The local Barracudas have seen very little playing in the last two seasons of the ASEAN Basketball League. Every ABL team has seven locals on the roster as required by the league.

The Barracudas currently lie in fifth place on the table and have a 3-8 win-loss record. They have little chance of qualifying for the playoffs. Only the top four qualify.

As a basketball fan, the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) is surely a great development in the local and regional basketball scene. Pitting the best teams in the region against each other, it is the ASEAN basketball equivalent of football’s Champions League, where the best in Europe play-off for the prestigious European title.

In ABL, the home and away system introduces fans to quality international basketball at their home arenas. Since the teams carry the name of their countries and fans often bring nationalism elements in supporting their teams, this would then raise this question: How much really are the local players of each team involved in their teams’ quest for success?

ABL rule permits teams to have a maximum of 5 foreign players consisting of two international and three ASEAN imports. Philippines have been known as a basketball powerhouse in the region, so as a casual observer I think it is not too far off to assume that teams would use two US players and three Filipino players. Just with that rule alone teams can have an all-foreign starting lineups.

From data available on the ABL official site I’ve chosen to pick a sample of games played during weeks 7, 8, and 9. In a full basketball game the total minutes played by players will be 4 quarters x 10 mins x 5 players = 200 total minutes played. From the box score I added up below, the fraction of minutes played by the local players and compared it against the total 200 mins played.

For example, if Satria Muda played its locals for 100 minutes out of total 200, they would have played their locals for 50% of the time. Statistics for the Philippines Patriots are not included in this analysis.

Week 7 results:
Brunei Barracudas (20mins, 10%) vs Singapore Slingers (54mins, 27%)
Brunei Barracudas (6mins, 3%) vs Thailand Slammers (98 mins, 49%)
Satria Muda (60mins, 30%) vs KL Dragons (57mins, 29%)
Singapore Slingers (48mins, 24%) vs Philippine Patriots (N/A)

Week 8 results:
Satria Muda (60mins, 30%) vs Brunei Barracudas (2mins, 1%)
Thailand Slammers (77mins, 39%) vs Philippine Patriots (N/A)
Singapore Slingers (47mins, 24%) vs Brunei Barracudas (8mins, 4%)

Week 9 results:
Thailand Slammers (96mins, 48%) vs Satria Muda (71mins, 36%)
KL Dragons (59 mins, 30%) vs Philippine Patriots (N/A)

A more thorough analysis would include all the games played, but I think it is reasonable to draw some insights from these 3 weeks. On average, teams other than the Patriots played their locals about 25 percent of the time. The Slammers have been doing a pretty good job mixing up their rotations, with the Dragons, Satria Muda, and Slingers following in a tight pack. The Barracudas’ numbers are startling: facing SMB, they only played their local player for 2 minutes!

This question is raised because ABL mandates that teams “maintain a strong youth development program to ensure the long term growth of the sport in the ASEAN region.” So that goal has to be put into question when teams are playing their local players for only a quarter of the total minutes available each game.

The goal of any competition is to make players better by playing against better players and gain more experience in the process. That learning experience is best earned when players are thrown in the heat of the battle. Obviously you cannot do that by watching from the bench, though some can still argue that it is already exposure in itself by training with the foreign imports. Even so, there is a world of difference between training with imports and playing against them in a competition.

With the imports switching teams within the league and remain being the go-to guys in their teams, it seems like the local players are getting pushed to the side. I am not against the use of internationals as they undoubtedly raise the overall quality of play, but I do believe that more conscious effort need to be put into to involve their local players in order to truly develop them through this league.

Marcus Skinner of the Slingers shoots over Barracuda Chris Commons. Skinner led the Slingers with 25 points. (Photo © Lee Suening/Courtesy of ABL)

Brunei, Wednesday, November 10, 2010 — The Singapore Slingers finally nailed their first victory on the road when they beat hosts Brunei Barracudas 81-74 in Round 7 of the ASEAN Basketball League.

Barracudas were led by Chris Commons who had a massive 37-point game, but despite double-digit scoring contributions from Ramsey Williams (15 points) and Chester Tolomia (11), the team finally ran out of steam while playing with only a six-man roster.

Commons, Tolomia and Williams played all 40 minutes of the game while Chris Garnett (36:04) and Bryan Faundo (26:11) were the only other Barracudas who saw major minutes. Esmond Tan was the only other Barracuda with any playing time with 19:47.

