SOMETHING interesting just happened in the 19th season of the 20-year-old collegiate basketball preseason tournament called the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup.
Formerly known as the Homegrown Cup, then the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup, this popular competition-where teams from the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association of the Philippines (NCAA)-duke it out for bragging rights and a feeling of confidence coming into the season proper-gives a preview of the upcoming collegiate basketball season.
It’s a sneak peek into how the teams one roots for (or not) will perform for real when hostilities start anew in the UAAP and the NCAA. It also gives coaches and their respective staff the opportunity to tinker with their line-ups, do daring experiments with positions and combinations, and assess what already works and what needs to be tweaked or refined.
What just happened in this tournament that also gives fans and communities early practice to cheer and jeer has made 2026 a historical year.
For the first time ever, the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup is having an all-NCAA finals. It has never happened before.
UAAP teams have dominated this preseason competition since its establishment in 2006. De La Salle University (DLSU) has the most Filoil EcoOil crowns (four), followed by San Beda University (SBU) and the University of the Philippines (UP) with three apiece.
UP made history last year by being the first team to win the Filoil EcoOil title for three straight years, thus earning the privilege of taking home the ECJ Perpetual Trophy as a permanent keepsake.
UAAP schools have accounted for 14 of the 18 championships of the Filoil tourney-2006 and 2007 De La Salle, 2008 University of the East (UE), 2009 Far Eastern University, 2011, Ateneo de Manila University, 2012 National University, 2013 UE, 2016 and 2017 DLSU, 2018 Ateneo, 2022 NU and 2022, 2023 and 2024 UP.
The four other championships belong to NCAA schools San Sebastian University (2010) and San Beda (2014, 2015 and 2019).
After 2010, the last time an NCAA team played in the finals was in 2019 when the San Beda Red Lions defeated the De La Salle Green Archers and ended up as champs. The only other team that has reached the Filoil EcoOil finals was Arellano University in 2016.
But now, wow. NCAA schools have made this prestigious preseason tourney their exclusive turf. One by one, UAAP schools got eliminated from contention, with only University of Santo Tomas (UST), NU, DLSU and UP making the quarterfinals.
The UP Fighting Maroons were the lone team in the semifinals. But when they clashed with the Red Lions in the Final Four, the Maroons were gnawed by the mighty Lions whose A Game that day showed they wanted it more.
Now, it is the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers up against the Lions-a surprise dish, and a spicy one at that.
The Bombers, heartbreak kids of several seasons past challenged by player depletions, injuries and instability, have turned over a new leaf. Now with an iron clad core made up of Chris Hubilla, a former Bedan and ex-Fighting Maroon commit; Lawrence Mangubat and Sean Salvador, former Mapua Cardinals who now like to drop heavy ordnance on their opponents, the JRU boys have been as merciless as Ming.
Proof positive of the Bombers’ power is the willful, authoritative way they fight their fights. How they disposed of the Letran Knights in the semis would make any coach proud. Unfettered by a late comeback staged by Titing Manalili’s legions, JRU kept its wits about and simply flexed, crumpling the Knights’ armor, 82-73.
And finally, when they first stepped back in the warm glow of the finals’ spotlight for the first time since 2006 (it was JRU versus DLSU in the first Filoil finals) the Mandaluyong boys simply said ‘No’ to the Red Lions on July 21.
ing Game 1 at 70-59, it was Mangubat who dropped the deadliest bombs, detonating 22 points and hauling down nine rebounds as Chris Hubilla took care of the interior and flashed Bomber magic. Hubilla finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Game 2 is today, Thursday, and knowing San Beda, its favorite jewelry is a crown. Its vaunted perimeter shooting, with long bombs coming off RC Calimag and Dominic Sarigumba, are set to thwart and frustrate JRU. Intense defense and precious championship experience will make San Beda’s fortress a tough target for the Bombers’ bombs.
Still, Jose Rizal U is different this time. Maybe they’re a team whose time has come.
So will it be Yellow over Red at the Filoil EcoOil Centre on July 23? Or will San Beda paint the town Red as per usual?
Whatever the outcome, the NCAA rules. Do we say Rawrr? Or Bombs Away!