6 teams would be competing in the 1st professional season of the Women’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League come June 29 2025.
No Place for Amateurs
During the inaugural season of the league which began last January 19 and ended last April 23, it featured 14 different teams which included 3 universities and 11 privately owned ball clubs.
Each team had a mix of veterans and players just starting their professional basketball careers.
In this pro-season though, there are no more first timers or even college teams invited to participate in the tournament.
The 6 teams competing are:
- Discovery-Rizal Perlas
- New Zealand Blufire-Batangas Valkyries
- San Juan Lady Knights
- Tagaytay-Tol Patriots
- Solar-Pangasinan Home Suns
- RK Hoops-Quezon City
Backed Up by Different Government Officials
Each team now represents different provinces/city which are all connected to government officials/entities that are sponsoring them.
Interestingly, the ‘Tol Patriots may have relocated their team in contrast to earlier reports where the squad would remain in Cavite which was backed up by Senator Francis “Tol” Tolentino. In the inaugural season, the team was called the “Cavite ‘Tol Patriots.”
Sunday Double-Header and Tournament Format
The first set of games will be played on June 29 (Sunday) at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
It will feature New Zealand Blufire-Batangas Valkyries versus Tagaytay-Tol Patriots at 6:00 PM and RK Hoops-Quezon City going up against Solar-Pangasinan Home Suns at 8:00 PM
Though the full list of schedules, players and coaches aren’t released yet, we have seen 5 teams compete in the inaugural season with only Quezon City being the newest team to play in the league.
Sadly, Pilipinas Aguilas and UST Growling Tigers are not anymore competing in the pro-season. It can be recalled that the Aguilas won the thrilling Do-or-Die Game 3 Finals against the Growling Tigers which featured Alexis Pana as the Finals MVP.
This time, the tournament will feature a double round-robin format. And at the end of the elimination round, both the #1 and #2 teams will automatically be given a semifinals berth.
On the other hand, teams that holds the #3 and #4 seed will have a twice to beat advantage against the #5 and #6 seeded teams for the quarterfinals matchup.
Both the semifinals and finals will be played in a best-of-three series format.
