Wednesday, June 18, 2008 Liga Pilipinas fires off Thursday By Lynde Salgados
LIGA Pilipinas, the newest league in town, will have its baptism of fire Tuesday with four teams seeing action at the Xavier University gym in Cagayan de Oro City.
Debuting before the home crowd, the Misamis Oriental Meteors will be guided by Cebu's venerable coach Jun Noel who left a "sweat and sour" experience in his last coaching stint with Hapee Toothpaste in the Philippine Basketball League.
The Meteors will face Baguio Victory after the preliminary match between the Pagadian Explorers and Laguna Stallions.
Governor Oscar S. Moreno, newly minted chairman of the board of the Basketball Association of the Philippines-Samahang Basketbolista ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP) and manager of MisOr Meteors, will lead the opening rites at 4 p.m.
Apart from its so-called pocket conference for the Visayas-Mindanao teams, Liga Pilipinas will also simultaneously open in Laoag for teams in the Luzon areas.
"I think this league will succeed with no less than former PBA commissioner Noli Eala spearheading the organizing committee. With Noli around, kaya sa Liga Pilipinas i-improve ang mga mali sa una sa MBA or the now extinct Metropolitan Basketball Association," one local cage said.
"Exciting sab ni kay grabe ang preparasyon ni coach pag-build up sa stamina of the MisOr Meteors," another one said, citing the rare accomplishment of coach Noel in the PBL when he stirred the Teeth Sparklers to a sweeping finish in the elimination round up to the playoff stage before bowing down to the Harbours in the last two games of their best-of-three finals.
In a press release letter, Moreno said two five-day pocket conferences will start in Cagayan de Oro and in Laoag, where four teams will be playing against each other in a round-robin fashion, including the home squad.
From Cagayan de Oro, the four teams will then proceed to Gingoog City and will play at the newly refurbished and upgraded Mayor Arturo Lugod gym on Thursday and Friday.
The teams will be back in the city on Saturday for the semifinal games that will pave the way for the pocket conference championship action still at XU gym.
Fourteen teams -- eight from Luzon, two in the Visayas and four in Mindanao -- are participating in the inaugural season of the community-based Liga Pilipinas.
