Old faces. New league. Promising games ahead.
The past two play dates of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) saw familiar fixtures in Philippine basketball playing an active role in this pet project of Senator Manny Pacquiao.
Multi-titled collegiate coaches Aric del Rosario and Ato Tolentino, both 70 years old, have no plans of slowing down.
Del Rosario, the chief architect of University of Santo Tomas’, is calling the shots for the Parañaque Patriots and guided his new team to an early win on opening day.
His philosophy was plain and simple — get the people dearly devoted to him in producing positive results.
The Patriots had become more of a family affair, as Del Rosario brought in his sons — Edsel, Lester and Roderick to help him out.
Del Rosario also tapped his former players from UST and Perpetual Help, among the notables were Jemal Vizcarra, Juneric Baloria, Jett Vidal, Jonathan Belorio, and Harold Arboleda among others.
In his coaching comeback, Del Rosario is also hoping to duplicate a feat, which he last did in 1998.
“I just hope I can achieve history. Before, in the MBA, I was the first champion coach. I hope I can do it again,” he added.
Tolentino, the tough multi-titled coach of University of Manila and Philippine Christian University, is also back on the sidelines and although he has become more relaxed now, he cannot shy away from the game and chose to stay behind his son, Elvis Tolentino, who is coaching the Navotas Clutch.
The father and son tandem led their new squad to victory against host Muntinlupa late Saturday night, sending a message to everyone that they are poised to make a run for the championship.
Then, there’s Gary David, Marlou Aquino and Chris Gavina.
David and Aquino are no stranger to basketball fans, making their mark in the PBA. El Granada was a scoring champion multiple times, while Aquino was a three-time champion and a former Rookie of the Year.
Gavina took over the coaching reins at Valenzuela, but his Classic ran out of time and lost to the Batangas Athletics-Tanduay, bannered by former members of champion team San Mig Coffee.
There are several more other familiar faces going to see action in the days to come and while the first two play dates of the MPBL had become interesting, fans had yet to see the best the league has to offer.
It was a good jump start to a fledging league, which is now slowly but surely making its mark in different parts of the country.
Rey Joble has been covering the PBA games for more than a decade. He is a member of the PBA Press Corps and Philippine Sportswriters Association.
