NCAA Imports Here To Stay

The NCAA sees nothing wrong with the prevailing trend among member-teams to tap foreign players to beef up their respective title drives despite misgivings by some coaches that their presence is detrimental to the growth of homegrown talents.

"We don't see anything wrong with it. And so far, we have no plans of changing our guidelines on acquiring imports for each team," NCAA Management Committee chair Frank Gusi of host San Sebastian College said on Wednesday.

"We know that they (imports) take the slot of our Filipino players, but they come to our country as a student, so we can't deny them if they want to play for a school," Gusi said.

Four imports, including one from new member Emilio Aguinaldo College, will see action in this year's 86th season, a development that doesn't sit well with some coaches who stuck with an all-Filipino line up.

But Gusi said the league will stick with its by-laws where each team can hire an unlimited number of imports as long as they complete a two-year residency with the school.

"We'll also stick with the rule that only one import can be fielded on the court during play," said Gusi admitting that getting import has also helped the league in some ways. "They also add attraction to the schools."

American Sudan Daniel will be back for San Beda, while Cameroonians John Njei and Joe Etame will also return for the Jose Rizal University. Malaysian-Chinese Wei Lim, a veteran of Penang Basketball Association, on the other hand, will debut for the Generals.

EAC originally wanted to bring in Loh Chee Hou, a 6-10 Chinese-Malaysian, but opted to reserve him for next season.

Arellano University, also a new NCAA member, has also recruited two 6-foot-8 players from Africa to reinforce its lineup next year – Nett Charles Mamie of Sierraleone and Chrsitopher Okte of Nigeria.

Francis Santiago, Manila Bulletin