Cebu Spanking

The University of Visayas edged UAAP champion National University, 77-74, in an Elite Eight game in the Philippine Collegiate Champions League's 2014 National Collegiate Championship in the Queen City of the South over the weekend.

A shocker, right?

Wrong.

It is not an upset.

And I will tell you why.

1. Cebu has long arrived. You're hiding in a cave if you still don't know that they also have strong basketball programs like the ones we have back in Metro Manila. Remember, Southwestern University also beat La Salle, then the UAAP champion, last year before losing in a best-of-three finale in two games.

2. Long before Henry Sy brought millions into NU's non-existent sports program and turned it into one of the most well-funded programs in the constellation, the Lancers have been dominating their own backyard by reigning supreme in the CEAFI for years. Aren't Greg Slaughter and JR Quinahan from UV?

3. You've been out of the loop if you don't know this. Cebu schools have been getting imports too. The same ones like San Beda's Ola Adeogun, NU's Alfred Aroga, University of the East's Charles Mammie, University of Santo Tomas' Karim Abdul and La Salle's Ben Mbala. Oops. Did Mbala come from Cebu too?

4. If you're impressed with Slaughter and Quinahan, wait until you see this behemoth nicknamed "The Kraken." Junmar Fajardo, after all, is from University of Cebu.

5. Go ask Ramon Fernandez, the greatest player to ever play in the PBA, where he played college ball.

Or you want us to stay steady a little more and wait for a Cebu team to top a national event like this before we can all be convinced?

P. S. I'm not even from Cebu.

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Joey Villar is a longtime sportswriter for The Philippine STAR and a guest columnist for Philstar.com. His views do not reflect those of the organizations he writes for.