The Cinderella story of Cebuano guard Eliud Poligrates took another fairytale turn yesterday after Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters head coach Norman Black divulged that the former Southwestern University (SWU) King Cobra would be part of the team’s regular 10-man rotation when they open their season this Sunday here in Cebu.
In an exclusive interview with Cebu Daily News, the amiable mentor heaped praises on the 6-foot left-handed guard from Camotes Island, who they selected as the 27th pick in the recent PBA draft held several weeks ago. Though Poligrates has been with the Texters for barely two weeks, what impressed Black the most was the latter’s ability to work his individual skills within the team system.
“No doubt, he’ll be part of the regular rotation. He will be spelling either Ryan Reyes or Larry Fonacier,” Black said, building even more hype for Poligrates’ homecoming this weekend when the Texters start their title defense in the Philippine Cup with a game against sister team Meralco Bolts at the Cebu Coliseum.
Early on, it was believed that the wily guard would be backing up veteran point guards Jayson Castro and Jimmy Alapag.
“Poligrates has shown great potential. He has a great motor and he’s very energetic,” added Black, whose faith in the largely unknown guard was repaid with a pair of 14-point performance in preseason games against Air21 and GlobalPort.
“He’s young but he’s strong and has great individual talent and skills. However, he hasn’t let those skills get in the way of the team’s system,” said Black, whose Texters are gunning for a fourth straight crown in the all-Filipino conference.
Black also bared that he was well aware of Poligrates’ shady past, but didn’t let that stop him from bestowing this precious opportunity to the latter. “Yes, I’m very aware of what happened with him in college back in Cebu. But I’m sure that he’s learned from his mistakes and I hope that he does well with this opportunity to make a good living, playing professional basketball,” he said, referring to the incident which saw Poligrates booted out of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) in 2009 for “gross dishonesty.”