-
Anuna, La Salle?
By Gio Gloria
At the conclusion of round one of UAAP Season 85, it can be said that the DLSU Green Archers can be much better than their current win-loss record
On paper, the Green Archers are more stacked and talented than perhaps everyone in the UAAP except the defending champions UP Fighting Maroons. That’s why an early 72-69 loss to the Fighting Maroons, while a heartbreaker, was understandable given UP is the team to beat and a more cohesive unit.
Things were looking up after La Salle racked up consecutive wins against the UST Growling Tigers and the ADMU Blue Eagles. The win against the Blue Eagles, in particular, was a major morale booster since it was not just a win over THE archrival after nearly five years, but it also came thanks to DLSU making big plays down the stretch offensively (a big thank you to Schonny Winston) while also taking care of the ball.
Unfortunately, the rest of the first round saw the ills of last season rear their ugly heads again. Very much winnable games against the UE Red Warriors, AdU Soaring Falcons, and even the NU Bulldogs offset the gains from their sole win against the then-winless FEU Tamaraws. The loss to the Soaring Falcons was especially painful since not only were the Green Archers a stop away from ending the game in regulation, but the loss could have larger implications down the line.
At 3-4, La Salle is caught in a logjam with Adamson and the Red Warriors, both of whom also have win-over-the-other and quotient advantages over DLSU should those come into play at the conclusion of the preliminaries.
The numbers at the end of the first round point to some major woes especially on the defensive end. For a team with a stacked frontcourt, it’s somewhat surprising that the Green Archers gave up a UAAP-worst 49.4 rebounds per game, which largely came due to the also league-worst 19.1 offensive rebounds per game La Salle gave up. All the extra possessions DLSU gave their opponents have been painful even with a sizable lead.
Frustration within the Lasallian community largely stems from the confidence they have in their team given what the Green Archers have shown in the preseason. Breaking a two-season Final Four drought in Season 84, La Salle followed that up by clinching the 2022 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup. Those naturally generated buzz and promise for Season 85, but a step forward has been followed by a couple of steps back.
Fortunately, DLSU still has an entire second round to play. Stats have indicated a promising defense that forces the most turnovers per game (21.1), blocks the most shots per game (5.3), and gets the most steals per game (13.1) while committing the least fouls per game (16.9)
Free throws will be a perennial problem for the Green Archers, but nonetheless being the UAAP’s highest-scoring offense (79.4 points per game) on a league-best 23.0 assists per game is a good place to be in. The likes of Winston, Kevin Quiambao, Michael Phillips, and Evan Nelle can make big shots and create for each other so getting consistent production from them will be crucial to having a solid second round.
Despite these positive indications, it all boils down to one thing for La Salle: Finishing strong. Numbers can be in DLSU’s favor, but when the game is usually decided by the margins, making the right play would be the only thing that matters the most.
Can the DLSU Green Archers make the Final Four in UAAP Season 85? Yes, but the path to the postseason has gotten more difficult due to some holes they dug for themselves. They know what it takes to succeed, but knowing and doing are two different things.
-
Are the NU Bulldogs Legitimate Championship Contenders?
Six games into Season 85 and the UAAP has been quite the entertaining mess. For every team that’s performed way below expectations *cough* FEU *cough*, there are surprising heroes that have emerged beyond their preseason rankings. The team that’s best exemplified that has been the NU Bulldogs.
Technically speaking, we probably shouldn’t have been *that* surprised about NU’s rise. They did win the Filoil Tournament, coming out on top over more popular teams like the UP Fighting Maroons and the De La Salle Green Archers, all while maintaining an unblemished record. But coming out with the first seed, with wins over UP and La Salle, has been quite the development nonetheless.
The burning question now is this: Are the NU Bulldogs legitimate championship contenders? Is this another case of a regular season darling that will crash and burn in the postseason, or are they legitimately a team to fear?
Let’s make a pros and cons list in the format of green flags and red flags.
