by rick olivares pic by brosi gonzales
Right before the end of the first round of the UAAP Men’s
Basketball Season, I wondered how the unprecedented two-week break would affect
all eight teams.
For FEU,
undefeated at 7-0 after the first round, there was the fear of cooling off.
They had the momentum going for them. I thought of the 2007 UE Red Warriors who
swept the two rounds before losing in the finals against La Salle. That UE team
had a two-week break as teams went through the stepladder format.
Honestly, I was surprised by FEU’s strong start. During the
pre-season, they looked awful as they struggled to embrace the system put in
place by Nash Racela. Since that terrific front line of their graduated several
years ago, they went from being a balanced half court squad to a more
guard-oriented offense. The system suits them given their weapons at their
disposal but the dribble drive offense requires players to make good reads on
the defense. Including the bigs.
Anthony Hargrove and Christian Sentcheu struggled with the offense,
as did their other ‘bigs’ like Mark Belo and small forwards who have to double
as power forwards like Carl Cruz.
There was the benching of Terrence Romeo during the summer and the
brief misunderstanding about two of their players suiting up for other D-League
squads.
Discussing FEU’s strong start with other colleagues, I expressed my
reservations citing their tendencies for strong starts, peaking too early,
lucky wins, and sudden power outages. Of course, I hope I am wrong. This FEU
team has been through a lot. It would be nice for RR Garcia to go out with a
championship.
Some might point out to Romeo’s ball hogging again especially
against NU where Garcia got hot but the former cleared him away on a crucial play
where he missed the jumper. I’d say that his penchant for shot making also won
then some games.
I also think teams generally adjust better in the second half of
play. The break allowed some teams to tweak their offenses and their defenses.
National University came out and played great team defense on FEU especially
Romeo. To make up for his shots, he’s been forcing the issue and taking some
wild shots.
But this kid can score. With a little more guidance, if he can
really turn this thing around for the Tamaraws.
It’s tough for Coach Nash to get that system in place when many of
the players had their own way on the offense for years. Their next game is a
very important one because they have to arrest that skid before things spiral
out of control. Towards the end of the first round, some teams felt that they
were now fighting for second, third, and fourth spot in the standings. The two
consecutive losses now means it is still up for grabs.
Unfortunately for FEU, they are up against a suddenly hot UE Red
Warriors.
If there is a win that validates National University’s status as a real contender it is that win against FEU. That
exposed some chinks in the armor of FEU while giving the team of Eric
Altamirano lots of confidence as they are in solo second place with a 6-3
record.
The loss of Alfred Aroga still hurts because it showed the lack of
depth NU has in the center position. That makes Jean Mbe all the more important
to NU (they must really regret red shirting Henry Betayene; please don’t say he
was injured because he wasn’t. It was a gamble and you guys failed).
One guy the Bulldogs have been missing is Troy Rosario. He was a
monster in the pre-season but has mostly disappeared. I feel that Glenn
Khobuntin has gained some confidence not seen since his frosh year. He’d rather
drive than stick that outside shot that Jeff Javillionar has fallen in love
with.
The guard corps of Gelo Alolino, Robin Roño, Ray Parks, and Mark
Porter have done a great job as well.
Climbing up the standings is UE; winners of four straight (5-3). I believe that except for their
win against Ateneo, they came away winners in their other games due to pure
grit.
This team is exactly like FEU (minus the super three-guard combo)
where they love to be unconscionable in their jacking up all these shots good
and bad.
I am sure they’d love to dump the ball all the time to Charles
Mammie but he does a whole lot better playing clean up. This team has two
terrific players who can put up a bunch of points – Roi Sumang and Ralf
Olivares. They’d be more effective if they made better decisions on what shots
to make.
It is a good thing that Lord Casajeros came back because they need
tough defense and more scoring options because Jay-R Sumido has been in a
five-month funk. Not the way you’d want him to end his college career.
JM Noble has to really make better decisions. His two late
turnovers against UST nearly killed his team.
La
Salle (5-4) has picked up some huge wins that will
spur them on. On the heels of that controversial win against Adamson, the lost
to NU to close the first round before taking another W at the expense of the
Falcons who imploded in the endgame.
If La Salle was shaky they sure weren’t against FEU. They were flat
out impressive as they took a huge lead, lost it before they got the job done
and closed it out
DLSU is rounding out into fine and frightening form. They are
difficult to guard because they have so many scoring options. A year ago, it
could have been arguably stated that UST’s starters were the five best in the
league. Right now, La Salle could argue that point.
