The University Athletic Association of the Philippines is finding ways to help the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas address its manpower problems for the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand in December.
Sources told Tiebreaker Times that the country’s premier collegiate league is open to starting Season 88 on schedule, particularly the collegiate basketball tournaments, to be able to provide players for both Gilas Pilipinas Men and Women.
Since 2015, the UAAP has been starting its basketball tournaments in September and ending by early December.
However, both the Smart Araneta Coliseum and the SM Mall of Asia Arena will not be available for the entirety of September due to the 2025 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship.
The UAAP is considering holding games at UST’s Quadricentennial Pavilion and Ateneo’s newly renovated Blue Eagle Gym to make room for the national team’s SEA Games.
Meanwhile, the NCAA, according to sources, is looking at holding Season 101 of its seniors basketball tournament from October to January.
This adjustment stems from the Filoil EcoOil Centre — the NCAA’s home — being designated as one of the training hubs for the upcoming Men’s Volleyball World Championship.
The biennial regional meet is scheduled to take place on December 9-20 in Bangkok as well as in the provinces of Chonburi and Songkhla.
“That’s another challenge for us. In the past, the UAAP would start in July and end in September. You would have the best players from the UAAP and the NCAA playing in the SEA Games. But that’s the challenge now because both leagues end in December as they start later in the year,” said Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Erika Dy during the federation’s national congress.
If things fall into place, it would mark the return of amateur players serving SEAG duties after a decade, or since the 2015 edition in Singapore.
There, a Gilas Cadets team, mostly made up of collegiate stars — and mentored by Coach Tab Baldwin — swept the competition to bring home the gold for the 10th successive time.
Such a setup would have been the standard for SEAG competitions until both the UAAP and NCAA changed their schedules, primarily to keep up with the K-12 program that caused a massive shift to local academics.
If a collegiate-based lineup isn’t feasible, the SBP is also looking at alternatives.
Tiebreaker Times also learned that they are tinkering with the idea of loaning players from PBA teams that will get eliminated early from playoff contention.
By the time the SEA Games come, the league is projected to either be entering or already in the middle of its Season 50 Philippine Cup playoffs.
The 2025-26 PBA season, which is expected to be a busy one with events lined up and major FIBA competitions lined up as well, will open on October 5.
Overseas Filipino imports playing in Japan and Korea, meanwhile, may not be able to suit up as their mother teams only release players for FIBA meets.
The B.League and the KBL — plus some of the other professional leagues in Asia — adhere to the FIBA calendar, which the SEA Games is not a part of.
“I can’t speak for those leagues. For the players, there is naman a commitment from their end. But it will still depend on their ballclubs, which we cannot control naman ‘yung kanilang contracts there,” said Dy.
“Unlike the FIBA windows where FIBA obliges these ballclubs to release the players to the national team, they do not do it for the SEA Games.”
#WATCH: SBP executive director Erika Dy opens up about the challenges ahead, including the late start of #UAAPSeason88 due to the volleyball #MWCH 🏐, as they prepare for the #SEAGames2025 🏀
📹 @justinebacnis /Tiebreaker Times#LabanPilipinas pic.twitter.com/r9CPSSEA6T
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) May 9, 2025
