Black eye for Blackwater

Expansion team Blackwater is known as the Elite in the PBA. Sad to say, it did not live up to its name. Following the end of the elimination round, Blackwater has joined the ranks of teams that laid a big fat zero in the eliminations of a PBA conference.

The Elite lost all its 11 games in the Philippine Cup, the last one a 91-62 loss to San Miguel Beer Tuesday night at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

The horrible record made Blackwater the sixth team since the league opened in 1975 to have lost all its game in a conference.

The winless streak illustrates the difficulty of joining the PBA as an expansion team where rules are stacked up against the new member.

New teams are not allowed to elevate top players from the amateur ranks and are only allowed to pick discards from old member teams. Also, they are the last to pick in the draft.

Besides Blackwater, disbanded PBA team Shopinas.com failed to win a game during the 2011-12 Philippine Cup when it finished 0-14.

The 0-11 card of Blackwater actually ranks No. 3 in the all-time worst start by a team. Another disbanded team, Country Fair, went 0-13 during the 1984 Reinforced Conference.

Another former PBA team in Great Taste dropped its first 13 matches in the eliminations although the Coffee Makers eventually finished the 1982 All-Filipino conference with a 2-16 card.

Great Taste, however, won several championships later on.

Other teams that had losing records in the PBA include Ginebra (0-10) during the 1995 Governors’ Cup, Pop Cola (0-8) during the 1999 Governors’ Cup, and Air21 (0-8) in the 2011 Governors’ Cup.

Kia, the other expansion team this season, finished with a 1-10 card. Its only win came against Blackwater (80-66) on opening day last Oct. 19. After that, the team lost 10 straight games.

Blackwater hopes things will be different in the Commissioner’s Cup after the Elite signed Asian Basketball League two-time Best Import Chris Charles, a 7-foot-1 center who led the Hi-Tech Bangkok City to the title last season.

Charles, who will arrive on Saturday, played for NCAA Division I team Villanova before joining the Thailand Slammers in 2013 under ex-NBA player Joe Bryant, the father of Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant.

Last season in the ABL, Charles averaged 20.5 points and 14.1 rebounds. Aside from the MVP award, he also bagged Defensive Player of the Year honors.