Talking points

THE BASKETBALL tournament of the National Collegiate Athletic Association has generated a lot of fanfare this year, so much so that it is giving the University Athletic Association of the Philippines a run for its money in terms of popularity. Here are four of Season 82’s biggest talking points thus far:

Surprising Knights: Colegio de San Juan de Letran entered this year’s campaign with a depleted lineup, having lost six veterans and five of its seven leading scorers. Despite that, the defending champions from Intramuros started the year at 6-0, and have only lost to the San Beda Red Lions thus far.

Whatever happens to the Knights this year, Louie Alas should be named Coach of the Year. The multi-titled mentor has transformed an inexperienced squad with six rookies into one of the league’s most efficient teams down the stretch. Because of him, Mark Balneg, Fiel Daa, RJ Jazul and Hafer Mondragon have become big-game youngsters.

Alas has given rebuilding a whole new meaning, and veterans Boyet Bautista and Aaron Aban have to be credited for taking a young and underrated bunch of neophytes on their shoulders.

New rivalries: A mammoth crowd witnessed the Letran-San Beda first round matchup and ushered in (or rekindled, as some people have traced the rivalry of these two institutions to the 1950 NCAA championship, captured by the Knights) an intense 21st century rivalry, something the league needs to reestablish its image in the same way the UAAP has done through the enmity between Ateneo and La Salle.

An equally interesting rivalry is brewing between Mapua and Jose Rizal University, thanks to the audacious preseason prediction of Cardinals coach Horacio Lim that his team won’t finish in last place because the Heavy Bombers are in the same league.

The hot seat: The Cardinals aren’t supposed to be just a 5-4 team, no matter how much Lim downplays his team’s chances. Mapua is supposed to be slugging it out with the big boys for the top two spots, not fighting to protect the no. 4 position.

So what’s going wrong? There has been no drastic improvement in the basketball program of the Mapua Cardinals since Lim took the job. Final Four appearances won’t suffice for a school that has had a realistic shot at the title every year since he started coaching. This program isn’t going anywhere, and that’s why Lim has to go somewhere else.

The same can be said for College of Saint Benilde’s tactician. Caloy Garcia is only in his second year, but things are getting even worse for his program. Sure, recruitment has hit a roadblock and they had more players disqualified for academic reasons before the season began than wins this year. But after copping a championship with Welcoat in the Philippine Basketball League, he’s expected to produce, and produce fast.

San Beda’s “Ekwelizer:” Everyone’s talking about him. Some people even want him to play in the pros despite being a pure Nigerian. He’s a rebounding machine and an athletic big man who’s in love with the slam dunk.

With Samuel Ekwe’s stellar play, it’s no surprise that every San Beda alumnus and fan is expecting the 28-year title drought to end in Season 82.

But the toast of San Beda is also the toast of the league. To a large extent, Ekwe has helped bolster the league’s popularity, which is now arguably on the same level as that of its UAAP counterpart.

Myth of the Tamaraw

WHEN a favored team starts losing games, people tend to justify the defeats, make excuses and create this impression that the team wasn’t supposed to be good to begin with.

Such is the case with the Far Eastern University Tamaraws. The defending University Athletic Association of the Philippines basketball champions have won just one game this year. But already, observers, fans and even personnel within the team are beginning to shed the tag of favorite (many pundits tipped the Tams to march to the Final Four) by citing far-fetched reasons to say, “We’re not supposed to be winning a lot anyway.”

Here are just some of the myths about the Tams going around town.

Myth #1: “Santos, Isip and Rizada are gone, so how did we become favorites?” Losing three key players isn’t an excuse to lose the first four games of the year. And besides, the Tams did a good job recruiting good players, not necessarily to fill the void left by Arwind Santos and Mark Isip, but to keep the team afloat.

FEU coach Bert Flores said, “Kulang kami sa piyesa [We lack the quality players].” Sorry coach, but this is far from reality. Jeff Chan, Jonas Villanueva and RB Mangahas were solid contributors from last year’s team who are still in the lineup; Benedict Fernandez has improved tremendously; and rookies Macmac Baracael and JR Gerilla are delivering. That’s a good lineup off the bat.

