The Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup, formerly known as the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup, is a pre-season collegiate basketball tournament in the Philippines. It is contested by teams mainly from the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), there have also been some invited teams such as the RP Youth under-18 team and teams from other associations.
Current season, competition or edition: 2024 Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup | |
| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 |
| First season | 2006 |
| Country | Philippines |
| Most recent champion(s) |  UP Fighting Maroons (1st title) |
| Most titles |  De La Salle Green Archers (4 titles) |
History edit
The entire tournament is organized by Filoil EcoOil Sports, formerly Filoil Flyving V Sports, of the Villavicencio Group of Companies.[1] It was first held as a post-season tournament in 2006 where it was known as the Homegrown Cup. Starting in 2007, Filoil Flying V Sports decided to hold it every summer and it was subsequently renamed as the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup.
The De La Salle Green Archers won the first two editions of the tournament, making them, to this day, the only back-to-back tournament champions.[2][3] The UE Red Warriors won the third edition of the tournament in 2008, followed by the FEU Tamaraws in 2009, the San Sebastian Stags in 2010,[4] the Ateneo Blue Eagles in 2011, and the NU Bulldogs in 2012. UE would reclaim the title in 2013 before starting a period from 2014 through 2019 where five of the six tournaments held were won by either De La Salle or the San Beda Red Lions. De La Salle claimed their fourth in 2016, the most out of any school, while San Beda won three in five years. The only outlier during this period was Ateneo in 2018.
The 2020 and 2021 editions of the tournament were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[5][6] before resuming with its 15th edition in 2022, where it was also rebranded as the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup, in which NU would win.[7][8] The following 2023 edition saw the UP Fighting Maroons claim their first title. Then in 2024, it was announced that the 17th edition of the tournament would be named after Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., renaming it as the ECJ Preseason Cup.
Tournament format edit
All participating teams are divided into two groups (since the 2023 edition, teams are grouped based on association). From there, a single round-robin tournament is used for each group, with every team playing one game against other teams within the same group.
The top four teams from each association group advance to the single-elimination playoffs. The first round, the crossover quarterfinals, have the first-seeded teams matched against the fourth-seeded teams from the opposing group. The same is also applied for the second-seeded and third-seeded teams. The winner of each game advances to the next round until one team remains to become the Preseason Cup champions.[9] In the 2024 edition, the Finals utilizes a best-of-three format.
Results edit
By tournament edit
By school edit
| School |  |
 |
 |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| De La Salle University |
4 | 5 | 2 | 11 |
 San Beda University |
3 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
 University of the East |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
 National University |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
 Ateneo de Manila University |
2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
 Far Eastern University |
1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
 San Sebastian College–Recoletos |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| University of the Philippines |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Jose Rizal University |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Arellano University |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Adamson University |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
 Centro Escolar University |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Lyceum of the Philippines University |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Media coverage edit
The tournament has had multiple media coverage partners over the years, beginning with ABS-CBN, whose now-defunct sports division was a broadcast partner from 2006 until 2016. The tournament was left without a broadcast partner in 2017, before signing a deal with ESPN5 for 2018 and 2019.[22] The 2023 edition was then broadcast by Solar Sports.
See also edit
References edit
- ^ "Ninong of collegiate basketball". The Philippine Star. April 11, 2008.
- ^ "La Salle Homegrown champion". The Manila Times. December 18, 2006.
- ^ "Archers, Blazers on target". The Philippine Star. March 25, 2011.
- ^ "Seventh FilOil Flying V tourney launched". Inquirer. March 22, 2012.
- ^ "With no preseason, Filoil to air old games on FB". Inquirer. May 10, 2020.
- ^ "Filoil cancels plan to hold preseason tournament for UAAP teams". SPIN.ph. February 17, 2022.
- ^ "Filoil preseason tourney seeks July return with 16 teams in tow". SPIN.ph. June 18, 2022.
- ^ "Filoil preseason hoops tiff returns in July". The Philippine Star. June 18, 2022.
- ^ "UAAP, NCAA teams out in full force for Filoil Preseason Cup". SPIN.ph. April 16, 2024.
- ^ "Ateneo snags first ever FilOil crown". The Guidon. June 13, 2011.
- ^ "National U bags first Filoil Championship; Parks MVP". Inquirer. June 12, 2012.
- ^ "UE stuns NU for Filoil crown; Sumang named MVP". Inquirer. June 12, 2013.
- ^ "UAAP beats NCAA: La Salle downs San Beda to win FilOil title". Rappler. June 8, 2014.
- ^ "San Beda Red Lions are Filoil Cup champs after hammering La Salle in final". SPIN.ph. June 14, 2015.
- ^ "Mbala dominates as DLSU wins Filoil title". Rappler. June 12, 2016.
- ^ "Bolick drains dagger vs DLSU as San Beda reclaims FilOil crown". GMA News. June 26, 2017.
- ^ "Ateneo dominates San Beda, sweeps way to Filoil title". Inquirer. June 30, 2018.
- ^ "Canlas, Nelle show way as San Beda rips La Salle to claim Filoil Flying V Cup". SPIN.ph. June 23, 2019.
- ^ "NU completes perfect run, rules FilOil tiff with win vs FEU". GMA News. August 27, 2022.
- ^ "Adamson begs off from Filoil bronze game, takes on UV in Surigao". Tiebreaker Times. August 25, 2022.
- ^ "UP edges La Salle to cop Filoil Preseason title". GMA News. June 21, 2023.
- ^ "Premier Cup boasts 19 squads, returns to TV". Tiebreaker Times. April 9, 2018.