Local basketball fans are in for a treat when the SM-National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) tournament happens March 18 to 23 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Now in its 11th season, the NBTC gathered a total of 32 high school teams from all over the country, as well as basketball squads from Filipino communities in international countries, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S., for the weeklong competition.
This year, the NBTC decided to adopt a format similar to that of the U.S. NCAA tournament.
The eight seeded teams are recently crowned UAAP Juniors champions Ateneo Blue Eaglets, NCAA Juniors titlist La Salle Greenhills, University of Visayas, Chiang Kai-Shek, National University, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, San Beda College and Malayan University.
Teams from provinces like Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Cavite, Baguio, Calamba, Bataan, Bacolod, Ormoc, Dumaguete, Dagupan, San Fernardo and Lipa City will all be competing against squads from the National Capital Region for Division One and Two trophies.
The 2018 @SM_Nbtc national finals will run March 18-23. Here's the schedule and list of participating teams. Tournament format is similar to US NCAA. @Sports5PH pic.twitter.com/TZHWgyRDjB
— JC Ansis (@jcansis) March 15, 2018
During the press conference on Thursday, NBTC founder and Alaska assistant coach Eric Altamirano said he is pleased with how the program has grown and how many young basketball players it has helped throughout its existence.
"Every year we have been organizing the tournament, we have refined it to what it is now - a premier showcase for high school basketball," he said. "It has also become a springboard for Fil-foreign teams to showcase their players who might want to study in the Philippines or play for the various national teams."
The international and wild card teams will play in the seeding round on the opening day on March 18. As the tournament progresses each day, the 32 teams will be trimmed down to the Final Four.
The championship games for the Division One and Two will take place on Friday, March 23. The NBTC All-Star Game, which will be headlined by UAAP Finals MVP Kai Sotto who topped the eight-week Chooks-to-Go NBTC 23 high school player rankings, will also be held on the same day. Other high school standouts playing in the All-Star Game are LSGH's Joel Cagulangan, Dave Ildefonso, SJ Belangel and Will Gozum.