THE Diamond Season of the UAAP unfolds on Saturday at the SM Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena.

The MOA Arena will be the UAAP’s home at least for this season with most of the league’s games to be held there. This season’s host is National University, which is owned by the same Sy clan that owns SM chain of malls and the MOA Arena.

But while the MOA Arena will be home to the UAAP for the next couple of months, the PBA jumped the gun on the college league by having the inaugural game at the venue last July 7 with the B-Meg-Talk ‘N Text semifinal game in the PBA Governors Cup.

Since the MOA Arena figures to be a significant battle field for Philippine sports in the years to come, it's worth recording the many firsts in the grand stadium for posterity.

The Llamados earned the distinction of being the first team to win an official game there while head coach Tim Cone gets the credit for first winning head coach, which coincidentally also gave him his 700^th career win in the PBA.

Here are the other official “firsts” at the MOA Arena from that game:

Field goal made (overall)             Paul Harris, Talk ‘N Text

Field goal made (local)               Josh Urbiztondo, B-Meg

Field goal miss                          James Yap, B-Meg

3-point field goal made              Jimmy Alapag, Talk ‘N Text

3-point play (overall)                Paul Harris, Talk ‘N Text

3-point play (local)                   Japeth Aguilar, Talk ‘N Text

3-point miss                            Jimmy Alapag, Talk ‘N Text

Dunk (Overall)                          Marqus Blakely, B-Meg

Defensive rebound                    Kelly Williams, Talk ‘N Text

Offensive rebound (overall)         Marqus Blakely, B-Meg

Offensive rebound (local)           Josh Urbiztondo, B-Meg

Free throw made                      PJ Simon, B-Meg

Free throw miss                        Marc Pingris, B-Meg

Assist                                     Jimmy Alapag, Talk ‘N Text

Steal                                      Marc Pingris, B-Meg

Shotblock (overall)                    Marqus Blakely, B-Meg

Shotblock (local)                       Ranidel de Ocampo, Talk ‘N Text

Turnover (overall)                     Paul Harris, Talk ‘N Text

Turnover (local)                        James Yap, B-Meg

Personal foul                            Ryan Reyes, Talk ‘N Text

Offensive foul                           Marc Pingris, B-Meg

Technical foul                          Chot Reyes, Talk ‘N Text

Still up for grabs for UAAP players and/or coaches are the following:

Dunk (local)                              ________________________

4-point play                              ________________________

Ejection                                   _________________________

Good luck UAAP players/coaches!