CSB, Letran climb Pinoyliga rankings
MANILA, Philippines – College of St. Benilde and Letran were the biggest movers in the second week of the first The Big Dance power 40 rankings done by a selection committee of the Pinoyliga released on Wednesday, June 5.
From the No. 5 spot, the Blazers have jumped to third place following big wins against NCAA defending champion San Beda University, 71-69, and Lyceum of the Philippines University, 95-89, this past week in the 2024 Filoil EcoOil Pre Season Cup.
That two victories of CSB was actually now part of a six-game win streak after losing its opening game against Letran (80-71). With a 6-1 record, the Taft-based team is currently on top of the NCAA bracket of the Filoil EcoOil.
On the other hand, Letran emerged as this week’s biggest mover with solid performances in both Pinoyliga Collegiate Cup and Filoil EcoOil as the Knights moved up to No. 4 — ahead of NCAA nemesis Red Lions — as they improved from their 16th spot in the initial rankings.
After a 0-2 start, Letran has now stitched together a six-game streak with one game left to play on its elimination round schedule — against Emilio Aguinaldo College — in Filoil EcoOil for a second-best 6-3 card in the NCAA division; while in Pinoyliga, the Knights recently downed the Far Eastern University Tamaraws, 68-62, to improve their record to 4-4 in Group B.
Still at 1-2 in the power 40 rankings are University of the Philippines at No. 1 and De La Salle University at No. 2, as the Fighting Maroons are 8-0 in Pinoyliga and 7-0 in Filoil EcoOil, while the Green Archers sport an 8-0 and 5-2 slates in the two leagues.
“It’s an interesting week for college basketball because after seeing the results from different tournaments, some teams have moved up, some have stepped a level or two down as we keep track of various basketball programs in the country,” said Pinoyliga chief Benny Benitez.
Meanwhile, some of the small programs like Enderun College and Guang Ming College have also made moves as they cracked the top 15 with wins over established NCAA programs like San Beda and University of Perpetual Help System DALTA, respectively.
The EC Titans are at No. 10 while behind them are the GM Flying Dragons at the 11th
