Bye CESAFI, Hello Manila

CEBU CITY - While the pandemic has affected the economy, it sure hasn’t affected the basketball recruiting market, the only segment that has ironically posted more movements and gains than the stock market. And while Cebu City made the headlines in the COVID-19 numbers game, it’s also making its presence felt in the recruitment scene.

To-date, six marquee players from the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) have decided to switch teams midway in their careers and are headed to Manila. Leading the pack are Jancork Cabahug and Gabriel Cometa, two vital pieces of the University of the Visayas (UV) Lancers college team. Not to be outdone, four Sr. High School players are also leaving their respective juniors teams. LA Casinillo of Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, Nathan Montecillo of the University of San Carlos and the pair Soysoy Escobido and Nichole Jay Cabañero of Don Bosco Technical College-Cebu are headed to different teams in Manila.

Cabahug, who has played for UV since his high school days, is moving to the souped-up University of the Philippines. He is expected to sit out the UAAP’s Season 83 to serve residency but is expected to play in Season 84. He has transformed from being a barreling power forward in his high school days to become a small forward who can score inside-out in college. Meanwhile, Cometa is joining the San Beda Red Lions this school-year. He wowed the crowd in his rookie year of the CESAFI 2019 season primarily as a point guard off the bench who saw a lot of playing time in the end-game. He is known for his basketball IQ, and can comfortably slide to the off-guard spot whenever needed. He also creates spacing problems as he can shoot the triple.  

CESAFI 2019 Juniors MVP Casinillo stunned the local sports scene when the media announced that he was moving to the University of Sto. Tomas high school team. This caught the coaching staff and management of SHS-Ateneo flat-footed as he was still taking part in the online practice sessions and meetings of the team up until the breaking of the news. The floodgates opened as next to announce their transfers were Escobido and Cabañero who will join Casinillo at UST. Casinillo is a two-guard with a quick release of an outside shot who had averages of 14.3 points/game and 8.5 rebounds/game at the recent MYBL-Cebu. Escobido, who stands 6’2”, is a small forward following the footsteps of another Don Bosco alumnus named Dondon Hontiveros. He scored 10 points/game at the MYBL-Cebu, can shoot from the outside and is also a daring slasher. Cabañero, who averaged a double-double of identical 10.3 points and rebounds per game at the MYBL-Cebu, will be a 6’4” project for UST who has slowly but surely progressed as an inside player with a medium range shot. UST looks like they’re building an all-star cast from the Visayas as they also recruited five players from Iloilo. Montecillo is taking his act to the UPIS juniors team. He is a versatile wingman who was discovered in the Governor’s Cup while playing for his hometown Asturias.

Also moving to Manila is USJR high school graduate Kevin Guibao, a 6’3” forward who will seek a spot in the FEU Tamaraws program. The latest reports have Hontiveros’s son Isiah Blanco considering to wrap up his high school career in either UST, FEU or La Salle.

That’s six players making mid-career switches (possibly seven) and one regular/orthodox move. Will they be the last? Definitely not.