PREVIEW | THE 2002 MBA STATS

A couple of days ago, I was planning to write a prelude for the upcoming PBA season. But then I struck gold. While browsing the Wayback Machine, I stumbled upon old MBA stats. The archive isn’t complete—it only has the elimination round of the 2002 season—but still, it’s a treasure trove. Suddenly, I had a clearer picture of what the league’s final year looked like.

From a peak of sixteen franchises, the MBA had shrunk to just eight. They had also lost their partnership with ABS-CBN, and the decline was obvious—you could see it in the poor attendance. This was the same league that, just a few years earlier, boldly declared it would challenge the PBA. Instead, the PBA ended up absorbing most of their stars, while the ones who stayed either had no other options or were stubbornly loyal.

Players like Alex Compton, Chris Clay, and Jeffrey Flowers faced citizenship hurdles that made a PBA career nearly impossible. Rommel Adducul, John Ferriols, and Eddie Laure remained in the MBA, but at what price? Meanwhile, veterans like Ato Agustin, Johnedel Cardel, Peter Naron, and the brothers Romy and Reuben simply had no landing spot once the league folded.

And then there’s the intriguing case of Peter June Simon, Marc Pingris, Billy Mamaril, and Reynel Hugnatan.

Whatever happened to these guys, anyway?

For now, I’ll keep digging around the internet for more information.

Meanwhile, check out these stats!

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