Just to drive the point home, the National Collegiate Athletic Association defending champions Letran Knights lost five of their top seven scorers from last year, but have posted a 6-1 record. Arguably, the Tams brought in even better rookies than the Knights, so it seems some people are just overstating the loss of Arwind Santos, Mark Isip and RJ Rizada.

Myth #2: “We’re burly, so we can’t rebound.” Yeah, right. Mangahas and Francis Barcellano are heftier than Isip and Santos. Using common sense, hefty players occupy more space underneath the basket, are harder to push around and thus have an easier time establishing position to get a rebound.

So what’s being dead last in rebounding (39.2 caroms a game) all about? The Tams can’t rebound, not because their two big men from last season are gone, but because they don’t want to rebound. The desire isn’t there, and the plays aren’t set up to give their best rebounders the chance to do their job.

A case in point: Against Ateneo, Mangahas spent a lot of his time setting up for three pointers instead of banging bodies near the basket. Sure, he hit three treys, but isn’t rebounding a bigger concern for this team than hitting outside shots? He should be fighting for loose balls, not jacking up threes.

Myth #3: “Closing out games is tough because we’re young.” Young men who’ve won a championship, that is. Villanueva played like a fifth year standout in last year’s finals, Chan made the clutch shots and Fernandez was dependable down the stretch.

Building character comes with winning a title. Losing four games by an average of 5.5 points is indicative of the absence of maturity.

To address this, Flores must start pushing the right buttons. He was humble enough to say in Tagalog: “Coaches lose games. It’s my fault.” To a large extent, there is truth to this statement. Flores carries much of the responsibility of losing close games, and he has to accept the fact that he is this team’s leader.

“The Tamaraw has become a carabao. The morale is low, but we’ll just stay positive,” Flores remarked. The change has to start with him because the Tamaraws aren’t supposed to be losing games. Beating the University of the Philippines is a step forward, but the run has to be sustained.

Anyone who says FEU isn’t good enough is just as inutile as someone who can’t tell the difference between a tamaraw and a carabao.

The new Bomb squad

CHANGE is the byword in the Jose Rizal University campus these days. And its basketball team, the Heavy Bombers, is making that extra effort to dispel misconceptions and create a solid hoops program.

Leading the way is the squad’s 33-year-old coach, Ariel Vanguardia. The highly regarded tactician, hired just five days before the team’s opening game in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, is gradually instilling a winning attitude to a program that lost 12 of its 14 games last season by an average of 14.6 points.

“The team had no winning attitude, so that’s the first thing I tried to change. We’re in the race not just to participate but to win the championship,” Vanguardia, who sports a tie during games to manifest the team’s desire for positive change, said.

What makes the task of the rookie tactician from Calamba City is the fact that he took over a team with just three holdovers from last season’s lineup, which ironically had 10 rookies to start with. Even the school’s president, Vincent Fabella, lamented the situation but noted that this year was the start of something big.

“Last year’s team broke up for a variety of reasons. The recruitment process has been [strained], but we’re doing well this year,” Fabella explained.

Despite being mired in the bottom of the team standings at 1-5, the Heavy Bombers aren’t actually doing well; they’re doing great. The squad, composed mostly of former team “B” players, has given the big boys a scare, losing by only four points to defending champions Letran and Philippine Christian University, and by a solitary point to Perpetual Help.

Vanguardia believes, however, that the time has come for his wards to finish off other teams. “The problem has always been the fourth quarter. We have to start winning.”

Perhaps, the first step to finding that killer instinct can be taken this Wednesday when the Bombers take on Mapua in a game that already has the makings of a rivalry. Cardinals coach Horacio Lim was quoted by Vanguardia to have said in a pre-season press conference that, “Basta JRU kulelat, kami pangalawa sa kulelat [as long as JRU is last, we won’t finish last].”

Looking to the future, the JRU coach has drawn up a three-year plan that will hopefully build a competitive program. “It’s not just in the usual food or dorm allowance. My selling point is my desire to make players better players, better students and better people. That way, my players aren’t going to leave the program, and other teams won’t make us their farm team anymore.”

