Triple bill kicks off 87th NCAA season

MANILA, Philippines - The National Collegiate Athletic Association kicks off another season of top-notch collegiate basketball with an explosive triple-bill featuring the league’s leading teams, a much-awaited keynote from boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and the entry of a 10th team tipped to draw a full-house crowd at the Araneta Coliseum today.

San Beda opens its back-to-back title campaign minus last year’s MVP Sudan Daniel after the 6-8 American suffered an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury last April but with the presence of blue-chip rookie Baser Amer.

Amer, a former high school MVP who helped the San Beda Cubs snare last year’s NCAA crown, gets the chance to show his wares as San Beda clashes with host Perpetual Help in the 2 p.m. opener, hoping to start a winning run and duplicate the team’s historic 18-game title sweep.

“It’s a very challenging year because we’re coming off a historic season but everybody’s raring to go. We want to start strong and continue our winning ways,” said San Beda coach Frankie Lim.

Pacquiao, the world’s best pound-for-pound boxer and holder of record eight titles in different weight divisions, hopes to inspire not only the participants but also the students of all participating schools with his message in elaborate rites at 1 p.m.

Perpetual Help has lined up a big production number in line with this year’s theme “Brazen@87” to be participated in by all top 10 schools headed by league president Dr. Anthony Tamayo.

Lyceum also hopes to make an impact on its debut as a probationary member of the country’s oldest varsity league.

San Sebastian, with a new coach in former alumnus Topex Robinson, opens its campaign to regain the title it lost to San Beda as it tackles an equally dangerous Jose Rizal University at 4 p.m.

Mapua and Letran, which both underwent tremendous buildup during the off-season, collide in the 6 p.m. main game, each raring to start their respective bids on a winning note.

Action shifts to The Arena in San Juan City tomorrow when Emilio Aguinaldo takes on Lyceum at 2 p.m. and Arellano squares off with St. Benilde at 4 p.m.

Focus, however, will be on the first game pitting the Lions and the much-improved Altas, who will now be coached by Jimwel Gican after Boris Aldeguer resigned one week before the opener due to personal reasons.

Gican, a former assistant of Aldeguer, will take over a team that has decided to drop Marlon Gomez despite the recent Policy Board decision chaired by Tamayo that cleared the 6-3 former Philippine Christian U standout to play.

Aside from extending its reign, San Beda is also trying to break from a tie with Letran for the most number of championships in the league. Both schools have racked up 16 titles each.

But Lim wants to focus more on how to whip up his frontcourt group of Dave Marcelo, Jake Pascual, Kyle Pascual and the Semerad twins David and Anthony into one cohesive unit to fill up the big void left by Daniel.

Joey Villar, Philippine Star