"Wow, that’s been a long time," said Alaska coach Tim Cone when reminded of the four-team, single round-robin exhibition series, which the squad, then known as the Milkmen, won at the expense of Formula Shell.
Only Cone, comebacking Alaska player Poch Juinio and coaching staff members Jojo Lastimosa and Bong Hawkins (playing-assistant coach) remain from that 1994 roster.
The Aces will practically parade a young, athletic team against a Red Bull five that kept intact the core of the unit that bagged the Fiesta Conference championship and finished runner-up to Purefoods in this same conference last season.
The lone match set at 7:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. Manila time) will be played at the University of Guam Fieldhouse.
PBA commissioner Noli Eala announced that a sell-out crowd from the Fil-Am community here is expected for the Red Bull-Alaska encounter.
"It’s always a pleasure to play and bring the PBA brand of basketball before our kababayans abroad. Making the event more meaningful is that it marked the first time the league is opening the season (2006-07) with an official game overseas," said Eala.
Although the Alaska-Red Bull match kicks off the Talk n Text-PBA Philippine Cup, the league’s 32nd season won’t formally begin until Oct. 1 at the Araneta Coliseum, with rookie team Welcoat Dragons going up against crowd favorite Barangay Ginebra Kings in the solo featured game.
The Guam encounter is the third game the league is holding abroad in the last four conferences. The PBA earlier played in Indonesia (2005 Fiesta Conference) and Hong Kong (2006 Philippine Cup), both of which were won by Talk ‘N Text.
Alaska hopes to follow in Talk ‘N Text’s footstep, having been installed as among the teams to beat this season.
The Aces lived up to that billing when they topped the first ever PBA pre-season tournament behind a five-game sweep, capped by their 128-126 overtime win over the San Miguel Beermen in the championship game.
The Aces duether beefed up their roster with young talent by signing rookies Aaron Aban of Letran and Santo Tomas big man Christian Luanzon.
Aban is expected to come as one of Cone’s options at the Alaska backcourt manned by Mike Cortez, Willie Miller and Jeffrey Cariaso.
Luanzon, on the other hand, is likely to spell some minutes playing at forward. — Nelson Beltran