Gameface.ph

[easter]

The PCCL is anti-climactic. People have now been fatigued by college basketball by the time the PCCL comes around.

[urzafailure]

Okay, whose idea was it to have the Finals played out on back to back days? 

[kerouac82]

The PCCL is anti-climactic. People have now been fatigued by college basketball by the time the PCCL comes around.

One factor could be the long lag time between the end of the "mother" leagues and the start of the PCCL. Last year, it took around a month before the PCCL started, and this was following climactic finals series in the major leagues (UAAP, NCAA, CESAFI). This year, the UAAP finals ended on the first week of October, the NCAA finals ended a couple of weeks after, yet the PCCL started on the last week of November. By that time, the excitement would have tapered off.

Contributing to this is the lack of synchronization among the leagues' operating schedules. I don't know if there is due to the lack of suitable playing venues capable of hosting large crowds during opening ceremonies, but I don't see any Philippine equivalent to the US NCAA's opening weekend or even the formal start of scrimmaging (aka Midnight Madness). This reflects how fragmented our collegiate basketball landscape is.

While I have no qualms about the seedings this year, I believe it is also high time that 1) schools start playing out-of-league games and have them counted in their standings; and 2) that these standings actually start reflecting on their seedings in the PCCL. For all its faults, the RPI system used in the US NCAA has been more or less a good indicator of a team's performance and strength of schedule. A non-power conference school can boost its standing by winning consistently over power-conference schools and might actually start getting classified among the power schools regardless of conference, such as what the likes of Gonzaga, Butler, and more recently, WKU has done.

Imagine a school such as Central Luzon State University playing and getting upsets over Letran, USC, and Adamson, all parading their strongest regular-season lineups, then going on to win the SCUAA Central Luzon crown, giving them a seat to the Round of 32. This will not only boost their RPI, but will also expose the school to a nationwide audience. This system rewards schools who have enough cojones to schedule the toughest competition available.

Of course, this will not happen next year, nor not even in the next five years. But this is an ideal scenario. We have yet to factor in the cost of travel, notwithstanding the availability of cheap domestic flights at present, and crowd attendance at games (especially for those schools who do not have venue capable of hosting crowds of three thousand people up). But I do believe that this, plus close synchronization among the leagues' timetables, might just do the trick.

[yokiisthename]

Hi. I'm new to the site so hi to everyone.

Ngayon ko lang narinig itong National Tournament thing and i gotta say im glad na meron nang ganitong palaro sa Pilipinas. Im a huge College Basketball fan nung nasa 'pinas pa ako at ngayon dito din sa US. And since naka pattern ang tournament sa March Madness. I got a few suggestions to make this tournament better. Mas masaya talaga manood ng college basketball! Dalawang bagay.

1. MAKE THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MORE PRESTIGIOUS.
 
     Dapat mas importante sa UAAP or NCAA championship ang National Champinoship. Nakakapanood pa naman ako ng UAAP and NC dito through TFC and sa nakikita ko eh parang mas "uhaw" sa UAAP champioship ang UAAP schools kesa sa NAtional Championship. Same thing with NCAA. Kung yung Nationals eh mas mataas na recogniton kesa sa both league championships. It will attract more schools competing for it. Parang dito, ACC championship doesnt mean anything if you didnt win the Nationals. So paano magiging mas prestigious ang PCCL...? here are my suggestions.

- Cash prize. Bigyan ng malaking cash prize ang winning school, tignan ko lang kung hindi sila mag pursige.
- More media attention for the National Champions. Para marecognize sila na THE BEST IN THE COUNTRY. Sa print man or radio and TV. Getting them more media attention and exposure will make them hungry for the Nationals. Lalo na sa mga player na gustong maging Pro, for them exposure will be better.
- Intangbles kagaya dito, like ma aalow sila (national champions) na magkaron ng extra scholarship, can recruit earlier, choose their own schedule of games and other incentives na makakatulong sa kanila next season whichever league they are playing at.

2. PUT MORE SCHOOLS.

     Imbitihan nila na sumali sa league yung mga schools sa mga provincial areas, hindi lang sa NCR and greater manila area. Mga schools sa regions I, II, III, sa Bicol region. Sa Visayas and Mindanao din hind yung U of Visayas and U of Davao lang ang nakakasali. mas makaka attract ng viewers. Syempre knowing that your local school will play in national level, on NATIONAL TV diba, manonood ka.
     Now my suggestion would be, sa mga ligang nilalaruan ng mga "small schools" as I will call it (i mean no disrespect sa mga schools na ito, just making up a term). Say, may conference or league sa reagion I, for example there is a "West Region I conference". Imbitahan nila, top 2 teams of the conference (or the champion nang liga nila) will be invited to the tournament. Same goes sa mga ibang regions.
    Now i know naparaming college leagues sa Pilipinas. So to control this, the PCCL should limit the tournament to a number of schools. Kunwari 32 teams ang mag-cocompete. So aside from the other leagues na kasali, they would get schools from other leagues to fill in the 32 team bracket. To do this, they should put a registration fee for the leagues who wants to join the big dance. And on a first come first serve basis with contract. It's like this...

