MANILA, Philippines – The Smart Breakdown Basketball Invitationals (BBi) will gather regional champion teams of National Capital Region (NCR), Bulacan, Cagayan de Oro, Cavite, Davao and Iloilo to hold its first ever national championships on March 13 to 18, 2018.

The opening ceremonies and games will take place on Tuesday, March 13 at the Blue Eagle Gym, while the succeeding games will be held at the Fr. Cortina, S.J. Gym in Xavier School.

The schedules and participating teams are as follows:  

BBi is one of the fastest growing basketball leagues. The tournament started from 16 teams with only two divisions and now has 54 teams competing in across 5 divisions – 10-Under, 12-Under, 14-Under, 17-Under in the boys’ division and the 25-Under for women. 

Leading up towards the national tournament, BBi holds 3 conferences in a year: one in the summer, a regional contest until October and national championship qualifiers from Novermber until February. 

This year, only the winners in the 12-Under and 17-Under age groups will take part in the national championships. 

The University of Visayas and Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu were supposed to send teams for the 17-Under and 12-Under divisions, respectively. However, the national championships coincides with the schools’ graduation rites. 

BBi’s expansion to the different regions of the Philippines has blessed many players from the smaller schools with an opportunity to not only play basketball in Metro Manila, but to study in NCR as well. 

The players whose schools cannot afford to raise a basketball team eventually join club teams, which are also welcomed by BBi through the regional contests held. The young players, especially those from the provinces, are propeled to the forefront of scouters and recruiters based in Metro Manila. 

“The reason why we welcome these clubs is that these are the boys whose families are probably not able to afford schools so they join these clubs,” said managing partner Jay Adevoso. 

“It’s natural naman eh that when you have all these teams here. Siyempre nakikita ng coach, di naman maiiwasan na kakausapin (Of course the coach sees them and they can’t resist talking to them), but really for us as part of the course [and]  more importantly we are helping with the improvement of all these boys.

According to Adevoso, there were players who were able to earn scholarships to schools in Metro Manila like Ateneo de Manila High School due to basketball and even seek international opportunities in Thailand as a result of joining BBi.

For Cavite representative Andrew Villarete, his experience in the Lion’s Cup has taught him that players from the smaller schools never had the chance to play in Metro Manila until BBi came along and noticed them. 

“They never had a chance until the blessing of Breakdown Basketball will be bringing them here, so that they can play in front of the scouts and the coaches and the big schools will see them,” said Villarete. 

Xavier School’s basketball program head John Edwin Sy also agreed that BBi is a “big boost” to the Philippines’ grassroots development for basketball.

“It is a big boost to the grassroots development of basketball. It’s a good way of giving back not only do the Metro Manila teams but to the rest of the provinces in the Philippines,” said Sy. 

 Despite one of best grassroots basketball programs in Manila, Xavier School will be able to gain exposure by competing against other schools outside NCR through the national championships. 

“We’re very exposed to the Metro Manila schools, but competing against the other schools in the provinces is a very good experience for our boys. The kids are very excited. I felt that they wanted to win,” explained Sy. 

Aside from holding different age group divisions for boys, BBi will also hold a 25-Under summer contest for men’s, where the University of the Philippines, National University, Ateneo de Manila University, St. Claire, Colegio de San Juan de Letran and Far Eastern University have confirmed to join.

BBi has also been actively supporting women’s basketball as the 25-Under women’s tournament was first held in February 2018. The Filoil Flying V Preseason League discontinued its women’s basketball tournament, making BBi the only league that offers opportunities for women’s basketball in the Philippines outside the UAAP and NCAA. 

There will be a chance that the BBi will also host its first ever women’s basketball national championship in May 2018 in Davao City. – Rappler.com