COLLINS Akowe is, without a doubt, the frontrunner to earn the foreign student-athlete (FSA) spot for University of Santo Tomas.

Heck, the spot may actually be his to lose if team insiders will be asked.

"Si Collins na yan. Yung galing nung bata, kita mo mula pa noong high school sa UAAP kaya diretso na yan sa Team A," the source told SPIN.ph.

Alfrancis Chua's stamp of approval is more than enough proof on the trust that the Growling Tigers have on the Nigerian center - meaning there should be no more question on who the spot belongs to.

That's despite Akowe only committing last week and has yet to really hit the ground running with his new team, as UST went to Bayugan City for the Mayor Kirk Asis Open Invitational Tournament.

The black-and-gold has been in the hunt for a replacement following the departure of Mo Tounkara, with a rotation of players filling in the FSA spot in various tournaments.

Peter Osang has seen action in the PlayTime Cares Filoil EcoOil 18th Preseason Cup presented by ABC Tile Adhesive, while he was joined by Joseph Kumbai in the trip to Agusan del Sur.

Nonetheless, there's still a few months before the opening of the UAAP Season 88 and for sure, coach Pido Jarencio will make the rookie out of NU-Nazareth School earn his spot before parading him with the rest of the España crew.

THE decision to play just two tune-up games before the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 stemmed from Gilas Pilipinas’ experience in the February window where the Filipinos put on a bad showing.

Gilas had three tune-up games in a pocket tournament in Doha before they played games against Chinese Taipei and New Zealand, both of which on the road, in the Asia Cup qualifiers.

Due to its compact schedule, the Philippines didn’t have enough practice time together, and the miles of travel to Taipei and Auckland for the actual games didn’t help, either.

“By the time they arrived in Auckland, the players were already exhausted. You can already see it even when they arrived at the airport,” said a source.

Though the travel for the FIBA Asia Cup won’t be as demanding as that last February window, Gilas still wants to be smart about its preparations.

Learning from that experience, national team coach Tim Cone insisted on getting more practice time for the players, which he eventually got with the scheduling of Monday practices that will now begin on July 7 while the PBA 49th Season Philippine Cup is ongoing.

Gilas will play a tune-up game against Macau Black Bears sometime in late July, but the match will be staged more for fans to draw support for the nationals. They will then play one more tune-up game before the Asia Cup proper that will start on May 5 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

But practice will be the top priority because, like they say, practice makes perfect.

ON paper, Mars Alba's exit from Choco Mucho wasn't quite the surprise that it turned out to be.

The most glaring sign of an impending setter departure was the Flying Titans' decision to draft a playmaker despite already having three of them in Alba, Deanna Wong, and Jem Ferrer.

SPIN.ph learned that Choco Mucho has always had its seventh overall pick allotted for the best available setter.

It was a head-scratcher for many at the time, given that there was a much bigger void for the team to fill with their depleted spiker core.

Former PVL MVP and captain Sisi Rondina is out for at least the end of the year to fulfill her Alas Pilipinas beach volleyball duties.

Dindin Santiago-Manabat (knee) and Kat Tolentino (ear), both of whom are still recovering from their respective injuries, both remain unavailable for the Flying Titans in the PVL on Tour.

As far as Alba is concerned, her new PVL team with a few familiar faces for her will be named in due course.

ALEC Stockton got away with a minor fine in the latest ‘shoe-palpal’ stunt pulled off in the PBA Philippine Cup.

The Converge guard, SPIN.ph learned, was only meted a penalty amounting to P3,400 for trying to use his sneaker in blocking the shot of rookie RJ Abarrientos during the all-Filipino quarterfinal matchup between the FiberXers and the Barangay Ginebra.

Originally, Stockton could have been meted a P20,000 fine for doing the same act originated by lanky big man Rico Maierhofer a decade ago during a game between San Miguel and Barako Bull.

But commissioner Willie Marcial explained that since the Maierhofer incident, the league decided to include the stunt under the technical fouls called on players, as per the PBA rule book.

“Nilagay na namin sa rule book ng PBA yun under technical fouls sa mga players,” he said. “Pero kung hindi pa nakalagay yun sa rule book, automatic na P20K fine yun tulad dati nung kay Maierhofer.”

So how come the total fine amounted to P3,400?

A check with the league showed Stockton has accumulated a total of four technicals in the conference, including the ‘shoe-palpal’ episode.

A first technical offense is fined P1,000, which accumulates to P1,600 on the second offense, P2,400 on the third, and P3,400 on the fourth.

Converge’s season ended on that same night, as the Gin Kings booted out the FiberXers, 88-80, which pegged Stockton’s fine at four in all.

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