Sam Ekwe's Legacy to Philippine Basketball: A Big Start of Dominance of Foreign Student-Athletes

See the big guy at the rightmost of the picture above?

For those who aren't familiar, that is Sam Ekwe. And for the fans of the San Beda Red Lions, that name surely rings a bell.

Prior to 2006, the Red Lions haven't won a championship since 1978 which coincidentally came at the expense of the Ateneo Blue Eagles who held a record 14 championships in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)- a record of course, that San Beda would break later on. In other words, it was a very long 28-year wait for San Beda faithful before they could celebrate another championship and the Red Lions didn't just win a championship. They dominated the Season 82 of the NCAA. 

Prior to 2006, the Red Lions had 11 championships in the seniors' division. Prior to that year, it was either the Letran Knights or the Philippine Christian University (PCU) Dolphins who would contend for the NCAA championship on a yearly basis. Prior to Season 82, the Red Lions weren't the same Red Lions side that we know as the winningest team in the NCAA. 

Sam Ekwe's arrival in 2006 changed the world for the Red Lions and eventually, for the Philippine basketball. The six-foot-eight big man from Nigeria was brought into the picture by then San-Beda Head Coach Koy Banal who knew that if San Beda wanted to regain supremacy in the NCAA, the team would need a dominant big man. And that's exactly what San Beda: a truly dominant force in Ekwe who won the Rookie of the Year and the Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards right in his first season. And of course, he and Finals MVP Yousif Aljamal went on to lead San Beda to their first championship since 1978 after beating the Dolphins in the NCAA Finals that went the distance. 

The Red Lions went on to win two more NCAA championships with Sam Ekwe making opponents scratch their heads.

And that was only the beginning.

In 2010, Daniel Sudan came to San Beda and did what Ekwe started off: help the Red Lions keep their status as King of the NCAA jungle. And the Red Lions did it in such a dominant fashion that nobody thought it would be done again. That was until last year (more on that later on). The Red Lions swept the 16-game elimination round to earn an outright berth to the NCAA Finals which gave them a thrice-to-beat advantage-  which they didn't throw away as San Beda beat the San Sebastian Stags in two games. Sudan did not win only the season MVP but also the Finals MVP award. The Red Lions went on to complete a rare five-peat even without a dominant force down low. 

In 2015, the change that Sam Ekwe started nine years back, has started to materialize as Allwell Oraeme went on to win the Rookie of the Year and the MVP awards while playing for the Mapua Cardinals. He also won the Defensive Player of the Year award while also being named to the Mythical Team along with another foreign student-athlete in Bright Akhuetie- then playing for the University of Perpetual Help Altas. And yes, that is the same Bright Akhuetie who won the MVP award two seasons ago in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines while leading the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons to their first trip to the UAAP Finals since 1986. 

By Season 92 of the NCAA, more and more foreign student-athletes were winning awards in the NCAA as four of the five Mythical Team members were foreign student-athletes.

And speaking of the UAAP, they had Alfred Aroga of the National Unversity Bulldogs, Karim Abdul of the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers, just to name a few but perhaps, Ben Mbala's arrival to the De La Salle Green Archers switched things up in the UAAP as Mbala's La Salle was dominant during Season 79 of the UAAP as they came within a win away of sweeping the elimination rounds only to lose to the Blue Eagles of Coach Tab Baldwin in their final game of the eliminations.  Even with that setback, La sale won the title under Coach Aldin Ayo who had Mbala, Jeron Teng, Ricci Rivero, Thomas Torres, among others. Mbala went on to win two MVP awards before leaving abruptly in 2016 shortly after La Salle lost to Ateneo in the Finals. 

And from that point on, it was a royal rumble as all UAAP teams have gotten themselves a foreign student-athlete but none came close to the dominance of Angelo Kouame of the  Blue Eagles, Bright Akhuetie now playing for UP, and the reigning MVP in Soulemane Chabi-Yo. As a matter of fact, Kouame's being a defensive workhorse played a critical role in the 16-0 run of the Blue Eagles last year- en route to their third straight championships in four years.

Come to think of it: if Sam Ekwe went on to study to become a priest rather than going to San Beda, would the Red Lions be as dominant as they became in the last decade? Could the rest of the field implore the idea of recruiting foreign student-athletes if Sam Ekwe didn't happen? 

For one, the Philippine basketball, at least in the collegiate level, got more competitive thanks to the arrival of Kouame and company and whether we like it or not, that is Sam Ekwe's legacy: he introduced a bigger brand of basketball to the Filipino fans.  Some may like it while some may not but either way, Sam Ekwe started it off. It might be over the NCAA but in the UAAP, it's another story. 

Photo is from ABS CBN Sports