Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Top teams in Liga Pilipinas pre-season games
THE much-awaited Liga Pilipinas will hold a pre-season tournament featuring top teams from the respective division tentatively on May 19 at the Cebu Coliseum.
M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala Jewelers head coach Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba, who is also part of the organizing committee, told reporters that this will cater to the start of the bigger and much improved “regionalized nationwide” basketball tournament.
“We are looking into May 19 to start our pre-season tournament we will have six teams playing,” Alcoseba said.
The Liga Pilipinas, an amateur nationwide basketball tournament, and a brainchild of the former PBA commissioner Noli Eala, has united the formerly competing Mindanao-Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) and the National Basketball Conference.
There will be at least four teams in each division—the Luzon, NCR, Visayas and Mindanao—playing for the national glory.
According to Alcoseba each division will play a tournament among themselves to determine the top two teams, which will now play in the home-and-away format.
“This is a cheaper way, we will have a Cebu League, Mindanao League etc and top teams will advance to the home-and-away tournament for the national title,” Alcoseba stressed.
The Liga Pilipinas is scheduled to open its first season on the last week of May. (RCM)