True enough, the stellar play of Floyd Dedicatoria, Jayson Nocom, James Sena and John Wilson has attracted the attention of scouts from other colleges. Nocom and Sena have become targets of recruiting wars in the same way that guys like present University of the East Red Warriors Mark Borboran and Elmer Espiritu (both previously from JRU, although Espiritu was never listed in an official lineup) were.

But Vanguardia is convinced that, “if they love their school, they won’t leave.”

Outside the court, the Heavy Bombers have become a tightly knit group. The players hear mass together every Sunday, and practices at the Reyes Gym give the impression that, unlike the JRU teams of the past, this bunch won’t just split up for the shallowest of reasons.

Vanguardia and his 15-man bomb squad are doing a great job shedding whatever tarnished image the school has built over the past few years. With the way the basketball team is playing, JRU will soon be known for its cage exploits than accusations like conspiring with De La Salle to field ineligible players.

A championship may be a bit too farfetched at this point. But whatever happens along the way, the Heavy Bombers and their fans will always remember Season 82 as the detonating cord for a loud winning bang sure to be felt beyond Shaw Boulevard.

The hard fall

WHEN merely fielding a national team becomes a big source of joy, something just isn’t right.
That was my initial reaction when the draw for the seventh Asean Football Championship (formerly the Tiger Cup), to be held in 2007 in Singapore and Thailand. This year’s tournament format is quite different, with only eight countries participating in the main competition and a qualifying round to determine two of those eight teams (the region’s top six squads are already seeded into the main competition, or the final round in football jargon).

The qualifying round will feature five of the region’s lowest-ranked teams—the Philippines included—and will be held in Bacolod City. If the country plays as good as it did in the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup in Bangladesh (where it drew 1-1 with both Afghanistan and defending South Asian champions India), it will likely capture one of the two slots up for grabs at the expense of fellow minnows Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Timor Leste.

It is just unfortunate to note that the Philippines has not fielded its senior team in big international tournaments lately (for the record, Tajikistan, an obscure ex-Soviet republic, won the Challenge Cup). We did not participate in the qualifying rounds of the 2004 Asian Cup and 2006 World Cup. The qualifying round of the 2007 Asian Cup, to be hosted by four Southeast Asian countries, does not feature the national side either.

But that’s how low Philippine football has sunk. Many people have this notion that the sport never gained popularity in the country. Contrary to that belief, the Philippines actually has a proud footballing tradition.

Founded in 1907, the Philippine Football Federation is the oldest in Asia, and the country thus has the oldest football team in the continent. Our biggest victory on the international stage was a 15-2 thrashing of Japan in the 1917 Far Eastern Games in Tokyo.

Part of that team was Paulino Alcantara, undoubtedly the greatest Filipino player ever. Born to Spanish parents in Iloilo, Alcantara played for both the Philippines and Spain. But he is known around the world for being the leading goal-scorer in the history of FC Barcelona, with 357 goals in 357 matches (this 1:1 ratio is unheard of today). This is the same Barcelona squad that has captured 18 Spanish League titles, 24 Spanish Cups and 2 European Cups, with players like Maradona, Ronaldo, Romario and Hagi donning the Barça jersey throughout the years.

That’s how rich the country’s football heritage is. In the early part of the 20th century, the Philippines was making minced meat out of today’s regional superpowers. However, something happened (something serious) along the way to football glory, and the country is now ranked a dismal 192nd out of 204 countries (even the little country of Bhutan is ranked higher).

The national team’s tragic fall is really pathetic. And with nothing being done to boost the popularity of the sport (having to pay as much as P6,000 to see all 64 World Cup matches won’t help), the widely held attitude that football, ignorantly called soccer here despite the fact that the only countries that call it such have their own type of football (American football, Aussie Rules football, etc.), is a boring game will never be eradicated.

Something’s gotta be done to fix up this mess. Football, whether we like it or not, is the way of the world. It would be so stupid of us not to appreciate the game and help boost its image. That’s the first step we have to take in order to start winning again.
* * *
Purefoods has taken a commanding 3-1 lead in the PBA Philippine Cup finals. The Giants demonstrated that they can win in both up-tempo and grind-it-out games, something that they couldn’t do last conference and one factor that has given Red Bull’s coaching staff tons of problems.

