CEBU, Philippines — A total of 10 teams will fight it out for hardcourt supremacy in the VisMin leg of the Pilipinas Super League (PSL) Under 21 Aspirants Division Second Conference set to kick off on July 2 at the Cebu City Sports Institute in Barangay Sawang Calero.
“We’re looking forward to a bigger things ahead for PSL U21. It’s gonna be something na abangan nang mga tao sa buong Pilipinas,” said PSL President Rocky Chan during the formal launching of the event last Saturday night at Dimes Bistro Cafe in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.
Also present were PSL Vice President Ray Alao, head of basketball operations Leo Isaac, and program director Chelito Caro, who is also the league’s deputy commissioner in the pro division.
“There are a lot of potentials here in Visayas and Mindanao. Hopefully more and more talents can be discovered from this region, which is really the main goal of this lague,” Isaac said.
For the forthcoming PSL U21 Second Conference, six teams from the Visayas led by defending champion Consolacion Sarok Weavers and four from Mindanao will be seeing action in the 45-day cage wars.
The other Visayas contenders are the ARQ Builders Lapu-Lapu City Chiefs, Bogo City Bogoys, San Fernando Buffalos, LGU Barili, and Sherilin-Unisol Mandaue.
Those who will be coming over from Mindanao are the Davao Occidental Dreamers, Davao del Norte Future Hopes, Bukidnon Cowboys, and Cagayan de Oro Sealcor Kingfishers.
They will play a single round robin in the elimination, with the top four teams per division advancing to the best-of-three semifinals pitting teams No.1 vs No.4 and No.2 vs No.3.
The winners will then face off each other in the division finals, which is also a race-to-2 affair. They are also assured of slots to the National Championship where they will go up against the top two finishers from the Luzon leg later this year most likely in Pampanga.
“We would like to remind everyone that we are still an amateur league aiming to discover talents from the provinces up to the grassroots level,” said Caro. “We want to give aspiring ballers across the country a platform to showcase their skills and be known on the national stage. Who knows they will make it big someday.”