Fans to pick college stars for All-Star Game

MANILA, Philippines — The people organizing the 2013 Filoil Flying V Preseason Premier Cup and those behind Master Facial Wash have something cooking for hoops fans this summer.

In the media launch cum press conference Wednesday, April 10, held in the posh URBN Restobar at the Fort Strip, officials from both Filoil Flying V and Unilever, the company behind Master, announced the Master Game Face All-Star Basketball Challenge.

Working around the mindset, “You cannot be a winning athlete unless you have the winning look,” the folks behind Master, guided by Gina Lorenzana, Unilever’s VP for Personal Care, partnered with the most prestigious summer hoops tournament, the Filoil Flying V Preseason Premier Cup, to come up with this landmark sporting event.

This is something that isn’t new for the people at Unilever, of course, as they’ve partnered with football (Clear Dream Match) and running (Rexona Run) in the past to bring a more engaging and interactive experience to the fans.

The basic premise is this: there will be two All-Star teams, each coached by two of the most highly-regarded alumni of the collegiate game – Chris Tiu and Borgie Hermida – and each made up of players from the participating schools in the Filoil joust.

Team Chris will have its players come from the following schools:
– Adamson University
– Ateneo de Manila University
– Collegio de San Juan de Letran
– De La Salle University
– Lyceum College of the Philippines
– San Sebastian College
– Southwestern University
– University of the East
– University of Sto. Tomas

On the other end of the floor, Team Borgie will have its players come from the following schools:
– Arellano University
– College of Saint Benilde
– Emilio Aguinaldo College
– Far Eastern University
– Jose Rizal University
– National University
– San Beda College
– University of Perpetual Help
– University of the Philippines

Working with same framework used in the NBA All-Star Game, hoops fans will vote for the starters of each team. This will be done through the Master Game Face Voting app that can be found on the Master Facebook page. After the starters have been finalized and revealed, Chris and Borgie will choose the remaining 13 reserves for their respective squads.

The voting app will officially be available on April 17, 2013, and the voting period will officially end on May 19, 2013. As a bonus, voters will get a chance to win 2 ringside tickets to the Game Face All-Star Challenge. The final rosters for each team will be announced on May 25, 2013 through the Facebook account of Master Philippines. The All-Star Challenge itself will be on June 8, 2013 at the San Juan/Filoil Flying V Arena. Tickets to the game are priced at Php100 for upper box seats and Php200 for lower box seats. These are available through SM Tickets.

In organizing this event, Unilever hopes to educate teenagers about proper facial grooming, especially since Master is perfect for those who engage in sports like basketball.

Tiu, who did his very first ad for Master when he was still in college, had this to say, ““I’m very excited about it. It’s a brilliant idea to get the NCAA and UAAP as well as other non-member schools to participate in this one of a kind all-star game. This is something new for the fans, something that not everyone gets to see, and I look forward to that.”

As one of the new brand ambassadors for Master, Hermida explained, “The fan vote will be very interesting, since the fans will have so many talented players to choose from. Just at first look we have a lot of great players; Ola [Adegon], Bobby Ray, RR [Garcia].”

18 teams in preseason cup

In the meantime, it was formally announced that 18 teams will be participating in this year’s Filoil Flying V Preseason Premier Cup, which will begin this Saturday, April 13, with three titanic games – San Beda against NU at 2pm, UST versus DLSU at 4pm, and Ateneo tangling with SWU in the nightcap. The 2pm and 4pm games will be televised through Studio 23. The whole tournament is slated to end on June 12.

All eight teams from the UAAP and nine NCAA teams will participate, with SWU as the lone out-of-town squad added to the roster. This season will also have the requisite Juniors division and, for the very first time, a Women’s division, too.

For this summer, a lot of people want to see if NU can repeat as champion, how the Blue Eagles and Red Lions will play under new coaches – Bo Perasol and Boyet Fernandez respectively, and just how strong the DLSU Green Archers and the UST Growling Tigers are going to be. The happy times are here again, folks – college basketball is back! – Rappler.com