The Bulls, with the way the series is going, have to slow down the game’s pace and play better defense. The fastbreak hasn’t done many wonders for them, and they have to keep that in mind if they want to extend this series.

Game on (2)

THE second part of our University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 69 basketball tournament looks at the remaining four teams in action this year, followed by a set of predictions on who’s going to strike big and who's going home.

National University Bulldogs: Every time NU is mentioned, people laugh. The Bulldogs have become the league’s perennial butt of jokes, and it has become irritating even for the neutrals.
That’s why coach Manny Dandan has to start winning. It’s not as if the Bulldogs have a bad lineup. If you’ve got one of the best players in school history (Edwin Asoro) and arguably the league’s emerging shooters (Jonathan Fernandez), you have to win games.

Dave Catamora, Howard Flor and Cyrus Malagueño make up a supporting cast that can help shed the team’s mediocre image. The squad isn’t necessarily final four quality, but it has enough talent and potential to beat quality teams. One thing the team has to stop doing, though, is jacking up threes as if the three-point line was introduced yesterday (NU fired 360 attempts, and made only 74).

This isn’t your typical NU team. So if it still can’t win, the jokes will be justified.

University of the East Red Warriors: The masters of the art of disappointing are now the favorites to win the title. If the Red Warriors are looking for a time to claim the big prize and not just go near it, this is the year.

The troika of Marcy Arellano, Mark Borboran and Bonbon Custodio returns to anchor an athletic, up-and-down and pesky lineup that also includes the high-flying Elmer Espiritu, James Martinez, Jorel Cañizares and rookie-to-watch Jun Bandaying. The team’s depth is unparalleled, and the skill to match is just as equal.

Only the ghosts of the past (and there are many, starting with Gec Chia and the 2002 Ateneo championship team) and a lack of heft at the frontcourt can defuse UE’s hopes of winning the crown. This team has to believe it’s the best, or run the risk of having Recto renamed “Choke Street.”

University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons: Rewind to last year, where the State University recruited a handful of players in their final year of eligibility (Axel Doruelo, Mike Gavino, Mike Padolina, Mika Vainio) with the belief that a championship was at-hand.

The result: a rag-tag team of transferees that had ex-coach Lito Vergara seeing red every game. And the other result: breaking what otherwise would have been a more solid and long-term looking recruitment program. Now, UP is left with no choice but to field a team with nine rookies.

New coach Joe Lipa is definitely the right man to teach a bunch of kids the game of hoops. Marvin Cruz and Nestor David will be the guys to watch. Expect rookies Woody Co, Miguel de Asis and Martin Reyes to be thrown into pressure situations right away.

The mistakes of 2005 may very well serve as a blessing in disguise for a team that may just find its identity through a bunch of video game-playing cagers.

University of Santo Tomas Tigers: If you had a fantasy team, Pido Jarencio may not be your first choice head coach (the guy hasn’t even coached on a competitive level). But in UST, anyone seems better than Nel Parado, who did a great job making his average team look like a juniors “B” team.

Jarencio actually has a good team. The 2006 Tigers could well be the league’s surprise package. The youthful trio of Dylan Ababou, Jojo Duncil and Allan Evangelista already served notice that they’re no pushovers. And with the return of bona fide scorer and ball-hogging guard Jemal Vizcarra, UST has the tools to go all the way to the Final Four.

* * *
Projected standings: 1-UE. 2-Ateneo. 3-FEU. 4-UST. 5-UP. 6-NU. 7-Adamson. Final Four: UE over UST, Ateneo over FEU. Finals: UE over Ateneo.
* * *
Purefoods has taken a commanding 2-0 lead in the PBA Philippine Cup finals because it has gotten practically everyone involved. Kerby Raymundo and James Yap are getting their points—that’s a given—but Marc Pingris, Richard Yee and Roger Yap are making the Red Bull defense look so bad.

