THE UST Growling Tigers will have to wait for UAAP Season 78 for a shot at redemption after being snubbed in the Luzon-Metro Manila leg of the 2014 Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) slated on Nov. 7 to 10 in Tanauan, Batangas.
For the first time since 2010, UST will miss the annual national men’s basketball championships after organizers changed the format for inviting participants.
In the past, the PCCL invited the top six schools from the men’s basketball tournaments of UAAP and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) with the fifth and sixth teams serving as wildcards. UST was supposed to join after finishing sixth in UAAP Season 77 until the format was changed, allowing only the Final Four teams to compete.
Last year, the fifth and sixth seeds from UAAP and NCAA, together with champions from other leagues except from Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI), NCAA and UAAP, were seeded to the nearest zonal tournaments before qualifying for the regional tournaments.
Instead of zonal tournaments, this year’s tournament will pit the third and fourth seeds from UAAP and NCAA against the champions from regional tournaments (North Central Luzon, South Luzon-Bicol and Metro Manila), for the Luzon-Metro Manila crown and a berth in the Elite Eight.
The champion in the Visayas-Mindanao qualifying games and the champion and runner-up in the CESAFI championships will join the Elite Eight as well, including the champions and runners-up from the UAAP and NCAA.
The Elite Eight will then battle it out to make the Premier Four for the coveted PCCL Cup.
In 2012, the Growling Tigers avenged their UAAP loss to the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles to win their first and only national title before losing to Far Eastern University in the Metro Manila finals last year.
Coach Bong de la Cruz played down the Tigers’ failure to join the PCCL this year, noting that they would compete in the Fr. Martin’s Cup later this month.
“We will still join other leagues, so [our non-participation in PCCL] would not affect the team that much. The coaching staff wants the team to join as many leagues as possible for exposure,” he said.
