Pre-season college hoops thoughts Part 1

Pre-season college hoops thoughts Part 1

by rick olivares

Watched the FilOil Pre-season games for the first time yesterday. Here are some thoughts.

Looks like FEU’s missing Reil Cervantes down the post. FEU’s experience obviously was a factor in turning back the hard fighting UP Maroons yesterday 80-76. Interesting that Tamaraws coach Bert Flores experimented with a three-guard line-up yesterday down the stretch. Worked wonders. But it’s the pre-season. Can’t take in too much as teams are just getting into shape and trying combinations. 

In the second game, putting a bad team on the same floor as a talented one has the makings of a disaster or a free-for-all.

The Lyceum Pirates were getting blown out of the water by a much more talented San Beda team in the first quarter and it didn’t look to get better for the Intramuros squad. The Pirates couldn’t buy a basket even if the ring were eight feet high. Their shooting was horrendous and their teamwork outright atrocious. As things got worse in the second quarter, the Pirates began to play a little rougher.

With San Beda up 59-29 with 8:30 to play in the second quarter, Allan Santos, who used to play for Adamson, nearly took off Ola Adeogun’s jaw when he swung an elbow towards the Red Lion. That right there, he should have been whistled but play went on. As Lyceum missed their shot, the Red Lions went on a fastbreak. Adeogun and Santos ran back down with the African a step faster. Santos threw another elbow at the neck and this time Adeogun retaliated. The stupid ref caught the second motion and whistled for a deliberate foul. Santos then shoved Adeogun who had his back turned. Kyle Pascual angrily went over to shove Santos who was daring everyone to fight him outside.

Incredibly, the ref sent Adeogun and Santos to the showers with a technical foul to Ola and ball possession to Lyceum! An irate Frankie Lim showered the refs with angry words (and why not since they were incompetent). For a while there, the Red Lions sat down and refused to return to the floor causing some anxious moments.

But San Beda continued and for a while there, the lull and commotion favored the Pirates as they began to make their shots. But the Red Lions regained their composure and continued to pour on the hurting as the romped away to a 99-57 win.

Of these Red Lions, I figure forward-center Dave Marcelo to have a good pro career. He can post and shoot medium range shots. He can rebound and definitely block some shots.

Then in what looked to be (early on) a carbon copy (a blow out not a fight) of the San Beda-Lyceum game, the match between Arellano University and De La Salle University turned out to be a much closer one. The Chiefs were without main man Isiah Ciriacruz but it seemed that having two Africans in tow might be an equalizer but it was obvious that Nett Charles Mammie of Sierra Leone was the weak link in the team. After the Green Archers spotted Arellano an early lead in the first quarter, Celada shot Mammie a look of disgust as he lost several balls while taking really bad shots. He could only turn to his left (not to his right) showing a limited game. But of course, he could get better. When I first saw Emmanuel Mbe train with National University, he could even dribble the ball without looking away. He could dunk but big deal – his hops and height afford him that. But looking at Mbe, he worked his ass off and you could see how much better he got.

But back to the Green Archers, they pulled off a gritty win thanks to backbreaking treys by Joseph Marata and Luigi dela Paz for a 71-64 win.

I’ve said this to a few people already and I will say this again -- I figure Ateneo and La Salle to meet in the finals of the UAAP Season 74 Men’s Basketball Tournament (barring major injuries). I think the Green Archers are ready to pick it up a notch or two as they finally have the players to compete. And they’ve got a deep bench as well. Now to see this all play out.