ANOTHER LOOK AT CESAFI’S YEAR
On its 16th season, Cesafi saw dramatic drop in viewership; UV claims 11th title after beating USC
CONTROVERSIES continued to hound the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) Basketball, even if it is already on its 16th Season.
What started as grandiose Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) season turned out to be a disappointment to basketball purists who were frustrated by the way the collegiate basketball season ended.
The University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers claimed its 11th Cesafi title after beating the defending champions University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors 3-1 in the best-of-5 championship series.
But the championship series seemed to be the spoiler of a typically exciting season.
Attendance in the finals dwindled and it was at its lowest in years. Some pundits believed that the finals showdown was a mismatch for UV as the Green Lancers were already closing in on reclaiming the title the moment the finals protagonists were known.
UV finished the elimination round at third place with an 8-4 win-loss record, while USC was fourth with a 6-6 card.
The top seed, the Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras who were undefeated in 12 elimination round games, was eliminated after they lost to UV by 12 points in the back-to-zero semifinal round.
That lone setback was fatal to SWU who were not only handed its first defeat of the season but also lost all hope to make the finals, when UV had the “free hand to choose” their finals opponent.
Before the finals, Cesafi commissioner and other basketball bigwigs predicted a UV-SWU championship.
In a what-could-havebeen a finals preview, the UV-SWU first elimination round encounter of the season in Sept. 1 was a full-house affair.
But it proved to be the first and only full-packed game of the season, when the Warriors, the league’s defending champions, aborted what could have been a championship showdown for the longtime rivals.
USC created a threeway tie for the two finals seats, which eventually went to the Lancers and the Warriors.
UV flexed its muscles in the finals but USC was able to deflect a sweep when they won Game 3 but eventually fell prey to the superior skilled Lancers.
However, the finals match-up is not the only reason why the 2016 Cesafi finals became a flop. This year the championship series fell on either semestral break or academic finals.
Both teams have s trong school- based supporters that could overflow an 8,000 capacity Cebu Coliseum. But because the finals came late, student supporters opted to forego the finals and attend to more compelling activities.
Changes
And because of how the Cesafi 2016 basketball season ended, the league is now considering to amend the tournament format, which has been used since 2014 and considered having an early opening for next season.
Meanwhile in the controversy rocked high school division – the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles scored its fourth straight title after sweeping the University of Cebu Baby Webmasters in the bestof-3 championship series.
The high school basketball season started on a wrong foot following a bench emptying incident in Cordova – that meted out the league’s biggest penalty of P110,000 and a total of 88 hours of community services to playing from the UV Baby Lancers and the Don Bosco Technology Center Greywolves.
The Baby Lancers were again put in bad light when Justin Jake Rosete was photographed head-locking SHS-AdC player Andrei Benedict Chua in their elimination round game.
However, despite all the controversies that surround Season 16, Cesafi Commissioner still considered the basketball season a success.
“As a whole, the 16th Cesafi was successful, despite the (low) turnout of fans in the finals as compared the past five years. This season, Smart (Communications) was still our major sponsor, Viva covered the games on whole season on a delayed basis and Sun. Star covered it (on) live streaming,” Tiukinhoy told Sun.Star Cebu.
The entire elimination round, Cesafi gave free entrance to students at the upper box and general admission and a 50 percent discount starting the quarterfinal round.
“More students watched the games during the preliminary, quarterfinals and semifinals. The teams were equally competitive as games were won up to the last seconds, and example is CIT-U winning vs. USC. Besides up to the last game of the season, the final teams were not yet known, although there were disappointments among some fans as their favorite teams did not match-up in the finals. This (usually) occurs like in (UAAP) the Ateneo vs. La Salle, or any team in PBA vs. Ginebra, that fans shy away,” Tiukinhoy added.