# 2017 PBA D-League Aspirants' Cup

The 2017 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup is the first conference of the 2017 PBA Developmental League season. The tournament opened on January 19, 2017 at the Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig.
There are 10 teams in this season's Aspirant's Cup, 4 are holdovers from last year's Foundation Cup, 2 returnees after a short hiatus, and 3 new squads. 5 of the teams were represented by players from various colleges and universities.

## Draft

The annual draft of the PBA D-League will be conducted on December 20, 2016. 128 aspirants—113 local players and 15 Filipino-foreigners—had already submitted their intention to participate in the draft. AMA, Tanduay, Racal, Caféfrance and Wang's will picked the first five draft picks, while a lottery will decide the draft orders of 4 new teams, San Beda-Cignal, JRU, MLQU and Batangas. As a guest team, Blustar Malaysia will be ineligible to join the drafting proceedings. Jeron Teng of the De La Salle Green Archers was picked as the #1 draft pick by AMA Online Education.
Draft Order 1st Round:
* 1. AMA Online Education: Jeron Teng (DLSU)
* 2. Tanduay: Jom Sollano (Letran)
* 3. Racal: Junjun Gabriel (CDSL)
* 4. Cafefrance: Patrick Aquino (CEU)
* 5. Wang's: G-Boy Babilonia (Ateneo)
* 6. Victoria Sports-MLQU: Jayson Grimaldo (MLQU)
* 7. Cignal-San Beda: Davon Potts (San Beda)
* 8. Batangas: Wilmar Anderson (UB)
* 9. JRU: PASS
* 10. Blustar Malaysia: PASS

## Tournament Format

* Ten teams will play in a single round-robin elimination phase.
* Only the top six teams will only make it to the playoffs after the elimination round.
* #1 & #2 seeds will head straight to the semifinals, where #3-#6 seeds will undergo in the quarterfinals.
* The Semifinals and the Championship will both be contested in a best-of-3 series.

## Team Standings

| Pos | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Qualification |
| 1 | Cignal HD - San Beda Hawkeyes | 8 | 1 | .889 | — | Outright semi-finals |
| 2 | Racal Tile Master Ceramica | 7 | 2 | .778 | 1 | Outright semi-finals |
| 3 | Café France Bakers | 6 | 3 | .667 | 2 | Twice-to-beat in the quarter-finals |
| 4 | Tanduay Rhum Masters | 6 | 3 | .667 | 2 | Twice-to-beat in the quarter-finals |
| 5 | AMA Online Education Titans | 5 | 4 | .556 | 3 | Twice-to-win in the quarter-finals |
| 6 | JRU Heavy Bombers | 4 | 5 | .444 | 4 | Twice-to-win in the quarter-finals |
| 7 | Batangas EAC Generals | 4 | 5 | .444 | 4 | Eliminated |
| 8 | Wang's Basketball Couriers | 3 | 6 | .333 | 5 | Eliminated |
| 9 | Victoria's Sports - MLQU | 3 | 6 | .333 | 5 | Eliminated |
| 10 | Blustar Detergent Dragons Malaysia | 0 | 9 | .000 | 8 | Eliminated |
* 1 2 Cafe France 83–67 Tanduay
* 1 2 JRU 70–65 Batangas
* 1 2 Wangs 92–83 Victoria

## Playoffs

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals (best-of-3 series) | Semifinals (best-of-3 series) | Semifinals (best-of-3 series) | The Finals (best-of-3 series) | The Finals (best-of-3 series) | The Finals (best-of-3 series) |
| | | | 1 | Cignal-San Beda | 2 | | | |
| #4 seed has 2x-to-beat | #4 seed has 2x-to-beat | #4 seed has 2x-to-beat | 1 | Cignal-San Beda | 2 | | | |
| #4 seed has 2x-to-beat | #4 seed has 2x-to-beat | #4 seed has 2x-to-beat | 4 | Tanduay Rhum Masters | 1 | | | |
| 4 | Tanduay Rhum Masters | 80 | 4 | Tanduay Rhum Masters | 1 | | | |
| 5 | AMA Online Education | 76 | | | | | | |
| 5 | AMA Online Education | 76 | | | | 1 | Cignal-San Beda | 2 |
| | | | | | | 2 | Racal Ceramica | 1 |
| | | | 2 | Racal Ceramica | 2 | | | |
| #3 seed has 2x-to-beat | #3 seed has 2x-to-beat | #3 seed has 2x-to-beat | 2 | Racal Ceramica | 2 | | | |
| #3 seed has 2x-to-beat | #3 seed has 2x-to-beat | #3 seed has 2x-to-beat | 3 | Cafe France Bakers | 1 | | | |
| 3 | Cafe France Bakers | 86 | 3 | Cafe France Bakers | 1 | | | |
| 6 | JRU Heavy Bombers | 75 | | | | | | |

