Officials of the Cesafi together with representatives of different basketball teams gather during a press launching for the upcoming season.
(CDN PHOTO/ CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
The Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) basketball tournament is expected to be a “battle to the end” as its 17th season unfurls next Saturday, Aug. 5, at the Cebu Coliseum.
The brand new season was launched yesterday in a press conference at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel. Present were league commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy Jr., league president Fr. Dionisio Miranda, SVD, Viva’s Verb del Rosario, Sun’s Bryan O’Hara and Smart officials, Nancy Nacua and Lalain Husain.
Tiukinhoy predicted that the teams that will be parading foreign players — the reigning champions University of the Visayas (UV), the University of Cebu (UC) and the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) — would be shoo-ins for the Final Four.
The other teams are the University of San Carlos (USC), Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma, the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) and the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U).
“You’ve seen the line ups. You’ve read about the tournaments the teams have been playing in. It will be a battle to the end,” claimed Tiukinhoy.
In spite of the commissioner’s endorsement, UV head coach Gary Cortes refused to sit on their laurels and said that once tip-off commences of the 17th season, they no longer will consider themselves as the champions.
“We have a few more days to enjoy being champions. Come the Cesafi, we won’t be champions anymore. It will be back to zero,” shared Cortes.
USPF head coach Albert Alocillo welcomed the commissioner’s prediction but added that his wards are still developing in both skills and personality.
Yayoy faces former team
The new season opens with an explosive collegiate match-up between UC and SWU-Phinma. Curiously, UC head coach Yayoy Alcoseba will be pitted against the team he led to two championships in five seasons.
“When the schedule came out, I was surprised to find out that we had to face my former team. But this isn’t the PBA, there aren’t any sister teams. So this will be interesting. SWU is already a powerhouse team while UC, how many years have we missed out on the Final Four?” said the charismatic head coach.
The Cesafi is implementing several changes to the tournament format, the biggest of which was the amendment of the semifinal format to become a crossover one, with the top two owning a twice-to-beat advantage.
The collegiate finals has also become a best-of-three affair, a departure from the best-of-five in recent years.
A team that manages to sweep the elimination round will head straight to the finals, relegating the other three teams in the semis to play a stepladder.