INQUIRER Sports

AFTER MONTHS OF WAITING, THE PHILIPPINE Basketball League finally opens its first tournament for 2010 on Feb. 16.

The PBL post-collegiate season, usually held in November, has traditionally been one of the most eagerly awaited by fans who want to check where the school stars would play and what unusual combinations or team-ups would happen.

However, due to the departure or leaves of absence of some teams for a variety of reasons, the PBL struggled this year to gather a viable number of squads for a competitive tournament.

Staple PBL teams like Harbour Centre, Hapee and league pioneer San Miguel took leaves, rendering the league with hardly enough for even a short conference like the five-team tourney it had before the collegiate season opened last year.

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PBL commissioner Chino Trinidad, now on his 10th year at the helm, revealed that he even contemplated ending the league?s run.

?Yes, it was tough,? Trinidad reveals, ?because it came to a point where I was all set to recommend to the PBL board that we just close shop as it was nearly impossible to go on with just three teams?Pascual Laboratories, Asia Brewery and Excelcoil.?

And yet the PBL has got to be one of the most flexible and resilient leagues in the basketball world, having survived the inevitable exodus of its stars to the pros and the challenge of other basketball leagues.

Even the advent of the Smart Gilas national team, a necessary alternative approach to the call of international competition, attracted some of the biggest names in college basketball.

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The PBL, though, has never been the type to stand in the way of a player?s choices or of chances to improve the sport.

Interestingly as well, the PBL has never been wanting in applicants, with other companies just as passionate about having a basketball team that will carry their name. The perks are attractive as well, like exposure that is quite pervasive given television and print coverage.

So it was just a matter of time when the PBL would get enough teams.

Explains Trinidad: ?It was not until the middle of January when we were able to get three more teams?Admix, Agri Nurture and Fern-C?to join the 2010 tournament. The good thing is that there are signs that life is returning to the PBL, which is good enough for me.?

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The new squads will join the two teams each from Pascual Laboratories and Asia Brewery and Excelcoil. Eight teams should be more than enough to give fans their dose of amateur basketball and see how the college stars mix it up in a different competitive setting.

Trinidad is optimistic that the upcoming tournament will be successful.

?I expect excited players to get into the playing arena. It?s been almost eight months since the PBL played its last official game.

?From a league standpoint, there is tremendous pressure to show the sporting community that the PBL can survive the latest crisis. But as the saying goes: With every crisis comes an opportunity.?