Philippine Sports and Entertainment Portal Online

MANILA, June 25, 2009 -- The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) opens its 85th season on June 27 at the Araneta Coliseum starting at noontime with 10 teams on its roster - the biggest in history.

United States Ambassador to the Philippines, Kristie Kenney, will be the guest speaker, with all of the top team officials and their respective guests in attendance.

The 10 glamour teams are San Beda College (SBC) Red Lions, Jose Rizal University (JRU) Heavy Bombers, Colegio De San Juan de Letran Knights, Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) Cardinals, San Sebastian College-Recoletos (SSC-R) Stags, College of Saint Benilde (CSB) Blazers, Philippine Christian University Dolphins, University of Perpetual Help Dalta System Altas and the three schools whose membership is still on probation -- Angeles University Foundation, Emilio Aguinaldo College and Arellano University.

"This year's theme will be "Winning Drive at 85", said management committee president Fr. Mateo de Jesus of the country's oldest amateur league in school sports. "We are going faster, higher, stronger as the Olympics declared."

The three-peat defending champion SBC Red Lions have taken over the mantle from MIT as the 2009 edition host.

The Red Lions have a foreigner in their lineup with the towering Daniel Sudan at the slot who is tagged to be the next Samuel Ekwe.

However, it is not yet known whether Sudan is in the same category of Ekwe who has given so much strength, pep and power to San Beda in their bid for glory under coach Frankie Lim.

The bald-headed Lim was absent on Wednesday's full-house press conference at the ELJ Bldg of the communications giant, ABS-CBN due to the death of his father.

CSB's top gun Henry Atayde said the Blazers are looking forward to a three-peat of being the league's over-all champion.

"We have set our goals on high. We're not going to be a mediocre team," said coach Richard del Rosario, who is a TV analyst in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) panel.

On the other hand, multi-titled coach Louie Alas of the Letran rued the fact that this will be a real tough season for them because he has only seven holdovers from last year.

"I hope and pray that my three rookies will step up in the long season. If they can do it, we will have an easier sailing," said Alas, who tabbed SBC, JRU and SSC as the teams to beat.

Last year's runner-up JRU coach Ariel Vanguardia decried the loss of two of his reliable veterans (Nocum and Pradas).

"If we can make it to the top four by October, I'm sure we will be fighting for the crown. As of now, I don't want to put much pressure on the shoulders of my players as well as mine. It's going to be a rough and tough time but we are aiming for the top."

Noticeably, most of the 2009 coaches were former PBA and Philippine Basketball League players like Frankie Lim, Richard del Rosario, Renato Agustin, Eric Gascon, Chito Victolero, Ariel Vanguardia and Louie Alas.