Filoil reshuffles groupings for preseason tourney

MANILA, Philippines – The Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup has arranged some interesting reunions following a reshuffling of its groupings ahead of its tip-off on July 23.

Owing to the Ateneo Blue Eagles missing out on the competition, the traditional build-up to the UAAP and NCAA seasons mixed the bag among the 17 teams participating.

In Group A, UAAP champions UP Fighting Maroons are set to face a former Diliman cager turned College of St. Benilde Blazer Will Gozum.

While in Group B, NCAA MVP Rhenz Abando of the Letran Knights will face off with his former team University of Santo Tomas.
On the other hand, La Salle's Evan Nelle is also penciled in for a collision course with former squad San Beda.

"We granted the requests of our participating teams in having a more diverse bracket for the staging of the Filoil tournament. We're happy to have these 17 schools from the UAAP and NCAA make their preparations in our esteemed competition and we're excited to see them play at their best as we celebrate our 15th staging of the Filoil tournament," said chairman Rey Gamboa.

Joining UP and CSB in Group A are Adamson University, National University, University of the East, Mapua University, University of Perpetual Help, Arellano University and Emilio Aguinaldo College.

Meanwhile, eight teams make up Group B: La Salle, San Beda, Far Eastern University, UST, Letran, San Sebastian College-Recoletos, Lyceum of the Philippines University and Jose Rizal University.

Teams will play a round-robin format, with the top four teams in each group moving on to a crossover knockout playoffs.

The last two teams standing will compete for all the marbles in a one-game championship slated on August 27.