     So meron nang 16 teams na nakukuha presently diba. If 8 leagues from different regions want to join. That would be 8 more teams in the dance. They pay a registration fee (should not be too big nor too small, yung tama lang. Remember, National Spotlight ang binabayaran dito so dapat lang na may registration fee of some sort.) Tapos get 8 more teams from the leagues na kasali na. If 9 leagues want to join in and register, then get 7 more teams from the other leagues. You get the point.

    But the most important part of adding other schools is once again National Spotlight. Mas makakahakot ng local viewers. Plus it gives these players from other regions na di nagkaron ng chance na makapaglaro sa greater manila area to be exposed and prove their skills. And it will get people excited. Why? The CINDERELLA story comes in to play. Imagine if a school like St. Enoch of Sorrow enter the tournament and all of a sudden beats UAAP/NCAA powerhouses. Wouldnt that be GOOD TV? Everyone wants to see upsets and underdogs fighting for respect and prestige. That's what makes March Madness ng America special and is one the most watched sports spectacle sa US. The fact na come tournament time, no matter how good your team is in your respective league, somebody from somewhere can kill your season. It will get people excited, in tears, in joy you name it. The fact that it's literally ANYBODY'S GAME would make a basketball fan watch this. And will make teams more focused lalo na yung mga powerhouse teams like La Salle, Ateneo, Letran, San Sebastian and others. Syempre pag natalo sila mapapahiya sila eh so it will make them more focused on the tournament. And that is fun basketball (at least for me it is).

    And that will attract viewers nationwide. Which brings more sponsorships and more money for the league to operate in its full extent, and making the league the most prestigious championship to be sought after.

    Sana nga matulad sa American NCAA ang PCCL. Bilang isang malakign fan ng college basketball sana mas maging maganda ang mga palaro. Iba kasi talaga pag college compare sa Pro's. Mas intense ng maraming beses ang mga laro. Tapos yung "college feel of the game" pa, yung student section, yung fans, bawat tili, bawat sigaw, bawat sisi sa referee, napaka sayang manood. Sana nga maging mas maganda ang PCCL. Iba pa din kasi kapag NATIONAL CHAMPION ka, the best sa buong Pilipinas.

[kerouac82]

May U of Davao pala?

Seriously, though, a lot of schools are getting invited. Obviously, you haven't read the threads regarding the zonal championships. However, they can't even make it past the zonals. It would be good to have a school like Calayan Foundation make it to the Final Four, but fat chance that would happen if the schools themselves do not invest that much in their athletics departments.

And everything that you've suggested has been in place for years now. As far as I know, may malaking cash prize and incentives ang mga nananalo. The extra scholarships thing is moot and academic since there is no limit to the number of scholarships that schools can offer. There is no recruiting period to speak of, since the whole year is an open recruiting season. And as for the scheduling of games, mangyayari lang yun if schools decide to play out-of-league, which does not happen outside of the PCCL and the occasional exhibition game between Ateneo, SBC, Cebu schools, and what-have-you.

[danny]

Over and over and over and over....

Unless we have one unified national collegiate league comparable in structure, form and authority to the US NCAA, any attempt to parrot the US counterpart will never succeed.

The greatest barrier, the self- professed regionalism and tribalism of the Pinoy Psyche compounded by the pseudo-elitism of Manila-centric leagues.

Paulit ulit lang tayo dito. Ano ba kayo?

[riou]

If only nasunod lang sana ung eninvision ng mga NCAA founding members na maging truly "NATIONAL COLLEGIATE" athletics association ang NCAA, hindi tau sana ganito ang setup ng College Sports ng bansa.. para taung tribo tribo dito walang unity, dahil kanya kanyang agenda walang common goal for national interest. Tulad ngayon, UAAP at NCAA hindi mo puwedeng mapagisa, una bakit makikipagisa si UAAP e ano mapapala niya, si NCAA sisikat ulit at mapapantayan si UAAP pag ganon..

Sana lang the next 50years my malaking pagbabago naman sana ang college basketball bago man lang sana taung mga current generation makita tong pagbabago na ito. 

[maroonmartian]

One possible suggestions din for PCCL is maybe to held the Finals game outside of Metro Manila just like what the US NCAA is doing.