The Caloocan Batang Kankaloo are a Filipino professional basketball team based in Caloocan. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's North Division. They are one of two teams based in Metro Manila's Northern District, the other team being Valenzuela Classic. The team plays their home games at Caloocan Sports Complex.
| Caloocan Batang Kankaloo | |
|---|---|
 2024 Caloocan Batang Kankaloo season | |
 | |
| League | MPBL (2018–present) PSL (2022–present) |
| Founded | 2017 |
| History | Caloocan Supremos 2017–2021 (MPBL) 2023–present (PSL) Caloocan Excellence 2021–2022 Caloocan Batang Kankaloo 2022–2023 (PSL) 2023–present (MPBL) |
| Arena | Caloocan Sports Complex |
| Location | Caloocan |
| Team colors | |
| Main sponsor | Yanyan International Philippines, Inc. |
| Head coach | Alexander Angeles |
The team began play in the 2018 MPBL season as one of the MPBL's charter teams. They also compete in the Pilipinas Super League (PSL) and currently go by the Caloocan Supremos, using the team's original name. Since its founding, the team is owned by the City Government of Caloocan.
History
editMaharlika Pilipinas Basketball League
editIn 2017, the Caloocan Supremos joined the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League as one of the ten charter teams for its inaugural season.[1] The team played in the league's inaugural game against the Parañaque Patriots, but lost, 60-70.[2] The team only won one game in their inaugural season, giving them the worst record that season.
In the 2018–19 season, despite finishing with a losing record, Caloocan was tied with the Pampanga Lanterns for the final playoff spot, which Caloocan would clinch because of their victory in the teams' head-to-head matchup. The team was then swept in the First Round by the first-seeded Bataan Risers. In the 2019–20 season, even though the team finished with a winning record, they only finished ninth in the Northern Division.
For the 2021 Invitational, the team changed their name to the Caloocan Excellence.[3] In the following 2022 season, Caloocan would once again fall short, finishing ninth in the Northern Division.
In 2023, the veteran-led Caloocan squad managed to finish with the team's best record thus far, a 20–8 record, and clinched top four in its division for the first time. Despite a massive improvement from the previous season, none of its players were selected for that season's All-Star Game. In the First Round, the team had a tough matchup against Pasig City MCW Sports, but made it through in a close series that went to game 3. Unfortunately, they would go on to be swept by the Pampanga Giant Lanterns in the Division Semifinals.
Pilipinas Super League
editIn 2022, the team joined the Pilipinas Super League for the 2022–23 DUMPER Cup, and subsequently changed its name to the Batang Kankaloo. Batang Kankaloo would also be used as the name of its under-18 team.[4] The team tied for the fourth-best record alongside the Pampanga G Lanterns and Santa Rosa, but settled for the sixth-seed. In the playoffs, the Batang Kankaloo lost to the Pampanga Royce in the Quarterfinals.
During the 2023–24 MPBL off-season, the team returned to the PSL, this time going by its original name, the Caloocan Supremos.
Team identity
editFrom 2018 until 2020, the Caloocan Supremos used an orange and blue color scheme. The logo showed a graphic of the Bonifacio Monument on top of a basketball. An outline of a Victory Liner bus, the team's sponsor at the time, is also shown.
In 2021, upon renaming to the Caloocan Excellence, blue was replaced with green, forming an orange and green color scheme. The logo was a simple text with the team name, but with the Bonifacio Monument replacing the "L" in Caloocan. The simple text logo would carry over with the name change to Batang Kankaloo in 2022.
In 2023, during the team's second PSL stint, the team returned to the original Supremos name, now with the orange and green color scheme.
Home venues
editThe only venue the Caloocan franchise played in was the Caloocan Sports Complex, located on the city's north side.
| Venue | Location | 2018 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caloocan Sports Complex | Caloocan |  | | | | | |
Current roster
edit| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Updated as of: April 5, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Head coaches
edit| # | Name | Term | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Kallos | 2018–2020 | |
| 2 | Rene Baena | 2021–2022 | |
| 3 | Ronnie Dojillo | 2022–2023 | |
| 4 | Robert Sison | 2023 | |
| 5 | Alexander Angeles | 2024 |
Notable players
edit| Caloocan Batang Kankaloo notable players | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Position | Tenure | Awards | All-Star |
| Almond Vosotros | 2018–2019 | — | 1 (2019) | |
| Paul Sanga | 2018–2020 2023–present | — | 1 (2020) | |
| Damian Lasco | 2018–2022 | — | 1 (2022) | |
Season-by-season records
edit| League champions | |
| Division champions | |
| Qualified for playoffs | |
| Best regular season record |
| Season | Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Finish | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Stage | Results | |
| Caloocan Supremos | |||||||||
| 2018 Rajah Cup | — | 10th | 9 | 1 | 8 | .111 | 7 | Did not qualify | |
| 2018–19 Datu Cup | North | 8th | 25 | 11 | 14 | .440 | 12 | First Round | lost vs. Bataan, 0–2 |
| 2019–20 Lakan Season | North | 9th | 30 | 16 | 14 | .533 | 10 | Did not qualify | |
| Caloocan Excellence | |||||||||
| 2022 | North | 9th | 21 | 6 | 15 | .286 | 15 | Did not qualify | |
| Caloocan Batang Kankaloo | |||||||||
| 2023 | North | 4th | 28 | 20 | 8 | .714 | 6 | First Round Division Semifinals | won vs. Pasig, 2–1 lost vs. Pampanga, 0–2 |
| 2024 | North | To be determined | |||||||
| All-time regular season record | 113 | 54 | 59 | .478 | 2 playoff appearances | ||||
| All-time playoff record | 7 | 2 | 5 | .286 | 0 Finals appearances | ||||
| All-time overall record | 120 | 56 | 64 | .467 | 0 championships | ||||
References
edit- ^ Luarca, Roy (August 29, 2017). "Pacquiao's new basketball league gets off ground". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
- ^ Lagunzad, Jerome (January 26, 2018). "MPBL: Parañaque turns back Caloocan in inaugural match". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
- ^ Magallon, Reynald I. (November 26, 2021). "San Juan, Nueva Ecija set for early clash in MPBL Invitational". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
- ^ Ulanday, John Bryan (November 18, 2022). "Pilipinas Super League returns with 14 squads". The Philippine Star. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
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