The Slingers, by contrast, utilised their whole 10-man roster as they were led by Marcus Skinner with 25 points. Kyle Jeffers contributed a double-double to the Slingers win with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
The Slingers improve their win-loss record to 4-3 while the Barracudas drop to 2-5.

It was a close game which saw the lead change hands eight times with the Slingers holding a two-point advantage at half time at 38-36.

With the game tied at 65-65 at 5:33 on the clock in the fourth quarter, the Slingers embarked on a 14-5 run. This gave them the largest lead of the game of nine points at 79-70 with 2:09 left in the game. Unlike their previous game against Satria Muda, they did not let their lead slip and closed out the victory.

The Slingers return home to entertain the league-leading Philippine Patriots (5-1) on Sunday, November 14th, while the Barracudas will host the Thailand Slammers (4-2) on Saturday, November 13th.

For more stats, go to next page

Brunei, Saturday, November 6, 2010 — The Brunei Barracudas worked off the frustration from their blowout loss to the KL Dragons last weekend to hand the league’s best team, the Philippine Patriots, a 71-56 defeat in Round 6 of the ASEAN Basketball League.

This was the first defeat for the Patriots after they had won their opening five games of the season. They fall to 5-1 while the Barracudas improve to 2-4.

The Patriots were all at sea in the first quarter, scoring only two points while Chris Commons, Bryan Faundo and Christopher Garnett of the Barracudas collectively made 16 points.

Thunderous crowd chants together with the Barradrummers amplified the visibly shakened Patriots’ plight. However, with the guidance of Coach Louie Alas, the Patriots rallied back in the second quarter. A huge 3-pointer from Ernesto Billiones coupled with the combined efforts of Chito Jaime, Donald Little and Santiago Cabatu gathered 19 points against the Barracudas 12. The Patriots were quickly learning how to swim in the Barracudas’ sea, trailing only by by seven (21-28) at the half.

The third quarter though was an entirely different story. With deadly intent, Ramsey Williams, wearing jersey number 35 for the Barracudas, delivered 3-pointer upon 3-pointer which even the Patriots’ well-known defensive prowess could not stop. Williams sank three of his four 3-pointers in the third quarter to lead the Barracudas to a 51-36 lead at the end of the third as the Patriots were out-scored 23-15.

The fourth quarter was a see-saw battle with both teams scoring 20 points but their poor first quarter eventually cost the Patriots the game.

The Patriots will need to work on their long range shooting as they only made 3 out of 19 attempts (16%). The In contrast, the Barracudas sank 8 out 28 3-pointers (29%) but the difference between the two teams was in the area of assists, with the Barracudas notching 13, while the Patriots only had six.

Ramsey Williams led with 23 points for the Barracudas while Patriots’ Billiones had 19 points. Donald Little had a double-double, 11-point, 12-rebound showing for the Patriots.

The Barracudas will next entertain the visiting Singapore Slingers (3-3) on Wednesday, November 10th. The Slingers will then return home to welcome the Patriots on Sunday, November 14th.

For more stats, go to next page

Alex Hartman led the Dragons with a game-high 24 points and 7 rebounds. (Photo 1 courtesy of ABL)

Kuala Lumpur, Saturday, October 30, 2010 — The KL Dragons thrashed the Brunei Barracudas 87-48 in an ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) game that was called off early in the fourth quarter after the Barracudas were left with only one player on court.

Barracudas’ key imports Chris Commons and Chester Tolomia were not given the go-ahead to play in the game while head coach Bong Ramos was also not allowed to take his place court side.

The Barracudas flew into Kuala Lumpur on Thursday with seven players already suffering the contagious eye infection, according to the Brunei Times.

According to a source who spoke with the Brunei-based team, the Barracudas did the responsible thing and informed their opponents that their players were down with conjunctivitis. The Barracudas requested for a postponement but were turned down by the Dragons, added the source.

However, according to the Kuhan Foo, the chief executive officer of the ABL, “The case was brought up to us by the medical unit of the Dragons who saw the Barracudas players and coach in training wearing dark glasses.”

“I do not believe there was discussion on postponement with the Dragons,” added Kuhan in an email reply to Red Hoops. “The Barracudas had enough players to play (but) unfortunately they arrived in KL with a small squad of 9 players and their two imports were still infected which meant those two could not play. With a small team like Brunei that has no bench strength this is unfortunate.”

