If San Miguel Beer lives up to its lofty seeding in the PBA Commissioner playoffs, which start tomorrow, Ildefonso could well keep on harvesting individual accomplishments and may even rewrite league history at season’s end, becoming the third player to win MVP titles for two successive years.
This early, the Urdaneta, Pangasinan native looms as the top favorite to win the Best Player of the Conference (BPC) award as he led the statistical race at the end of the elims wihich San Miguel topped with a 7-2 (win-loss) record.
Needless to say, the former National U King Bulldog, also the winner of the BPC trophy in the All-Filipino Cup, all the more boosted his chances to win the season’s MVP honors.
Going into the quarterfinals where they play the eighth-ranked Mobiline Phone Pals, Ildefonso carries a league-best 690 SPs (statistical points). His closest pursuers are Red Bull’s Davonn Harp (652), Alaska’s Kenneth Duremdes (638), SMB’s Danny Seigle (622), Alaska’s Ali Peek (599), Dennis Espino of Sta. Lucia (584), Alvin Patrimonio of Purefoods (544), Purefoods’ Noy Castillo (540) and Rey Evangelista, also of Purefoods, (522).
At 10th place is Rudy Hatfield whose Pop Cola team failed to make it past the elims.
In the past eight months, Ildefonso has actually won three major individual awards, counting last year’s MVP trophy, the All-Filipino BPC plum and the 2001 All-Star MVP honors.
"Hindi ko na nga malaman kung totoo ang nangyayari o panaginip lang. Dating ng dating ang mga blessing sa akin," said the 24-year-old Ildefonso who is now in the best position to match the back-to-back MVP feats of Bogs Adornado in 1975-76 and Patrimonio in 1993-94. — Nelson Beltran