TAKING off from our well-received honors list of top players from each PBA franchise, the SPIN.ph staff now lists the best players from each of the NCAA schools. Due to the lengthy history of the country's oldest college league, we narrow our scope to the NCAA's Final Four era.
Here are our choices. Who are yours?

ARELLANO – Jio Jalalon
No one has made a greater impact during the Chiefs’ 10-year run in the NCAA than Jalalon. A transferee from Informatics, Jalalon became Arellano’s main man during his second year with the Chiefs where he led the team to its first-ever NCAA finals appearance in 2014, where it lost to San Beda. After being named as the Most Improved Player in 2014, Jalalon surpassed that feat by capturing a place in the Mythical Five thrice including his final year in 2016 where he was the lone guard on the list.

COLLEGE OF ST. BENILDE – Sunday Salvacion
The Blazers enjoyed early success upon entering the league in 1998 and Salvacion had a lot to do with it. After winning Rookie of the Year honors in 1999, Salvacion was a huge presence when the Blazers defeated San Sebastian for the 2000 title. Known for his three-point shooting that he carried into the pro ranks, Salvacion won the MVP in 2002, a feat no CSB players has duplicated outside Jay Sagad in 2005.

EAC – Ronjay Buenafe
Since the Generals have yet to enjoy enormous success in the NCAA, we chose the player from the EAC’s time in the little-known collegiate leagues. Buenafe may not have played in the NCAA during his stint with EAC, but he was the catalyst of the Generals' rise to prominence. The school was welcomed to the country’s oldest collegiate league in 2009.
With Buenafe in the lineup, the Generals won titles in the NCRAA and the UCAA, where they won three straight crowns from 2004 to 2006. Buenafe, whose jersey No. 8 was retired by EAC, was drafted by Coca-Cola in the PBA in 2007.

JRU – John Wilson
During his NCAA days, Wilson dropped buckets like no one from the Heavy Bombers in the Final Four era. In 2009, Wilson captured the NCAA MVP, the first Heavy Bomber since Nani Epondulan in 2001, after an impressive season that also saw him score a modern-day high 48 points in a victory over St. Benilde last August 25. JRU regained respectability during Wilson’s time in the NCAA, reaching the Final Four from 2007 to 2009, which was also the closest the Heavy Bombers came to winning a championship they won for the first and only time in 1972.

LETRAN – Kerby Raymundo
After San Sebastian's Rommel Adducul in the mid-1990s, Raymundo was the dominant big man in the NCAA late in the decade. Along with Chris Calaguio and Willie Miller, he served as the cornerstone of a Letran squad that won back-to-back titles in 1998 and 1999.
The Bataan native won the MVP in 1999, the same year he became a member of the national team that captured the gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games in Brunei. Not even the players from the Letran teams that won championships in 2015 and 2019 could come close to the talent and the accomplishments that Raymundo earned during his time.

LYCEUM - CJ Perez
In so short a time, Perez turned the Pirates into one of the most prominent college programs in the country. Not bad for a school that only entered the NCAA in 2011. A transferee from San Sebastian and Ateneo, Perez found a home with LPU and quickly made an impact.
The Pangasinan native carried the Pirates to an 18-0 record in 2017 on his way to the MVP award, even though his team only finished runner-up to San Beda. It was the same story in 2018 where LPU placed second, but Perez became so good that he was made the No. 1 pick of Columbian in the PBA draft that same year.

MAPUA – Allwell Oraeme
With Alvin Patrimonio and Benny Cheng playing way before the Final Four era, Oraeme gets the nod as the best Mapua player. Oraeme had a brief two-year stint with the Cardinals in the NCAA, but his superb play was enough to earn him the nod as the best Mapua player in the Final Four era.
The year 2015 saw the Nigerian win the MVP, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and All-Defensive Team awards, helping the Cardinals make the Final Four after two straight last-place finishes. Oraeme made it back-to-back MVPs while also winning the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2016, before the Cardinals fell to Arellano in the Final Four. Mapua has not returned to the Final Four since Oraeme left the team three years ago.

PERPETUAL HELP – Scottie Thompson
During his stint with Perpetual Help, Thompson served as the foundation of the Altas. Beginning in 2012 when Thompson won the Most Improved Player award, Perpetual Help became a constant Final Four contender. The Digos City native also captured the MVP in 2014, the first Altas player since Jojo Manalo in 2000 to do so.
After that MVP season, Thompson even became better and developed a well-rounded game following the arrival of Bright Akhuetie. He put up consistent triple-double numbers in 2015 where he won his third Mythical Five award as well as the All-Defensive Team spot.

PCU – Gabby Espinas
The Dolphins may no longer be playing in the NCAA, but their stint still resonates to this day. Jayson Castro is perhaps the most recognizable PCU product of today’s era thanks to his accolades both local and international basketball, but Espinas got the nod as the best PCU product in the Final Four era with his play during his collegiate days.
Espinas stood out among his contemporaries at that time, winning the MVP and the Rookie of the Year award in 2004, the first-ever NCAA player to pull off such feat. His play in 2004 produced a title as PCU beat Perpetual Help for its first and only NCAA crown before the Dolphins dropped out of the league in 2007.

SAN BEDA – Sam Ekwe
Ekwe is the one true game-changer in the league. His entry in the NCAA not only turned around the fortunes of San Beda but also turned the recruitment process of college basketball programs in the Philippines upside down. The 6-foot-8 behemoth was a handful for the rest of the field, and in 2006, the Nigerian helped the Red Lions end a 28-year title drought, beating PCU in the championship series.
Ekwe won another MVP in San Beda’s three-peat in 2008, as the era saw an influx of foreign players recruited by college teams. The NCAA has now disallowed the practice of recruiting foreign players, a move that has since become a contentious issue.

SAN SEBASTIAN – Calvin Abueva
Hands down, Abueva is the best Stag in the Final Four era. Rommel Adducul could've been in consideration for this distinction, being the premier big man in the mid-1990s where the Stags won several crowns, but he played before 1998 where the current format was instituted.
Even during his time in the NCAA, Abueva was already PBA-ready with his skills, daredevil moves, and physical play that left opposing players and coaches clueless on how to contain ‘The Beast.’ Abueva won a Mythical Five spot while in a star-studded 2009 San Sebastian team that won the NCAA title, one of the few times that San Beda didn’t win a championship since 2006. Abueva, evolving into a triple-double threat, then won the MVP in his final year with San Sebastian in 2011, before being drafted in 2012 by Alaska.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph