FTW: Doug Kramer's thoughts on UAAP schools importing big men

Former Ateneo Blue Eagle and current member of the Barako Bull Energy Cola in the PBA Doug Kramer does not support the practice of colleges and universities importing foreign big men to play varsity hoops.

More imports in the UAAP means less development and exposure for local big men. Sayang

— Doug Kramer (@DougKramer44) June 29, 2013

Kramer tweeted out during the UAAP's opening weekend, "More imports in the UAAP means less development and exposure for local big men. Sayang."

On a recent episode of FTW, Kramer reiterated his point, saying, "There's a shortage of quality big men in the PBA. It's not being helpful if at the most important developmental stage…if you wanna go pro, where you need all the exposure and the confidence you need to make the pros, you see that teams are recruiting imports for their teams.

"I think that's pretty unfair for the local big men. I'm glad that I'm not playing [in the UAAP] right now cause I know the coaches will always pick the imports, cause they recruited them all the way from their home countries. Ginastusan na, so gagamitin talaga sila, so kawawa yung mga big men."
 
Kramer added that the heavy minutes given to foreign players affect the draft stock of locals who want to get into the pros, pointing out, "Mapipili ka ba sa draft kung naglalaro ka lang ng 10 minutes? Even if you have five playing years, yung import mo every year may pumapalit parin sa position [mo].

"You can see that a lot of big men are working hard, but how can they showcase what they have if they don't even play?"

Kramer is referring to the practice of schools going out of their way to seek out tall foreign big men to add to their ranks. He said that if it so happens that a student who came to play for a local university is tall, and happens to want to play basketball, he has no problem with that.

The 6'5" power forward added that he similarly has no problem with someone like his own university's Kirk Long, who studied for many years in the Philippines, before entering Ateneo.

Currently in the UAAP and NCAA, teams are allowed two foreign students (those without Philippine blood) per roster, but with the kicker that they cannot play on the court at the same time as each other.

The trend really took off when the NCAA's San Beda College Red Lions won multiple championships with Nigerian center Sam Ekwe. As the panel pointed out, because local big men are so scarce, other teams began recruiting foreign bigs in order to match up.

Other members of the panel argued that teams with skilled local big men would not go out of their way to replace them with foreigners, saying that talent would win out. Another former Blue Eagle, Jai Reyes, and the show's host, Mico Halili also were adamantly against a total ban on foreign players.

Said Halili, "Regardless of nationality, they [foreign players] have equal rights to play in the varsity team.

"I don't think I can support yung pipigilan sila just because they're imports. Basta naka-enroll ka sa school, you should be able to play if you're qualified."

Despite that argument though, the NCAA has reportedly gone ahead and instituted a recruitment ban that will begin in December 2013. That means any foreign player enrolled starting after that month will not be allowed to play in the league.



The UAAP currently has no plans of instituting a similar restriction. Right now, five of its eight schools have a total of six foreign big men between them manning their center spot. Of course, to Kramer's argument, none of them though will be drafted in the PBA.

What are your thoughts on this argument? Should foreign players be allowed to represent their schools in UAAP/NCAA events? Let us know in the comments below. - Renee Fopalan / AMD / OMG, GMA News