The Brunei Times however quoted Barracudas team manager Benny Ang as having put in a request for a postponement.

“We actually requested the ABL to postpone the game but they have their reasons not to. We respect that decision,” Ang was quoted as saying in the Brunei Times.

“We saw the doctor this morning (Saturday) and he said it was fine for them to play as it is not contagious. But ABL didn’t allow them into the stadium. They have their reasons and we respect that,” added Ang.

Kuhan also referred to a similar medical case involving the Singapore Slingers in the first season.

“Singapore Slingers last year also played the Patriots in Manila with an understrength team when some players were down with chicken pox and were quarantined. This is just part and parcel of sports. All teams must be fully prepared for any eventuality. We can’t postpone a game simply because a team turns up at a game with a small squad and has no contingency for reserves,” said Kuhan.

The decision to disallow the two Barracuda players and the head coach was made at a final medical checkup at 5pm on the day of the game, after an initial one at 1pm.

The game eventually went ahead with the Barracudas down to seven players. In the ABL, teams travel with only 10 players. The Barracudas were up against a full 12-man roster and got into foul trouble progressively with six players fouling out eventually.

The game was finally abandoned in the fourth quarter with 7:55 left when Lim Aik Hock fouled out, leaving his team with just one player. FIBA rules state that the game continues unless a team is down to only one remaining player.

This has led to some fans from both teams expressing dissatisfaction that the game was allowed to continue.

Allan Lee, a Dragons fan, said on the ABL Facebook page: “I am not happy about our (Dragons) win today against the Barracudas because they were not complete and them being victims of a bad decision of the ABL.”

Another ABL fan, Anthony Gabriel, felt this was not good for the league’s reputation.

“I’m not a dragons fan nor (sic) a barracudas fan, but the integrity of the entire league is at stake. No one likes this to happened. Even the NBA or PBA won’t allow this some sort of mockery. there must be a RE-PLAY,” he wrote on the ABL Facebook page.

For Kuhan Foo, safety concerns were his priority.

“The Brunei players were cleared to play as healthy individuals BUT some were still infected with conjunctivitis which could also infect other players on the court. This was based on a medical report from the doctor that examined the team. This doctor was picked by the Barracudas themselves. Efforts were made to assist the Brunei team including a check up with an eye specialist at the ABL’s cost which was declined by the Barracudas,” wrote Kuhan on the ABL Facebook page.

“These unfortunate incidences are part and parcel of sports and most definitely nothing to do with any conspiracy theories. I assume the high emotional state of the Brunei team did not allow them to digest the facts that was clearly presented to them. I do not think it would be wise for anyone in any scenario to put other individuals at risk to cause intentional infection,” added Kuhan.

The win allowed the Dragons to improve to a 2-3 win-loss record while the Barracudas drop to 1-4. The Dragons next play the Thailand Slammers (3-2) on Sunday, November 7th while the Barracudas will entertain the Philippine Patriots (5-0) at home on Saturday, November 6th.

For more stats, go to next page

Ramsey Williams of the Barracudas goes for two. He finished with 9 points. (Photo 1 by Rogelio Amat, courtesy of ABL)

Jakarta, Saturday, October 23, 2010 — The visiting Brunei Barracudas won their first game of the ASEAN Basketball League season when they beat home team Satria Muda 87-70.

The Barracudas were led by Chris Commons who scored a game-high 36 points. Commons also had two teammates contributed a double-double each, with Chris Garnett scoring 18 points and 21 rebounds, while Bryan Faundo had 16 and 17.

After losing their first three games of the season, the Barracudas welcomed back former head coach Bong Ramos to lead the team again.

Bong said that he just had three session of practice with his team before facing Satria Muda.

“I just told the players my philosophy in basketball at first practice. Then I just organizing small things in offense so that they can execute well. In my opinion if I can make the field goal up to 40 percent, we will win this game and actually my prediction is right,” said Bong after the game. The Barracudas shot 42% (34-of-81) from field-goal range.

Bong watched Satria Muda play against Slammers last weekend but he said he was not spying on Satria Muda.

“Barracudas asked me to join on Monday. I had some business to do last week [in Jakarata],” he continued.

Chris Commons said the presence of Bong made the offense run well.

