MANILA, Philippines — The NCAA’s decision to review the practice of allowing foreign players to play in the league doesn’t sit well for San Beda coach Frankie Lim.

Lim, who steered the Lions to the championship this season with the help of American behemoth Sudan Daniel, sees it as “a move to bring us down.”

“I think it’s an attack to San Beda,” Lim said on Wednesday. “Parang Filipino crab mentality yan. Hilahan pababa.”

Lim said there’s no need to review or change the policy since it’s a level playing field, and “every team has the right to field foreign players.”

The NCAA policy board on Tuesday reiterated that no decision has been made with regards to the issue, although it has ordered the league’s management committee to make a further review.

The issue stemmed from a position paper submitted by Letran opposing the recruitment and use of foreign players in the league.

The success of San Beda which won three successive championships with Nigerian Sam Ekwe from 2006 has prompted other schools to recruit foreign players to reinforce their lineups.

“If they think na malakas kami, it’s because of the school’s sports program,” Lim said. “Those who suggest to ban imports are just making excuses. It’s an easy excuse. It’s time for them to look at their programs.”

In the last NCAA season, Jose Rizal University had Cameroonians John Nchoty Njei and Joe Etame as “imports” while Emilio Aguinaldo College had Malaysian-Chinese Wei Lim.

Lim said having foreign players have “more plus than minus, and spices up the league.”

“If they are thinking that we won because of foreign players, bakit kami natalo sa San Sebastian last year,” said Lim referring to last year’s finals, where the Lions were swept by the Stags, 2-0, despite having Daniel in the fold.

Francis Santiago, Manila Bulletin