NCAA Season 85 Opening Day Notes

Condolences to SBC Head coach Frankie Lim whose father recently passed away... If anyone cared to notice, NABRO did an excellent job of officiating yesterday for all three matches. So okay, maybe two were blowouts so there's not much to call but the JRU-CSLJ game was intense and the calls were on the level. I asked Commish Aric del Rosario about why they did well in the NCAA but sucked eggs in the UAAP. Said the unflappable former UST mentor, "Eh, pinagmumura ko sila para maganda yung officiating." Man, we had a laugh... During the SBC-Mapua match, Red Lion Sudan Daniel protested one call at which he untucked his jersey in protest. Frankie Lim immediately yelled at him, "Su.... Tuck that back in!" The first year center complied. Said Lim after that, "Just play the game." When I asked Coach Frankie if he's grown more comfortable coaching, he replied with a hearty laugh, "Pare, kasi malaki lamang namin. Pero sana..." All the best to Mapua's Chito Victolero who is in his first year and inherited this squad from Leo Isaac. They got shellacked yesterday. I thought they were intimidated by SBC's frontline. They missed a lot of gimmes. Not too many team play. In fact the first real good passing I saw was late in the 3rd quarter when guard Allan Mangahas found MIT center Jason Pascual. Once the Cardinal slotman drew the attention of Sudan Daniel, he threw it out to an open Randolf Soriano on the weak side for a trey. More like that okay, Jason. And don't put the ball down low when you're inside, because how many times was the ball swiped from you?... Nice to see Binky Favis there behind the Letran bench. Binky's wife is the sister of Perpetual Help mentor Boris Aldeguer...

Was with Karla Bello, Steph Veluz, and Paolo Pareja who all watched the NCAA Opening. Karla works for one of the league sponsors.

Thanks to Coach Ariel Vanguardia for this cool JRU tee!