the squad. But since a team can’t rely on one man alone, UC’s veterans in new recruit Moncrief Rogado (12 ppg), Kevin Quilantang (11.2 ppg) and Jansenn Abella (14.1 ppg) will be needed to provide the much needed support. A key player missing from this year’s squad is Fil-Am Edward Pao who was good for 13 points and 9 boards a game. There are two new Fil-Ams on the squad, and everyone is curious to see if they can match the impact of Pao-Quilantang Fil-am rookie duo of last year.

SWU finds itself in a curious situation with the absence of Alfred Belande and Clefford Maguate who were good for 28 points a game combined. The challenge is to have people step up to make up for this sudden vacuum. Arrd Dianggo (9.5 ppg, 5.4 apg) will continue with his leadership role at the point guard sport, while the flashy Eliud Poligrates (8.3 ppg) is expected to mature and contribute more productively (and not be a showboating Globetrotter). Eleazar Armecin and Cris Litorja (8.3 ppg) are expected to share the scoring load with the two wily guards. An edge that SWU enjoys over the other top five teams is that they have enough warm bodies to fill up the power forward and center spots, something one needs to match up against UV and UC. Rene Pacquiao and Ritchie Jalandoni may not be called on to score, but they’ll be welcome presence for interior defense.

The scouting report on USC will reveal that they’re actually a complete team from positions 1 to 3 or 4, but also happen to be a doughnut squad. Joven Cid Cortes (10.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg) will have to repeat his role as an undersized “big man” while his veteran wingmen will have to make a big impact to make it a balanced in-out attack. The combined experience of Giovanni Padillo (11.9 ppg), Sam Hermosa (9.9 ppg), June Cantonao (7.6 ppg) and the comebacking Carlo Padayao should make them a tough set of 2-3 players, and this should give defenses spread-out problems. The Paul Joven/Jabe Bautista rotation at point guard (10 apg combined) also gives the Warriors a solid backcourt/wingmen set-up. But the crucial “missing” link that they’ll have to address will be their lack of size and height. Expect USC to rely a lot on team defense to cover the post and gang rebounding to secure the ball.

When you lose the makers of 62 points a game, there’s only one thing to do: start all over again. This is USJ-R’s major task for 2009. The Gudez-Malinao-Ponce-Gabas-Justiniani-Delfino-Pogoy gang was good for a combined 62 points a game, and they simply can’t be replaced just like that. Big man Kurt Amores literally has some big shoes to fill, while the rest of the team must step up. The Jaguars will surely come out pressing all game-long like they did last year and will look for a lot of points in transition. As to who else will cover the 62 point vacuum is a tough question to answer since no other player on the squad has solid crunchtime and game experience. The one distinct factor about the Jaguars is that Coach Itoy Salacut always finds ways to get the best out of his players and make them look good. His teams are always in great shape with his role players stepping up when needed to do so. How much Coach Itoy can squeeze out of his team is what we should be looking out for.

I’m afraid the battle for CESAFI supremacy will be limited to these five teams. In the end, we’ll see a classic UV-UC championship series, with USC playing the role of the darkhorse. One thing is clear. UV is still the eight-time champion, and someone still has to knock them off their seat.

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Time-out: Happy birthday to “Idol” Lito Ondap. >>> You can reach me at blea[email protected].