PCCL Sweet Sixteen

It's kind of tough to find the significance of the sweet sixteen when none of them have played a single game outside of the qualifiers. But hey, the PCCL cast is complete. The bracket isn't out yet but here are the teams.

UAAP champions Ateneo Blue Eagles, NCAA champions San Sebastian Golden Stags, UE Red Warriors, San Beda Red Lions, FEU Tamaraws, JRU Heavy Bombers, Letran Knights, UST Growling Tigers, CESAFI champions University of Visayas Lancers, University of Cebu Webmasters, NAASCU champions San Sebastian Cavite Baycats, NCAA guest team Arellano University Chiefs, Mapua Cardinals, University of Manila Hawks, University of San Carlos Warriors and DLSU Green Archers.

The PCCL's problem, of course, is still getting the big universities to take it seriously. The UAAP teams, especially the champions, rarely send out their best players and using it as a developmental tourney for their younger guys instead. This year, the Smart Gilas program and the ABL only adds to those problems. Guys like UAAP Finals MVP Rabeh Al-Hussaini, UAAP MVP Dylan Ababou, RJ Jazul, Aldrech Ramos, JR Cawaling, Nonoy Baclao, Elmer Espiritu, Val Acuna, Rudy Lingganay, Khasim Mirza are all unlikely to join their schools in the tournament. NCAA MVP John Wilson of JRU, who was reported to have quit the team after the firing of coach Ariel Vanguardia, and teammate JR Sena, who has been drafted in the PBA, are also both likely to be missing from the action. That's a lot of starpower the PCCL won't benefit from.

But hey, it's going to have to come down to the schools from the league's outside of the UAAP and NCAA to step it up. The big teams will only take this seriously if there's a real challenge to their reputations. If Greg Slaughter's UV or Junmar Fajardo's UC takes a couple of these tourneys back-to-back, for example, then people are going to start talking about how their program could be superior to the NCAA or UAAP programs. That's when you can expect the bigger schools to take up the challenge.

But if it's always going to be one of them winning the titles, then there's no reason for things to change. That's why I don't agree with the idea of turning the PCCL championship into a best-of-three. The exciting part of the US NCAA's March Madness is the unpredictability of things. There are so many Cinderella stories that can happen because of the one-loss elimination tournament.

Now let's get this show started, and hope for a couple of surprises. If there aren't, then the PCCL will stay the way it is - a side event like the Nike Summer League - and not a relevant tournament.