The Cong. Red Durano Cup, 5th Edition

A truly developmental basketball league starts tomorrow afternoon at Danao City Sports and Civic Center. Sponsored by the office of Congressman Red Durano, the 5th season of the Cong. Red Durano Cup Inter-town Basketball Tournament opens with the ten municipalities and the city of Danao comprising the fifth congressional district of the Province of Cebu.

 Mainland towns of Liloan, Compostela, Carmen, Catmon, Sogod, Borbon and the City of Danao do hardcourt battle with the municipalities of Poro, Tudela, Pilar and San Francisco, which make up the Camotes Islands. The four island towns are scheduled to play against defending champion Sogod and traditional powerhouse teams Danao City, Carmen and Liloan immediately after the 1pm opening ceremonies. The following day, Sunday, action shifts to the Panphil B. Frasco Gym in Liloan with the Camotes group playing the towns of Compostela, Borbon, Catmon and host Liloan.

I mentioned "truly developmental" as this league will have an 18-year old and below format. The people behind the 5th District Sports Commission headed by Coach Alex de la Torre of CIT have seen an abundance of potential within the confines of the district on this age group. 

The past tournaments had different formats every season and were generally well-organized and successful.

 But like any other leagues or tournaments, there were the usual controversies, where the only things developed are the ensuing arguments, the alleged palusut and alleged panikas. Oh well, this is the Philippines, this is basketball and we love this game, as in, that we could go thru ridiculous lengths just to get one up with the competition.

 Athletes born 1993 and up are illegible to play, so meaning if you're born between January 1 to December 31 1993, you are qualified to do your thing on the hardcourts of the 5th District. If you are 19 or 20 or older and insist you're born on 1993, there's the Executive Committee, hala, storyahe.

 The previous stagings had the Camotes group doing their own eliminations with the top island team advancing to the round of four together with the top three mainland teams. This time, they will join the mainland for a single round-robin series eliminations. The top four teams will then go through a single-round robin semifinals where number 3 and 4 will be playing for third place. Team number 1 and number 2 will do a one game, winner-take-all championship.

Aside from the usual cash prizes, infrastructure projects will also be awarded to the winning municipalities. I suppose the Camotes group had been well-prepared for the tournament as they, for a change, want to face the mainlanders. They could have been fed up facing the same teams for the past years. This is also good exposure for the islanders as surely, there will be several youngsters who will stand out in this tournament. Coaches and scouts, here's your gold mine and it’s ready for mining.

 I'm just wondering what happened to a similar league about three years ago sponsored by the Cebu Chapter of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines. That was province-wide and that would have been great had they continued it yearly. Maybe the new set of officers can revive the tournament for the youngsters? They could pattern it after the highly successful GUV Cup which has produced top-quality volleyball players.

*   *   *

NBA Playoffs begins this Sunday. Eastern Conference pairings has (1) Chicago vs (8) Indiana, (2) Miami vs (7) Philadelphia, (3) Boston vs (6) New York and (4) Orlando vs (5) Atlanta. In the Western Conference, it is (1) San Antonio vs (8) Memphis, (2) LA Lakers vs (7) New Orleans, (3) Dallas vs (6) Portland and (4) Oklahoma City vs (5) Denver.

 [email protected]