Even after its less-than-ideal staging of the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) last year, the tournament that gathers some of the best collegiate basketball teams from all over the country will be back for another run this year.
This was promised by lead organizer Joe Lipa, who said that they are set to meet with officials from the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) to finalize the details of this year’s competition.
Lipa, in a talk with Cebu Daily News, said that the SBP will be the ones to handle the regional qualifying tournaments while they will be handling the national finals.
“We have already submitted our proposals to the SBP, and we will know by next week what their thoughts are on the matter,” said Lipa. “The regional tournament might be held in December, but definitely, the national finals will be staged in January of next year.”
The once-prestigious tournament was widely criticized last year for its decision to cancel the championship game and instead, declare co-champions due to the bad weather caused by then-typhoon Nona. San Beda and Far Eastern University were eventually declared co-champions after they authored wins over Letran and the University of San Carlos, respectively.
The tournament drew so much flak that observers jested that it change its slogan from “There can only be one” to “There can only be two.”