National championships?

The Philippines is the most passionate basketball country in the world. But I’ve always found that statement amusingly ironic.

I mean, we do have arguably the most passionate basketball fans in the world but does our country’s passion for the game translate into a sensible system of organizing the game?

And though we can go on and on about the problems that plague the Philippine Basketball Association and the national team program, what I want to put under the spotlight now is the amateur game — collegiate and high school basketball.

This is my beef — we don’t have bona fide national basketball championships for either. At least not in the strictest, highest profile sense.

There are, however, a couple of counter-arguments to my position.

First, what about the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL)? Isn’t crowning a national champion for college hoops exactly what it is about?

In spirit and on paper, yes. But if I’m being true to the spirit of a national champion, then I cannot consider whichever will win the PCCL this year — we should have a champion by the end of January — as really the best of the best.

Not when some of the finest players in the previous collegiate seasons are already plying their trade in the PBA and no longer playing for their schools in the PCCL. These are guys like CJ Perez, Robert Bolick, Paul Desiderio and Javee Mocon.

Don’t get me wrong — I admire the spirit, effort and competition format of the PCCL. The organization or league itself is not the problem. Rather, it’s a systemic or structural issue. As long as the major collegiate leagues (e.g. UAAP, NCAA, CESAFI) along with the PBA cannot align themselves with the format/calendar of the PCCL, then we will not have a bona fide national collegiate champion.

At the high school level, things are even worse. The closest to a national high school basketball championship we have is the age-old Passerelle tournament by the Best Center, although it only has 15-and-under players.

One might say, well we have the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC), don’t we? Isn’t that the national championship for high school?

Definitely not. Not when the teams, strictly speaking, represent cities and not schools. Not when we have selections from other countries — hence negating the tournament’s being “national.” Not when players who were deemed ineligible to play in the UAAP and NCAA Juniors are able to suit up. Not when key players are no longer playing for their high schools and are already committed to prioritizing their new collegiate squads.

Again, don’t get me wrong. I actually like the NBTC, but it’s not a national championship. It’s a showcase of the best Filipino high school talents from across the globe. It’s a college recruiter’s paradise, so to speak.

And not being a national championship is not necessarily the NBTC’s fault. Again, it’s a systemic issue. Until someone — it should be the SBP — is able to make a sensible alignment of ALL basketball tournaments at ALL levels in the entire country, we will not have bona fide national basketball championships.

And for a country that prides itself on such deep passion for the sport, that is a tragic reality.