The DLSU Green Archers are playing well in the 39TH Kadayawan Invitational Basketball Tournament.
The defending UAAP champions almost won against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters and defeated the Converge FiberXers by eight points. Then the Green Archers pulled a squeaker win against the Phoenix Fuel Masters to set up a finals showdown with the Elasto Painters.
So how in the holy hell did they do that?
Simple – they are adults playing against adults.
Also, nothing beats the heart of the champion.
If you check out their Wikipedia page, Kevin Racal is the only 30-something player in Converge. Their top guy, Justin Arana, is only 25 years old and their oldest players after K-Rax are Jeo Ambohot and Keith Zaldivar. Meanwhile, Phoenix has an elder statesman in RJ Jazul. While they also have 30-something guys like RR Garcia, Raul Soyud, and Jason Perkins, most of their players haven’t had moments in the league. The first and last time Jazul has won a PBA title was during the 2013 PBA Commissioner’s Cup. Garcia won his only title in the league when he played for the San Miguel Beermen in the 2016-17 PBA Philippine Cup. Soyud is entering his tenth year in the league and has never won a title and Perkins, arguably their best player, has yet to win a PBA title because he stayed with the Fuel Masters. Kent Salado is the only player to win two championships in the PBA and he did this by riding the Ginebra bench.
The confidence of a PBA player is different from the confidence of a college player. Larry Muyang is not the same player he was in college. Yes, one would say that Perkins had to endure losing his playing time to Ben Mbala in his final year with DLSU, but it did help that his PBA D-League centered around his gameplay.
Kevin Quiambao is already 23 years old with CJ Austria around 23 as well. Michael Phillips is around 22 years old, EJ Gollena is around 21 years old, and Mason Amos just turned 20 years old. These players are enjoying time as champions and in Amos’ case, he just came off a Gilas Pilipinas learning excursion. Kevin Quiambao too, has improved leaps and bounds from his Gilas Pilipinas showing. He is one of those players that doesn’t need to go out of the country just to boost his stock in the PBA Draft.
If you look at the NBA’s last top picks, you’ll know that Anthony Edwards will turn 23 next week, Cade Cunningham will turn 23 in September, Paolo Banchero will turn 22 in November, Victor Wembanyama just turned 20 this year, and Zaccharie Risacher just turned 19 this year.
Instead of tinkering with the league rules like the polarizing four-point shot, the PBA needs to find a way to keep the best Filipino players.
I still find it insane that people are talking about Christian Standhardinger’s age in the Terrafirma trade when most Filipino players were around 25 when they were drafted. C-Stan is NOT your usual PBA player and he is just two years older than Stephen Holt!
Again, up-and-coming PBA players need to come to the league during their prime, and not when they have maxed out their eligibility. If a player gets lost in the system, then he needs a fallback. Damie Cuntapay, Cliff Jopia, and Peter Alfaro are examples of that just because a player has played with the PBA’s best, it does not mean that they are automatically on top of everyone’s draft list. Maybe they can draft a player, and if the player is struggling with their performance, then they can just ship them back to their schools while still holding their rights. It can be a G-League-like situation or a Euroleague one for some players like in the case of Nikola Jokic who was taken by the Denver Nuggets in the 2014 NBA Draft but was able to suit up with the team a year after he was drafted.
In this way, they can protect a player’s future in basketball as well as his education. This way, guys like Andy Gemao, the former Letran superstar junior, can head to the PBA when he’s only 20 so he can have a prolonged career.
Again, using Alfaro as an example, the San Beda Red Lion saw action for TNT Tropang GIGA on the 2023 PBA On Tour. Then he returned to San Beda to complete his eligibility with a championship. He did, however, also lose his starting spot to Jacob Cortez and the team captain became a dude that comes off the bench. Terrafirma selected him as the 27th pick of the 2024 PBA Draft (or Season 49 if you’re going to be technical about this) and is on the verge of returning to the semi-pro circuit because Terrafirma had already picked position-mate Mark Nonoy in the first round, as well as CJ Catapusan, Didat Hanapi, and Paolo Hernandez. Even if Ginebra did not make a trade for Terrafirma to acquire Hanapi and Hernandez, third-round picks have a slim chance of making the main roster. There is no way Alfaro can make the Terrafirma lineup unless something unfortunate happens.
This is why the PBA needs to revise its eligibility rules. If a college team can beat multiple PBA teams, then they either get lucky or are ready to take their games to the next level. I believe Kevin Quiambao was PBA-ready two years ago and at the moment, the same can be said with Phillips. If they are still wary of messing up a player’s education, then they can have a guest MPBL team for a random tournament after the UAAP and NCAA season. Players need to play to develop their game and judging from the PBA On Tour, this is feasible. After all, players are going to use other avenues like the MPBL, PBA D-League, FilBasket, and other leagues. Hell, this might stop the players from going to ligang labas tourneys without asking for their team’s permission.
It’s not just the DLSU Green Archers that I am talking about. The Tab Baldwin-led Ateneo Blue Eagles when they still had the core of their almost-unbeaten squad might take other PBA teams to distance. In the NCAA, I believe the Season 97 version of the Letran Knights is a threat to win as well.
Again, the PBA must make sure the best players play in the PBA. However, with how the pro careers of some of their players are turning, they might fear that if they make the PBA, a random college team might defeat them as well.