Spotlight will be on National University (NU) when it defends its crown against 17 of the country’s top collegiate teams in the third edition of the Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-Season Championship starting Friday at the historic Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The Lady Bulldogs, who are also the reigning champion in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), eye a third straight SSL title after their flawless National Invitationals conquest last July.

But the Lady Bulldogs are sure to face tough opposition from a very competitive field in this prestigious event backed by Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, GCash, Chery Tiggo, F2 Logistics, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, Potato Corner, R and B Milk Tea and Summit Water.

After taking a leave of absence, University of the Philippines (UP) and De La Salle University will be making a return to complete the cast that features all eight teams from the UAAP and 10 from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

“All 18 schools are confirmed. This is our third conference this season. This is our flagship conference. Our main event,” said Dr. Ian Laurel, president of the organizing Athletic Events and Sports Management Inc. (ACES), during the league’s press conference yesterday at Shakey’s Malate.

“The goal really was to get all 18 schools, the 10 NCAA teams and eight UAAP schools. We’re happy that we’re able to do that this year.”

The 18 squads are split into four pools with NU, Arellano University, Emilio Aguinaldo College, Ateneo de Manila University and San Beda University bunched in Pool A.

‘The goal really was to get all 18 schools, the 10 NCAA teams and eight UAAP schools.’

Pool B is comprised of University of Santo Tomas, Lyceum of the Philippines University, Mapua University, University of the East and University of Perpetual Help System Dalta.

Pool C is bannered by La Salle, Letran College, Jose Rizal University and UP while Pool D has NCAA champion College of Saint Benilde, San Sebastian College, Far Eastern University (FEU) and Adamson University.

Tipping things off will be the clash between San Sebastian and FEU at 3:30 p.m., followed by the collision between Lyceum and UE at 6 p.m.

The top two teams of each pool will advance to the next round where they will be grouped into two groups carrying over the points they earned in the prelims for another round-robin play to determine their rankings in the quarterfinals.

Then, the top two ranked teams will be armed with twice-to-beat advantages in the crossover quarterfinals, where they get a chance to advance to the knockout semifinals and best-of-three finals series.

All players listed in a team’s roster will be fielded under the tournament’s unique all-to-play format while the video challenge system will also be implemented.

“We want to showcase the recruits of the teams they’ve acquired during the offseason,” Laurel said.

“The fans can expect new names and new faces. See how they will perform and jell with their teams. Established players will also be playing so we’ll have the full lineup of teams ready to play.”

“We have the all-to-play format because it encourages more playing time for all the players in the lineup.”