“It seems that I could scored very easy but it wasn’t. It’s just my teammate helped me much to got the open space to execute like the coach asked,” said Commons.

Satria Muda assistant coach Tri Adnyanaadi Lokatanaya said that their strategy didn’t run well.

“We planned to make one of the Barracudas starters foul out by attacking straight to the basket individually. But they managed to escape the foul until the end of the game,” he said.

The Barracudas improve to a 1-3 win-loss record while Satria Muda have now lost two games in a row and fall to 1-3.

The Barracudas will travel to Kuala Lumpur next to face the Dragons on Saturday, October 30th while Satria Muda will face the unbeaten Philippine Patriots in Manila on the same day.

Go to next page for more stats

The Barracudas (yellow) almost beat the Patriots in regulation time but fell short in overtime. (Photo courtesy of ABL)

Brunei, Saturday, October 16, 2010 — The Brunei Barracudas saw a six-point lead with 26 seconds to go in regulation time disappear when Santiago Jr Cabatu sank two consecutive three-pointers to even things up at 61-61 at the buzzer. In overtime, the Barracudas were outscored 11-6 and lost their first ASEAN Basketball League home game 67-72.

The Patriots led by as many as 10 points early in the fourth quarter but the Barracudas tied it up with a Chester Tolomia three-pointer at 55-55 with 4:40 to go.

The Barracudas then kept their noses in front of the Patriots and with less than a minute to go, established a five-point, 60-55 lead on the back of two Williams Ramsey free throws. Another Chris Commons free throw with 24 seconds left gave them a six-point, 61-55 lead but the Patriots replied with Cabatu’s two three-pointers to push the game into overtime.

The Patriots jumped out in front in overtime and led by four at 65-61. The Barracudas tied it up at 67-67 via another Tolomia three-pointer but it was Patriots all the way after that.

Chris Commons led the Barracudas with a double-double, 17-point, 11-rebound performance. Four Barracudas were in double-figures — Commons (17), Tolomia (15), Bryan Faundo (14), Ramsey (14).

They were matched by the Patriots, with Cabatu (16), Ernesto Billiones (14), Donald Little (14) and Benedict III Fernandez (11) in double figures as well. Little also had a double-double with his 13 rebounds.

The win was the Patriots’ third consecutive and they have a spotless 3-0 win-loss record while the luckless Barracudas fall to 0-3.

The Patriots will next play the unbeaten Thailand Slammers in a top-of-the-table clash while the Barracudas will get on a plane to visit Satria Muda in Jakarta.

Bangkok, Saturday, October 9, 2010 — The Thailand Slammers notched their second consecutive victory of the new ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) season with a 17-point, 76-59 victory over the visiting Brunei Barracudas.

The Slammers improve to a 2-0 win-loss record after winning their opening game against the KL Dragons last weekend at home. For the Barracudas, this is their second loss in a row and they fall to 0-2.

The Slammers were led by Chris Kuete’s 33 points and eight rebounds, pulling away in the 4th quarter to make it a blow out as the Barracudas paid the price for having 19 turnovers.

It was the Barracudas who jumped out to a better start, surging to an early 16–6 lead with back-to-back 3-pointers by Chester Tolomia. But it was the combination of Chris Kuete and Jason Dixon that made sure the Slammers only trailed by three (21-24) at the end of the 1st quarter, with Kuete recording nine 1st quarter points.

Dixon showed solid interior defense as the Slammers outscored the Barracudas 25-15 in the 2nd quarter. Kuete continued to fill up the stats sheet with 20 points and seven rebounds and the Slammers got out in front to take a 46–39 lead at the end of the 1st half.

After a fast-paced 1st half, both teams had difficulties finding the basket but Barracudas were able to erase the deficit behind Chris Common’s aggressive plays. However, when trailing by just two at 49-51, the Barracudas lost focus and gave away three possessions in the final minute of the 3rd quarter to allow the Slammers to end the quarter with a 56-49 lead.

The Barracudas continue their sloppy play by turning the ball over in the final quarter and showing no signs of a fighting spirit, allowing the Slammers to pull away and earn their second victory of the season.

Besides Chris Kuete, Piyapong Piroon recorded 13 points for the Slammers while Dixon had a poor offensive night, scoring just five points on 2-of-14 shooting. However, Dixon made up for that with eight rebounds and two blocks.