The Chunkee Giants, especially in Game 1, proved they can win even if Red Bull runs the floor. So the Bulls’ options are now limited. Perhaps, Red Bull can try slowing down the game and play to the Giants’ style in the succeeding games.
* * *
ERRATA: Patrick Tiongco played out his final year of eligibility with Adamson last year and is no longer in the team, as suggested by this column last week. Also, FEU’s rookie is Macmac Baracael, not Baraquel.

Game on (1)

IT’S that time of the year again when students get those occasional breaks from studies, and when alumni feel—sometimes pathetically—like students again. Yes, the 69th Season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines basketball tournament kicks off next week, and here’s a preview of what may happen in 2006, minus De La Salle University, of course.

Adamson Soaring Falcons: The Falcons are quite a unique bunch. They talk a lot, yet lose more often. When the San Marcelino-based cagers play, the game mutates into a slugfest.

Last year, Adamson lost 11 games by an average of 14.6 points. Save for the hunger to fight, it’s this loser’s mentality that holds the team together. Soaring or not, the Falcons have to start taking basketball a little more seriously so as not to make a fool out of the school they represent.
Veteran coach Leo Austria seems to be a step in the right direction. The former PBA tactician is a no-nonsense guy, and Adamson’s players will have to do something they’ve never done before… respect. He’ll have a handful, though, in making achievers in Ken Bono, Patrick Cabahug, Leo Canuday and Roel Hugnatan, who form the nucleus of an all-hype team.

Adamson returns with 11 holdovers from last year. Typically, that means an experienced squad with the talent to match. If games were played on paper, the Falcons would be written all over it. But word is, they’ll be played in Manila, and that doesn’t bode well for these guys.

Ateneo Blue Eagles: Ateneans are said to be intellectually proficient. So here’s a theory: No more LA Tenorio, no Japeth Aguilar, no championship. It sounds like a really simple equation, but if coach Norman Black can’t make stars out of Loyola’s erstwhile blue-chip recruits, they’ll be beaten black and blue.

JC Intal fills the void as the Eagles’ go-to-guy. If you’ve got amnesia, that sounds good. The ex-Letran Squire has the talent to tear the league apart. But if you remember what he did—or didn’t do—last year, you’ll cry.

Two possibilities emerge. If the supporting quartet of Ken Barracoso, Macky Escalona, Doug Kramer and Zion Laterre step up, Ateneo will be in a position to win. But if these guys, along with the overhyped recruitment class of ’03—Ford Arao, Martin Quimson, Chris Tiu and Johan Uichico—play like softies (which has slowly become a Blue Eagle trademark), they can expect school alumni to start whining again.

Ateneo was miserable on the offensive end last year, no thanks to a lack of support from Tenorio’s teammates. Intal has to score at least 15 points a contest, and the class of ’03 has to play more physical basketball for the Eagles to contend for the title.

A plus is having arguably the best player from the high school ranks. Yes, Ateneo must be thankful they plucked Eric Salamat, the 2005 NCAA Juniors Finals Most Valuable Player. He’s Rookie of the Year caliber. And he’s not soft, so that’s great news across the Marikina Valley.

A championship is realistic for Ateneo. But it’s not because they’ve beefed up (this lineup isn’t even a shadow of last year’s team, which underachieved). It’s because other teams are a tad weaker, and De La Salle is suspended. The Blue Eagles will need a big-time effort from their otherwise small-time performers.

Far Eastern University Tamaraws: The defending champions have a huge void to fill (Arwind Santos, Mark Isip and RJ Rizada are gone), and that may be good news for the rest of the league. But the Tamaraws still have solid players who can win ugly, but win.

Stepping into the limelight is Jeff Chan. He’s a good spot-up shooter and a pesky defender—as almost all Tamaraws are. It’s this work ethic that can very much carry the Morayta cagers to the finals once again.

Chan will be supported by skillful playmaker Jonas Villanueva and the 21st century version of the Bash Brothers, Francis Barcellano and RB Mangahas. Shooting guard Benedict Fernandez can very well be the revelation of the league this year, and rookie Macmac Baracael will be asked to contribute from the perimeter.

