THE ninth edition of the Filoil Flying V Preseason Premier Cup tips off on April 18 at the San Juan Arena.
Eighteen college teams from the Metro Manila-based National Collegiate Athletic Association, University Athletic Association of the Philippines and National Athletic Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (Naascu), as well as from the Cebu Schools Athletic Federation Inc. (Cesafi) will participate in the summer tournament seen as a preview to each team’s respective league.
De La Salle University (DLSU) will be defending its title against revamped squads from San Beda, National University (NU) and Adamson University to name a few. Squads, like Far Eastern University (FEU) and the University of the East (UE), will retain a seasoned veteran core.
De La Salle will parade rookies Andrei Caracut from San Beda and Jolo Go from Hope Christian High School.
San Beda will have a pair of transferees in Andre Paras, who last suited up for University of the Philippines, and Josh Reyes, a former Ateneo Blue Eaglet. Should Kenneth Alas move up from the Juniors ranks, this will be the first time since 2002 Red Cubs batch of Ford Arao, JVee Casio and Yuri Escueta that no Red Cub will become a Red Lion.
The Red Warriors, with a full season under second year Coach Derrick Pumaren, tabbed two former Chiang Kai Shek College Blue Dragons in point guard Fran Yu and forward Shannon Gagate.
The Centro Escolar University (CEU) Scorpions waylaid many a team en route to a third-place finish that they parlayed into a successful title defense in Naascu are back.
Making their Filoil debut are the University of San Jose-Recoletos (UST-R) Jaguars out of Cesafi. They will be joining Southwestern University (SWU) that will be making its third appearance in the league. Last year the University of Visayas and University of San Carlos participated in the tournament alongside Holy Trinity College of General Santos City.
Bracketed in Group A are Adamson, Emilio Aguinaldo College, Far Eastern University (FEU), Jose Rizal University, Letran, NU, University of Perpetual Help, College of Saint Benilde and USJ-R.
In Group B, touted as the Group of Death, lined up are CEU, DLSU, Mapua, Lyceum, San Beda, UE, University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, and SWU.
Ten squads will be competing in the Juniors Division, including the recently crowned UAAP champions Ateneo and NCAA six-peat squad San Beda. Other teams include De La Salle Zobel, Jose Rizal University, Letran, Adamson, FEU, La Salle Greenhills, Mapua and NU.