A BIGGER and grander season is ready for take-off as the 2012 Sun Cellular E-League for Basketball gets underway this Sunday at the City Sports Club-Cebu Gym.
The annual tournament will now have 21 squads this year compared to the 16 last year.
“The league continues to blossom because this league was not created to generate income but to promote the City Sports Club-Cebu and to help develop basketball,” said tournament director Rey Fuentes in yesterday’s launching of the league’s eighth season.
For this year, the league will have a new commissioner in former PBA player Al Solis.
The league will now also be handled by referees accredited by the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas, the country’s governing body for basketball.
The 21 teams will include 15 returning teams led by defending champion Stream Ingenyouity (formerly Blue Devils), Eperformax Reds, Calltek Trojans, Aegis Trojans, Supportsave Jaguars (formerly Dragons), Teletech Titans, SSI Pure Science (formerly Western Wats Opinionology), Accenture Sharks, Convergys Wolves, Qualfon Knights, JP Morgan Chase Co. Bankers, Xlibris Publishers, Lexmark Stallions, Kyocera Frontiers and Executive Boutique Lycans (formerly Tarantulas).
Returning teams are 1&1 Marauders, Cebu Global Warriors and the league’s inaugural champions Sykes Pioneers.
League neophytes are the Teleperformance Lions, Odusee Rooz and ELI Global Underdogs.
The competing teams will be divided into two groups with JP Morgan, Convergys, Eperformax, Calltek, Kyocera, Stream, Aegis, Executive Boutique, 1&1, Qualfon and Xlibris composing the northern conference.
Comprising the southern conference are Lexmark, Accenture, Teleperformance, Teletech, Odusee, SSI, Sykes, ELI Global, Supportsave and Cebu Global./EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CALVIN D. CORDOVA