Ball Points (10-12-2009)

• The Lions have secured the no. 1 seed in the NCAA as they won their playoff against the SSC- Golden Stags, 71 -65. Apparently, Jimbo Aquino was thrown out of the game for throwing a punch at Jake Pascual. I wasn't able to watch the full game so I'm not sure about this. Also, Borgie Hermida is getting a lot of love with his performance in this game. He will be certainly needed by the Lions in the F4 (and Finals most probably) for his experience as he is one of the only two remaining starters of last year's championship squad. These Red Lions have been stuck in 2nd place since they suffered a defeat at the hands of the Stags in the 1st round. They only tasted the share of 1st place last Monday when they defeated this Stags. Are the Red Lions peaking at the right time? Is SBC going FOURward? I certainly hope not. I'm getting sick of seeing Frankie Lim win championship after championship.
• Here's a post regarding Franz Pumaren and his master plan. Can you imagine Kiefer Ravena in a DLSU jersey? A staring lineup of Ravena-Agovida-Webb-Bringas-Van Opstal would surely be enough to give DLSU a Final 4 appearance and possibly multiple championships. A combination of Dindo Pumaren and a talented deep team like the 2007 UE team doesn't really sound that good to me though.
• Finally, the Japeth Aguilar drama ends. What's with Lito Alvarez giving BS answers? It's not like we all didn't know that he was eventually going to trade Japeth for picks(which he will use to draft young players then sell them once they've established their names in the PBA) and cash. Why is the PBA allowing teams like BK and RB stay in the league? I know Mark Heisley (Memphis Grizzlies owner) is cheap bastard but he's not selling OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay and he just traded for the $28M 2 year deal of Zach Randolph (which is a dumb move).
• Capt. Jack no more. Jackson has relinquished the role of being the Warriors' captain. He has not yet changed his stand on being traded and is actually open to a buyout. A buyout after just signing a $27M 3 year extension? Talk about having no sense of commitment. He's already got his guaranteed cash so WTH with the GS Warriors. Right Jack?

Ball Points (10-3-09)

• As expected the UAAP-NCAA All-Stars will not be featuring the best players from both leagues on Monday' charity event dubbed as "Pinoy Basketbol Kakampi Nyo". The team will be composed of Joshua Webb (DLSU), Jan Colina (ADU), Jewel Ponferrada (NU), Jeric Fortuna (UST), Paul Sanga (FEU), Reil Cervantes (FEU), Woody Co (UP), Macky Acosta (MIT), Allan Mangahas (MIT), Mark Sarangay (MIT), TG Guillermo (MIT), Marc de Guzman (CSB), Gelo Montecastro (CSB), MC Abolucion (CSB) and Jan Tan (CSB). Players from UE and ADMU will not take part in the event as they are currently gutting it out in the UAAP Finals. (The UAAP Finals will be done by that time if ADMU wins the game tomorrow.) Players like Ababou and Aldrech Ramos will also not be part of the team as they are part of the 2nd game of the event with Smart-Gilas squaring off with Powerade. Players from JRU, SBC, SSC-R and CSJL were also excluded in the lineup to give them time to prepare for their remaining elimination games and the Final 4. Then players from EAC, AU, UPHSD and AUF will also not take part in the event as they have games scheduled on the same day. That means no Argel Mendoza, no Gio Ciriacruz and no Matt Carney. So who's left for the NCAA? MIT and CSB. It's a good thing that both teams even lent their players despite being in a slugfest for the 6th seed in the NCAA that will give them a chance to play in the PCCL. Knowing that they can only get players from two teams, the NCAA should have allowed the UAAP to field more players to make the game a little bit more interesting. No Kokoy Hermosisima? No Khasim Mirza? Montercastro over Jeric Teng? Jan Tan over Chris Camus? And where the hell is Edwin Cornejo? I know it's just a charity game but the 2 leagues should made the necessary adjustments to make to field a much more competitive team. Joshua Webb will look like Dwayde Wade with this team. I don't know who the LP and PBL will field but I can already see a blowout.
  
• As first seen on patayangbutiki.com and firequinito.com, Chris Tiu's brother Charles tweeted about an incident in a scrimmage between TNT and Smart-Gilas. Apparently, CJ Giles threw an elbow at Ranidel de Ocampo which then caused the TNT players to gank up on the Smart-Gilas import. Ranidel has been known to get under the skin of some of his opponents like Hamed Haddadi in the past so no surprises here. Maybe these large-headed professionals couldn't take the fact that a couple of kids and an american were blowing them out as Charles Tiu said or maybe Giles couldn't take the physical nature of Pinoy basketball as firequinito said. I guess Monday's charity event won't be just a charity after all. Maybe Yeng can add Mac Cardona to the team just to make things more interesting.
• The NBA has now expanded the use of instant replay starting this season. The NBA will now allow officials to use instant replay to check if a shot or a foul occurred before a 24 second violation. The NBA refs can also use the said technology to determine who touched the ball last before it went out of bounds if the game is already under 2 minutes. These changes might slow the game proceeding a little bit but I'll take that delay to allow the refs to call the games much more accurately.
• Just like their seniors' counterparts, the ADMU Eaglets are one win away from a championship as they upset the no. 1 seeded DLSZ Junior Archers 80-73. As expected, Kiefer Ravena led the Loyola -based squad with 33 markers, 9 boards, 4 dishes, 3 steals and 3 shot blocks. ADMU will be nowhere near the finals w/o this kid. This guy is indeed impressive with natural ability to score and basketball IQ. What also makes this kid standout is his calmness and smoothness on the court. This kid will just destroy the opposing team's defensive with his swagger while operating with the basketball. He's still in his 3rd year so he'll still be around with the Eaglets next year and we'll all have to wait one more year to see him in Eagles' uniform. Al Bugarin and Von Pesummal also provided quality minutes for the Eaglets. Nico Elorde also caught my attention with his toughness and aggressiveness but guarding Kiefer all game long will take a definitely take a toll on your game. Louis Fortuna also looks good with his shooting, basketball IQ and energy much like his older brother, Jeric Fortuna. Luigi Dela Paz and Gweynne Capacio (who looks more like Mark Andaya rather than his father Glen Capacio) were both out of their elements as they were frustrated all game long of the incredible defense the Eaglets threw at them. This game was exciting all throughout and even terrible commentary (I know its just a juniors' game but why would put Sid Ventura and Eric Tipan together. They're already bad individually so what do you expect if you put them together?) will not prevent me from watching Game 2 on Tuesday.