The last time PBA adapted a two-group format, this happened

Will it be deja vu for the Hotshots?

IT’S been a while since the PBA changed things up and introduced a new format.

Moving away from the traditional single-round robin eliminations, the season-opening Governors’ Cup has divided the house into two brackets playing teams in the same pool twice and teams from the other group once.

This separation saw San Miguel and Ginebra get bracketed in Group B together with Blackwater, NLEX, Phoenix, Rain or Shine, while defending Governors’ Cup champion TNT is drawn with the new Philippine Cup titlist Meralco in Group A with Converge, Magnolia, NorthPort, and Terrafirma.

And unlike in the past seasons, the teams will be ranked within their own groups, with only the top four from each pool advancing to the crossover quarterfinals.

It’s a daring move for the league in dire need of a spark, but this isn’t the first time that the PBA tried to shake up the norm.

The last time the league separated teams into two groups was in the 2014 Philippine Cup when the PBA still had 10 teams.

And curiously, a lot of similarities happened a decade ago.

Just like in this upcoming conference, Ginebra, Petron Blaze (now-San Miguel), and Rain or Shine were in the same pool in Group A, together with now-defunct teams Air21 and Alaska.

On the other hand, Talk ‘N Text, Meralco, San Mig Super Coffee (now-Magnolia), and GlobalPort (now-NorthPort) were in Group B with Barako Bull.

All 10 squads, though, were still ranked together and saw Ginebra and Rain or Shine finish with identical 11-3 win-loss records to snare the twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals.

Sophomore June Mar Fajardo won his first Best Player of the Conference award in that conference, but his three-seed Petron Blaze squad bowed to the Elasto Painters in the semifinals five games.

San Mig Coffee, coached by Tim Cone and leaning on the leadership of James Yap, Peter June Simon, Marc Pingris, hurdled Ginebra in a classic seven-game series before taking down Rain or Shine in six games in the championship.

Marc Barroca went on to win the Finals MVP honors as the Coffee Mixers earned the second of their four straight crowns in what would be their grand slam feat in the 2014 season.

Barroca, Ian Sangalang, and Rafi Reavis remain the only remnants of that team which included Joe Devance, Alex Mallari, Justin Melton, Val Acuna, JR Cawaling, Lester Alvarez, Yancy de Ocampo, Isaac Holstein, and Jerwin Gaco.

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The format that is set to be adopted for this upcoming conference, however, was last seen way back in the 2003 Reinforced Conference.

The PBA’s 10 teams were divided into two groups of five, playing teams in the same group twice and the other once, with the top four advancing to the crossover best-of-three quarterfinals. This was followed by a best-of-five semis and a best-of-seven championship series.

Sta. Lucia, led by the trio of Kenneth Duremdes, Marlou Aquino, and Dennis Espino and coached by Alfrancis Chua, topped Group A with an 8-5 card, followed by FedEx (5-8), San Miguel (5-8), and Alaska (4-9). Purefoods (4-9) was knocked out of the group.

Group B, though, was more competitive.

Yeng Guiao’s Red Bull, banking on Willie Miller, Davonn Harp, and import Scott Burrell, and Chot Reyes’ Coca-Cola, leaning on Jeffrey Cariaso, Rudy Hatfield, and reinforcement Tee McClary, ended up tied at first with their 11-2 records. Ginebra (7-6) and Talk ‘N Text (7-6) caught the last two spots with Shell (3-10) being bounced.

It was a competitive playoffs which saw Sta. Lucia and San Miguel meet in the semis and Talk ‘N Text and Coca-Cola progressing in the other bracket. Kwan Johnson towed the Jong Uichico-mentored Beermen to a stunning sweep of the Realtors, while the potent Tigers also blew out the Phone Pals in three games to set up the finals.

Coca-Cola, however, proved to be the better team in seven games with McClary taking home the Best Import award, Hatfield being named the BPC, and Cariaso the Finals MVP in the series. It was a sweet redemption for the Tigers which finished bridesmaids in the past two conferences as the squad won the crown in the season-ending conference.

Also part of that champion team were Johnny Abarrientos, Bong Hawkins, Poch Juinio, Freddie Abuda, Rafi Reavis, Rob Wainwright, Reynel Hugnatan, Gilbert Lao, Will Antonio, Leo Avenido, Ato Morano, and Cris Bolado