Happy Birthday, Danilo “Danny” Basilan ( Aug 22 )

Aug 12, 2024 - 13:47

0 202

PBA pioneer
7-season PBA veteran
2-team PBA player
Southwestern University Cobras point guard

Source : Assorted Magazines (PBA Archives Collections)

Talk of Danny Basilan to some and all you'd probably get is: 'He's alright,' or 'Good player... but not really outstanding!" But Danny Basilan seems not to really aspire for that 'outstanding! He seems content of the fact that as a U-Tex cog, although fans and sports followers do not pigeon-hole him in the same category as that of. say, Danny Florencio or Lawrence Mumar, still when he's fielded in, the followers of the dash-and-dribble sport feel he's going to do something inside. And that something can mean the difference between lackadaisical performance and a red-hot, out-towin-for-his-team attitude which characteristically enough, is written all over the hoopster's mien. Watch him when he jumps for that ball or when he tries to penetrate the center for that surprising lay-up. Although at times he misses, the bold attempt is there. And when he harasses his man as a guard, he occasionally gets a foul called on him. But no matter. His opponent couldn't seem to elude him. 'He is a high-jumping guard... he is one hell of a guy,' commented a teammate. And Basilan smiled when he heard that one. The 5'10", 160 lbs. player from Passi, Iloilo who played for San Agustin University and Southwestern University in Cebu was at one time a Mariwasa player. For 1-1/2 years he did his thing with the Mariwasa quintet. There was a lull in his basketballplaying career for sometime, when he joined the Bank of the Philippine Islands branch in Iloilo (he's a commerce degree holder) and there worked as a regular bank employee. This was sometime in 71-72 Doubtless it is this immersion in the field of banking and finance that sparked the idea in him to try his mettle, in business. For even right now, his in-laws manage a modest transportation concern for him back in Iloilo. Anybody who knows his basketball can easily say that the objective of defensive play is to limit the scoring opportunities of the offense by taking away their offensive strength, by forcing the other side to take bad shots (usually the ball just touching the rim and not going through), and by forcing the other side to 'maneuver with less familiar patterns."