THE best of the best schools in the country will again test each other’s mettle as the premier pre-season tournament Pinoy Liga Collegiate Cup Season 3 kicks off with a pair of double headers this weekend at Enderun Colleges.

Teams from the top two leagues, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and University Athletic Association of the Philippines take the spotlight on opening day when Lyceum of the Philippines University meets Far Eastern University at 12 noon before University of the Philippines and San Sebastian College- Recoletos face off at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

On Sunday, University of Perpetual Help System DALTA collides with Our Lady of Fatima University at 12 noon, while Guang Ming College clashes against host school Enderun College at 2:30 p.m.

Now in its third year, Pinoy Liga founder Benny Benitez announced in a press conference Tuesday, April 2 that the Collegiate Cup will be shown live on TV, as Aliw 23 will be the official broadcast partner of the tournament.

“We’re now on free to air TV so that the countryside, the whole nation can see us, their favorite college and university teams, their favorite players, they can check and see who are the players to watch in the coming NCAA and UAAP,” said Benitez during the press conference held at Amelie Hotel in Malate, Manila.

“We’re very thankful to Aliw 23 for giving us an opportunity to broadcast our Collegiate Cup games of Pinoy Liga,” he added.

From its humble beginnings in 2022 when Pinoy Liga launched its maiden season with eight teams, this year’s edition will improve to 18 teams from 17 participants during Season 2 as teams will be divided to two divisions, Prime and Edge.

UAAP champion De La Salle University leads the teams in the Prime division with National University, Manila Central University, Lyceum Enderun, Guang Ming, NCAA runner up Mapua University, defending Pinoy Liga Collegiate Cup champion Ateneo de Manila University.

As for the Edge group, NCAA champion San Beda University is the team to beat while joining them are Adamson University, University of the East, Letran, Fatima, UAAP runner-up UP, Perpetual Help, San Sebastian and Diliman Colleges.

“We want the players to enjoy the tournament, because we’re giving them the opportunity to learn, which means they have the stage to improve their skills through Pinoy Liga before they go to their respective leagues like the UAAP and the NCAA,” said Benitez.

“We’ve also just been recently been approved as a member of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, and good things are on the way because we’re partnering with the federation,” he said, added that the referee’s group BRASCU will call the shots while the commissioner of the Collegiate Cup is Willson Ang.

Also present during the press conference were Ian Borbe, the technical head of BRASCU, Amelie Hotel brand and marketing manager Mark Abellon and Eastern Communications representative Gian Barcarse.

Games Saturday:

(Enderun Colleges)
12n.n. – Lyceum vs FEU
2:30 p.m. – UP vs San Sebastian

Games Sunday:

(Enderun Colleges)
12 n.n. – Fatima vs Perpetual Help
2:30 p.m. – Guang Ming vs Enderun