Forget about the traditional five-on-five for a while, and concentrate on a smaller one.
Kiefer Ravena’s Rack Sports together with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas will inaugurate the first college-based three-on-three in the Philippines with the goal of promoting this version of hoops to a basketball-crazed country.
“We want to showcase the talents of our college players and develop this sport into a much bigger testing ground for everybody to play in,” said Ravena who played in Qatar for the Fiba 3×3 All Stars. “It’s a fun sport, entertaining, it has a less formal feel than the UAAP and the NCAA.”
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Titled Intercollegiate 3×3 Invitationals, the tournament will pit collegiate teams from the two leagues on March 19 and 20.
Xavier School will host the first day while the second leg will be staged at Mall of Asia Music Hall.
Ravena said they aim to have 48 teams but as of posting time there are 32 squads who have committed to the tournament including UAAP defending champions Far Eastern University, runners-up University of Santo Tomas, NCAA champions Colegio de San Juan de Letran, and runners-up San Beda.
Other schools who have fielded teams are University of the Philippines, National University, San Sebastian, Mapua, Adamson University, and University of the East.
The tournament will be using a smaller ball, a size 6, compared to leather used in the usual five-on-five format games, which is a size 7.
There will be little difference, though, as the balls have the same weight so the players would still get the same shooting feel of a normal regulation ball.