The Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) is the premier collegiate league in the nation. Now on Season 87, the eight universities that comprise the UAAP are the best not just in athletics in academics, and practically every metric used to evaluate an educational institution.
Basketball has been the playground of Philippine billionaires, and their corporate rivalries have extended to the college ranks. The result: A competitive, exciting, and younger virtual professional league featuring players at the prime of their youth.
There will be criticism when you call the UAAP a pro league, since it should not be. There are some slight differences between the UAAP and the PBA which actually makes it slightly better than the actual pro league.
Recruitment: Better than Draft?
Here is an idea that has often been proposed, but almost immediately shot down. How about getting rid of the draft? In both the NBA and the PBA, there have been calls to abolish the draft since it rewards mediocrity. When you reward mediocrity, teams will go for the reward, albeit for different reasons.
The NBA can survive with the draft, but the PBA really needs to consider the idea. The NBA has a vibrant free agency, the PBA hardly has one. In college, recruitment is a huge part of the excitement, and also part of their coaches’ job. The competition starts early, and it also rewards the organization that invests their effort and resources.
This is why the best players go to the UAAP, while the best local players skip the PBA: they do not want to be part of a mediocre organization like Terrafirma or Blackwater.
Side note: There is already an underrated movement to “Free Juami Tiongson.” Poor guy has spent almost his entire career on farm teams.
Outstanding employees get rewarded by being recruited. For pro leagues, you get drafted by the bottom of the barrel. That works if it’s the NBA, since it is a huge escalation from their college ranks. Not so in the Philippines. The gap between the PBA and the UAAP, in terms of competition level, has narrowed greatly.
De La Salle University beat actual pro teams with imports in an exhibition tournament, and the trend will continue as the universities step up their recruitment. I was pleasantly surprised when the UP Fighting Maroons managed to convince Quentin Millora-Brown to play in the PH, something which the SBP and Gilas failed to do. While it can be interpreted as a lack of better options for Millora-Brown, any local team will take it as a win.
No professional team will invest the time and resources to recruit these players since they will only end up in the draft, as opposed to the UAAP.
Better at Addressing Parity
It’s been more than a decade since the PBA has been called out for the farm teams (no longer in quotation marks, it’s already accepted as fact). It’s making a mockery of the draft, and the league has been in a state of denial. The result: fans have questioned the credibility of the league, so attendance has dwindled.
In contrast, the UAAP promptly addressed the “poaching” accusations, imposing stern consequences for transferees. They will now lose two years of eligibility when they move to another UAAP team, instead of just one, since this is a disrespect to the recruitment process.
Despite possible backlash from no less than a senator, the UAAP were quick to defend the integrity of their recruitment process, something the PBA could not do with their draft.
We will see the results of this action in the coming seasons, but at least it will curb the initial damage of teams like UE and NU when they lost Rey Remogat and Kean Baclaan to the powerhouses.
The UAAP is a better-run, virtual pro league. The games are exciting and lively. The PBA is actually banking on the popularity of the college stars to save them, since they could not save themselves.