### Quarter-finals

* Report
| Tanduay Rhum Masters | 80–76 | AMA Online Education Titans |
| Scoring by quarter: 25–16, 21–23, 22–23, 12–14 |||
| Pts: Cruz 23 Rebs: Gaco 8 Asts: Teng 6 | | Pts: Tambeling 27 Rebs: Tambeling 10 Asts: Riley 2 |
* Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig
* Report
| Café France Bakers | 86–75 | JRU Heavy Bombers |
| Scoring by quarter: 15–22, 17–16, 33–27, 21–20 |||
| Pts: Desiderio 16 Rebs: Ebondo 11 Asts: Sedurifa 4 | | Pts: Teodoro 18 Rebs: Bautista 5 Asts: Teodoro 2 |
* Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig

### Semi-finals

* Report
| Cignal HD - San Beda Hawkeyes | Tanduay Rhum Masters |
| Scoring by quarter: 14–11, 6–17, 15–28, 20–10 |||
| Pts: Pamboy Raymundo 13 Rebs: Mocon 6 | Pts: Gaco 16 Rebs: Jaymo Eguilos 12 Asts: Gaco 2 |
| Masters leads series, 1–0 |||
* Marikina Sports Center, Marikina
| Cignal HD - San Beda Hawkeyes | vs. | Tanduay Rhum Masters |
| Cignal HD - San Beda Hawkeyes | vs. | Tanduay Rhum Masters |
* Report
| Racal Tile Master Ceramica | Café France Bakers |
| Scoring by quarter: 22–20, 17–14, 20–26, 29–26 |||
| Pts: Onwubere 24 Rebs: Salado, Corpuz 6 each Asts: Salado 6 | Pts: Rod Ebondo 30 Rebs: Rod Ebondo 13 Asts: Desiderio 4 |
| Racal leads series, 1–0 |||
* Marikina Sports Center, Marikina
| Racal Tile Master Ceramica | vs. | Café France Bakers |
| Racal Tile Master Ceramica | vs. | Café France Bakers |

### Finals

* AksyonTV
* March 30
* Report
| Racal Tile Master Ceramica | 85–93 | Cignal HD - San Beda Hawkeyes |
| Scoring by quarter: 14–26, 22–29, 23–19, 26–19 |||
| Pts: Nambatac 23 Rebs: Corpuz 8 Asts: Nambatac 6 | | Pts: Perkins 28 Rebs: Perkins 8 Asts: Bolick 6 |
* Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig
* AksyonTV
* April 3
* Report
| Racal Tile Master Ceramica | 100–90 | Cignal HD - San Beda Hawkeyes |
| Scoring by quarter: 26–22, 31–20, 24–29, 19–19 |||
| Pts: Nambatac 24 Rebs: Corpuz 11 Asts: Nambatac 2 | | Pts: Bolick 18 Rebs: Bolick 10 Asts: Bolick 5 |
* Filoil Flying V Center, San Juan City
* April 7
* Report
| Racal Tile Master Ceramica | Cignal HD - San Beda Hawkeyes |
| Scoring by quarter: 23–15, 20–15, 17–24, 22–18 |||
| Pts: Corpuz 24 Rebs: Corpuz, Gabayni 9 each Asts: N/A | Pts: Mocon 25 Rebs: Mocon 7 Asts: Bolick 6 |
| Cignal wins series, 2–1 |||
* Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig

## Awards

* 2017 PBA D-League Aspirant's Cup Champions
* Cignal–San Beda Hawkeyes First title