Chris Commons recorded a double-double for the Barracudas with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but fellow Chris Garnett had a sub-par game with 14 points but nine turnovers.

The Slammers will now take to the road and travel to Jakarta to take on Satria Muda in their next game on Saturday, October 16th. The Barracudas now go back to Brunei for their first home game of the season against the unbeaten Philippine Patriots.

Pasig City, Saturday, October 2, 2010 — A new-look Philippine Patriots started off slowly but eventually triumphed 71-62 over the visiting Brunei Barracudas on the opening day of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).

The Patriots nearly squandered a 12-point lead when the Barracudas went on a scoring spree in the final period but former University of Santo Tomas star Allen Maliksi rose to the occasion to help the team weather the late Barracudas charge.

Maliksi provided the killing blow for the squad co-owned by Harbour Centre boss Mikee Romero and Tony Boy Cojuangco by hitting a huge basket before completing a three-point play.

Those baskets enabled the defending champions to pull away for good to the delight of the crowd.

The win likewise enabled the Patriots to forge a three-way tie for the early lead with the Thailand Slammers and the Singapore Slingers.

The Slammers, behind reinforcements Chris Kuete and former Patriots import Jason Dixon, defeated the KL Dragons in overtime, 79-74, last Saturday while the Slingers edged past last year’s runner-up Satria Muda BritAma of Indonesia, 94-93, also last night.

“We we’re very sluggish defensively. We were up by 12 points (43-31 in the third quarter) and suddenly it became a one-point lead,” said Patriots head coach Louie Alas. “We still don’t have the desire to play defense. Like I told them earlier, don’t make this into a showcase.” 


The Patriots survived a gallant showing by the Barracudas, powered by the massive heft of the bulky Chris Garnett who finished with 23 points and nine rebounds in a no-relief showing.

Anthony Johnson registered a game-high 24 points and 12 rebounds while dishing out three assists in 36 minutes of action. He helped the Patriots take a commanding lead in the second quarter highlighted by two breakaway dunks to take a 39-31 lead at the half.

His partner, 6-foot-11 center Donald Little, overcame a sluggish debut in the paint to finish with 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Alas hopes to see a better showing from him when they battle the Singapore Slingers on Saturday at the same venue.

Ex-pro Junjun Cabatu led all locals in scoring by making all of his nine points in the first quarter as he helped the Patriots overcome a poor start to grab a slim 21-20 advantage.

Also providing the spark were Erwin Sta Maria with nine points and three boards, fellow holdover from last season’s title squad in Warren Ybanez who had three points, five rebounds and six assists and big man Chito Jaime with three points and six boards.

Chris Commons had 15 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and three steals, ex-Letran Knight Bryan Faundo made 11 points and 13 boards and guard Kevin White chipped in 10 markers for the Barracudas.

Scoring by Quarters
Patriots vs Barracudas
1st Q: 21-20
2nd Q: 18-11 (39-31)
3rd Q: 15-16 (54-47)
4th Q: 17-15 (71-62)

Patriots 71 – Johnson 24, Little 11, Cabatu 9, Sta Maria 9, Billones 5, Maliksi 5, Ybanez 3, Jaime 3, Fernandez 2, Salangsang 0, Sta Cruz 0, Alcaraz 0.

Barracudas 62 – Garnett 23, Commons 15, Faundo 11, White 10, Tan 3, Tolomia 0, Fong 0, Suhaili 0, Lim 0.

Ed’s note: Full box scores are not available because the organisers said the system went down.

The Brunei Barracudas sport a new logo for the upcoming season.

Monday, September 13, 2010 — The Brunei Barracudas filled their last import slot with small forward Filipino Bryan Faundo, reported the Brunei Times.

Faundo played for the Barako Coffee Masters in the 2010 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) season where he averaed 0.9 points and 6.3 minutes over 9 games.

Faundo joins fellow Filipinos Chester Tolomia and Kevin White on the roster to fill out the three ASEAN import slots.

White featured in 21 games for the Barangay Ginebra Kings in the 2010 PBA season, averaging 5 points and 14.6 minutes per game.

The Barracudas have also brought in Americans Chris Commons and Kenny Boyd to fill out their two international import slots.

The Brunei Times also reported that American Ozell Wells, the former national coach of Yemen, will coach the Barracudas.

The Barracudas open their season on October 3rd in an away game against the Philippine Patriots.