The conference format is a killer. Each of the PBA’s 10 teams plays nine games in the eliminations. The top two finishers advance to the semifinals outright while the last four placers are booted out of contention. The remaining squads figure in separate best-of-three quarterfinal series where No. 3 plays No. 6 and No. 4 meets No. 5. In the best-of-five semifinals, the No. 1 seed takes on the winner of the No. 4-No. 5 duel and the No. 2 seed the winner of the No. 3-No. 6 tie. The semifinal winners move on to dispute the championship in the best-of-seven finals.
Because the eliminations won’t offer second servings, the teams are pressured to win as many games as possible and as quickly as possible. If there are ties for the second and sixth positions, they will be settled via a playoff with all other deadlocks in rankings determined by the quotient system.
Rain Or Shine initially brought in 6-11, 26-pound center Jake Voskuhl as its import but sent him packing before the conference started. Voskuhl, 34, wasn’t impressive in his practice games. The Painters coaching staff decided to go for an alternative. “Voskuhl’s big but his size won’t be enough to bring us to the playoffs,” confided a team official.
Voskuhl has seen better days on the court. In 1999, he teamed with Rip Hamilton in powering the University of Connecticut to the NCAA championship. Voskuhl was the Chicago Bull’s second round pick in the 2000 NBA draft and went on to play for five teams in nine seasons, averaging 4.0 points and 3.4 rebounds in 450 career games. When he showed up for Rain Or Shine, Voskuhl was just a shadow of his old self.
The best available replacement was Willard Vincent (Duke) Crews, a 24-year-old upstart who was dismissed from the University of Tennessee varsity after two years and wound up with Bowie State in the NCAA Division II. It was reported that Crews got his walking papers for academic deficiencies and failing a fourth drug test. In the PBA, Crews’ problem is he’s undersized. He’s listed at 6-8 but probably closer to 6-6. Against seven-footers like Alaska’s Adam Parada and Ginebra’s Chris Alexander, Crews is dwarfed by the opposition. Crews’ saving grace is he’s young and strong. But obviously, the Painters need a lot more from Crews to get ahead.
Read full article here By Joaquin Henson The Philippine Star
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