The Tams’ weakness may be on the tactical side. Coach Bert Flores won the title last year, but can he respond to pressure situations with a younger batch of players? This time, Flores has to do something he didn’t have to as much last year, and that’s coach. In the Tams’ championship run last year, it was evident that the players made the smart decisions because they were veterans. Now, Flores has to do make the right moves.
***
Both semifinal series in the PBA Philippine Cup have been extended to Game 7s. When this reaches print, the two finalists shall have been known. Purefoods and San Miguel are heavily favored because the momentum is on their side. But for that momentum to be translated to victory, they’ve got to play their trademark game and not even attempt to experiment against adventurous Alaska and Red Bull.

That trademark is a slow-tempo game. If the games’ tempo pick up, Alaska will defeat Purefoods, and Red Bull, the masters of the fastbreak, will not only beat but blow out San Miguel.

The Taft Transition

NATIONAL Collegiate Athletic Association Season 82 hosts College of Saint Benilde got off to the worst possible start in this year’s basketball competition, bowing to the depleted Letran Knights by 21 points.

The Blazers, unfortunately, are confronted with the same problem that’s been hounding them since they won the cage plum in 2000: the lack of continuity. The Taft Transition is such that Saint Benilde’s current lineup is an obscure mix of transferees and rookies. But the more bizarre twist to this puzzle is that once again, the Blazers are missing key players still eligible this year.

Last year’s surprise Most Valuable Player Jay Sagad, leading scorer Paolo Orbeta, utility man Harvey Porras and Abdel Glang are not in this year’s lineup. Whether or not their absence is due to academic ineligibility is not the issue here. These four players were expected to provide stability to a team that has the talent to go places.

Now, the Blazers have nine rookies and just six holdovers. Their roster includes a former point/shooting guard for the De La Salle Green Archers (Martin Urra, who incidentally is Saint Benilde’s key player his year), an ex-Adamson Falcon (William Johnston), one-time University of the Philippines forward (Jacob Manlapaz) and even a former Ateneo Blue Eaglet (Stan Aldover).

No recruit since 2000 has played all five years for the school. And since 2001, only Jay-A Coching, Titus Mendoza, Bernardino Perlas and Unik Reyes played out their fifth or final year of eligibility. Not even the more heralded Sunday Salvacion, Jondan Salvador, Ron Capati and Al Magpayo managed to, either because they jumped to the pros right away or were just too old to be playing in the collegiate ranks.

It seems that Saint Benilde does not have a long-term strategy in terms of recruiting players. For a school that has an abundance of resources, that’s sad. The Blazers have been left scavenging for players who fit short-term needs, a recipe for failure.

The transition of players in Saint Benilde looks anything but smooth.
***
Alaska and Red Bull have taken the advantage going into the homestretch of their Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup best-of-seven series. Holding 2-1 leads, both the Aces and Bulls need to remember just a few more things in order to finish off Purefoods and San Miguel, respectively.

The Aces lost Game 3 because their defense didn’t know who to pay attention to. Roger Yap and Jun Limpot, two unlikely sources of points, combined for 34 points. Coach Tim Cone has to have his wards play tougher defense. I’m sure they can afford to have Kerby Raymundo and James Yap score 20 or more and still win in the end, so long as the other guys are contained.

Red Bull, for its part, has to be wary of two things: running and rabbits. The Bulls may be the league’s most lethal running team, but the Beermen, especially in Game 2, showed that they aren’t too old to put up 114 points. Also, San Miguel coach Jong Uichico has pulled a rabbit out of the hat in the form of Wesley Gonzales, who’s playing more extensive minutes. Lordy Tugade and Co. may have a deeper bench, but the advantage is getting smaller.
***
I never had the chance to meet Bert Cuevas, but I am saddened by his death. The Sports section of Standard Today will surely draw inspiration from the life he’s lived.
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Stats of the week: Colegio de San Juan de Letran’s sophomore, RJ Jazul, scored a career-high 12 points in his team’s 65-44 win over College of Saint Benilde… In that game, the Blazers scored a measly 14 points in the opening half… Red Bull center Enrico Villanueva put up double-figures in points for the first time in his team’s seven-game semifinal series, chipping in 14 markers in the Bulls’ 99-95 Game 3 win over San Miguel… Purefoods has failed to hold Alaska below 40 percent shooting in its two losses to the Aces.