Caguioa, Seigle lead BPC race

Scoring machines Mark Caguioa and Danny Seigle are running neck-and-neck for No. 1 spot in the statistical race of the Best Player of the Conference (BPC) honors going into Game Five of the Talk n Text PBA Philippine Cup Final Four.

Caguioa, the Barangay Ginebra spitfire who leads the league in scoring with 23.8 points a game, averages 38.7 statistical points (SPs) per outing, slightly ahead of Seigle who norms 37.6 (SPs) a game.

Another Ginebra stalwart Rudy Hatfield, the league rebounding leader with 12.1 caroms a game, is at third with 34 SPs per outing, followed by Alaska’s Willie Miller (33.9), Sta. Lucia rookie Kelly Williams (32.5), Purefoods’ Kerby Raymundo (32.3), Talk n Text’s Asi Taulava (31.5), Ginebra’s Jayjay Helterbrand (30.9), another Ginebra ace Eric Menk (30.8) and Air21’s Ranidel de Ocampo (30.6) to round out the Magic 10.

In the Rookie of the Year race, Air21’s Arwin Santos (29.7) is running second to Williams, followed by JayR Reyes (25.2), LA Tenorio (19.1), Junjun Cabatu (18.2) and Chris Pacana (17.8).

The Best Player of the Conference award could become a tossup between Caguioa and Seigle if the two sustain their fiery showings and their teams square off in the finals.

Caguioa, however, has said he doesn’t care about the award, pointing out he’s only looking to win games for his team.

"Trabaho niyo (media) yan. I don’t care about that. Alam ko maraming galit sa akin. Matagal na ako sa liga. Dalawang beses na akong naging scoring leader, pero hindi pa ako nasama sa (mythical) first team," said Caguioa, insinuating he’s been robbed of an award on balloting.

But for the record, Caguioa has led the league in scoring only last year when Ginebra finished only fourth in the first conference and missed the semifinals in the next. The off-guard spot in the Mythical First Five went to Purefoods’ James Yap, the MVP winner who led the Giants to a runner-up finish in the Reinforced Conference and to the championship in the Philippine Cup.

The previous season Caguioa lost the slot to Talk n Text’s Willie Miller, who was then the Fiesta Cup Best Player. The season MVP award went to Menk, winner of the transition Fiesta Conference and All-Filipino BPC awards plus finals MVP honors of both tourneys.

In the 2002 and 2003 seasons, Caguioa, the 2001 Rookie of the Year awardee, never won an award with Ginebra failing to make it to the semifinals of each of the six tournaments.

The former Glendale Community College player insisted he doesn’t care about the award and he’s just out to please the PBA fans.

He may have learned a lesson having been fined heavily in at least two PBA All-Star Festivities for skipping activities for the fans. Last year, he didn’t show up at all in the Caga-yan de Oro All-Star Week. — Nelson Beltran