Who has been their best player -- Almond Vosotros, Jason Perkins,
or Arnold Van Opstal?
Tough to choose.
The UST
Growling Tigers are in a funk. They’ve lost three straight – to FEU, Ateneo and
UE.
When looking at the Growling Tigers, some quarters say that the
loss of Jeric Fortuna, or not having a top-notch point guard hurts them. They
were 6-1 after the first round of play in Season 74. This year, the Tigers were
4-2, one game off last’s pace and one game to spare before the close of
business for the FIBA Asia break.
But they lost to Ateneo to drop them to 4-3.
I’d say that they were fine without Fortuna as they played point
guard by committee which is something they did during the pre-season. Since the
injury to Teng, they’ve been 2-4.
Their captain’s return will help this team that is still very much capable
of winning the league title despite their inconsistency. One game Kevin Ferrer
does really well then his game drops off the next. Ditto for Aljon Mariano. For
sure both have battled nagging injuries.
The new break brought about the habagat will help them.
If the break helps UST, it sure also does to Ateneo. They were fine until the pre-tip off injury to Kiefer Ravena that
hurt the Blue Eagles (4-4). I thought with a healthy Ravena they could have
gone 3-0 or 2-1 in that first week of play.
They scraped two wins to close out the first round including a huge
one against UST. The FIBA break helped the team get healthier and gave them
time to work out their kinks on offense. They got back for the second round to
send UP spiraling downward once more then there’s the break from the habagat
that postpones their rematch against UST to a later date.
What this will give them is the reeling Adamson Falcons team that is at 3-6. After their last loss to NU by a
whopping 32 points, word is Coach Leo Austria left the locker room and the team
has been eating in groups and not as a team. There’s discord in San Marcelino.
Ateneo picked up their first win of the season against Adamson in a
game that showed their championship pride. Another win or two and they're back in the hunt for a Final Four slot. The morale of the Blue Eagles is now up while
Adamson’s down.
The Adamson Falcons do not exactly have a deep team. They have
their bit of role players and a few studs here and there. But they have been
hurt by inconsistency and a lot of turnovers.
Some might point to the lack of depth in their point guard position
as the culprit. Look Jeric Cañada and Lester Alvarez have not suited up for two
years now. That’s like saying Ateneo misses Kirk Long. For sure Ryan
Monteclaro, Al-Arouf Julkipli and Axel Iñigo haven’t approximated the
contributions of their previous backcourt scoring-wise. I don’t think they ever
will. What they can do is play floor general. As it is, too much is being asked
of Jericho Cruz, their force of nature who does it not only on the offensive
end but also the defensive end.
Cruz has tried to get his teammates involved and he
over-compensates at times that leads to his turnovers.
My thoughts on this team is, let Rodney Brondial get his touches on
offense then let Ingrid Sewa play like Charles Mammie does – get his points on
clean up. Sewa asking for the ball can be ugly. He puts the ball down the floor
(and loses it to the opposing guards) or spends too much time in the paint for
a violation. If they lob to him it’s more of a quick strike rather than a
post-up play.
Adamson has tried to get him into the flow of things early in the
game and that bogs down their offense. They still have enough weapons – Cruz,
Brondial, Roider Cabrera, and – gasp – Don Trollano – to get the job done.
Now if they bench will contribute more.
Jansen Rios was the starters for the first round but the Falcons
got nothing from him. He’s continued that funk off the bench (much like Jay-R
Sumido). Harry Petilos is showing more as does Michael Agustin.
They are better than their record is. They have beaten some good
teams – UE and NU. They just really need to put it together.
Lastly, there’s UP. They
are 3-33 in the last three years (featuring the core of this current team). They've also had four head coaches in the last seven years.
You cannot say that they do not have the material. They have some
pretty good ball players from Raul Soyud, Chris Ball, Samuel Marata, Henry
Asilum, and Kyles Lao.
One of their problems is that the lack of continuity for their team
year after year (read more of thoughts about UP here). It’s either some players are out because of grades or injury
then the seniors graduate leaving behind an untested team.
I’m just shocked that as early as their second and third game of
the season, the needed to be called out by their coach. It’s been that culture
of losing that has sapped their confidence this season. They have not been
competitive since Season 67 when they finished 7-7.
The pre-season looked good for them but that hasn’t translated onto
any court success this year as they are 0-8 with La Salle their next opponent
(it was supposed to be UE but that match has been postponed due to the
habagat).
The directive for this team was to get out of eighth place this
year. They have six games to salvage that.
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