Green Flag #1: His Name is Jeff
Aside from being a legendary courtside reporter, Jeff Napa is a winning coach. He’s won multiple titles in the Juniors Division. Fans have long respected his work, but they’ve been waiting for his talent to shine in the collegiate ranks. It took some time, with some bumpy roads in Letran, but finally, he’s starting to showcase his stuff with a deep roster.
The thing with Coach Jeff is, aside from being an intelligent tactician on the defensive end, he’s also a collegiate player’s dream coach. He’s a player’s coach through and through and it shows with how much buy in he’s received from his Bulldogs. They believe in themselves because he believes in them.
Having that type of leader matters. Coach Jeff Napa is that leader. He knows a thing or two about winning championships and that’s a good start to have with NU’s championship hopes.
Red Flag #1: Lack of Top-Level Talent
In the last seven seasons, every UAAP champion has had at least one Top 10-level player in its roster.
Season 77: Alfred Aroga, Troy Rosario
Season 78: Mac Belo
Season 79: Ben Mbala, Jeron Teng
Season 80: Thirdy Ravena
Season 81 – 82: Thirdy Ravena, Ange Kouame
Season 84: Carl Tamayo, Malick Diouf
This season’s NU Bulldogs don’t have a player that you can confidently say is Top 10-level. They have a very deep roster with good talent, but they lack a superstar they can rely on when the going gets tough. As good as Kean Baclaan is, he’s still very young and it shows. John Lloyd Clemente, Jake Figueroa, and Michael Malonzo are elite role players at best. Steve Nash Enriquez has the gago gene (trademark pending, credit to Ryan Alba), but he doesn’t match up as well compared to other basketball giants.
It’s a cliche and there are very limited stats that prove the value of a superstar-level player, but history doesn’t lie. More often than not, you really do need to have the best player possible to lead you when the going gets tough. Maybe they had that player three years ago. But right now, NU doesn’t have him.
Green Flag #2: Defense Wins Championships
This season’s NU team has reminded people of the Season 77 Bulldogs. It’s not a one-to-one comparison, but the primary similarity between the two is how good they both are at defending basketball teams.
There are two key factors to this. First, Jeff Napa. He’s been a defensive savant as a coach ever since the High School days, and he’s brought over similar principles to the collegiate level. Second, and more critically, is their roster. To put it simply, they got dawgs.
Their roster is quite close to a modern defense’s dream. Their backcourt, while tiny, is gritty and intelligent. Their frontcourt has enough size and length to match the La Salle’s of the world. But their most unique quality is their forwards. Extremely versatile, athletic, and smart. They make life a living hell for offenses highly dependent on mismatch hunting. It’s so difficult to find mismatches in the first place because even if you catch their guards on an iso, their wings are so long and athletic that they can help without sacrificing too much.
Defense wins championships. The Bulldogs have an elite one at that. In a season as tight as this one, having that quality makes them an intriguing championship pick.
Red Flag #2: Winning Championships Requires Scoring
As important as defense is, you still need to score more points than the other team. The NU Bulldogs, while deep, don’t exactly have a lot of natural scorers in their roster. That could spell trouble for them come playoff time.
The NU Bulldogs, while elite defensively, aren’t even the best defensive team in the UAAP; that’s a title that goes to the UP Fighting Maroons. Logic dictates, whatever you lack on one end, you make up for on the other end, right? The Bulldogs don’t exactly have that kind of cushion given their lack of star power.
Kean Baclaan is the closest thing they have to a pure, natural creator, but he still makes silly mistakes that are unacceptable in playoff settings. Even Steve Nash Enriquez, gago gene and everything, lacks the creativity of a Terrence Fortea to create buckets in pressure moments.
Their forwards don’t do them any favors also. While good, they’re best suited as elite numbers twos. Nothing bad about being elite numbers twos. The thing is, to win a championship, you can just be the twos. You also need the ones. A championship team needs a Head of a Table and they lack one. And it’s what may prevent them from getting all the gold.
Truth be told, we can’t give a 100% certain answer, we’re not even halfway through the season once this piece releases. However, I’m willing to make two bets.
History dictates championship teams need a superstar to win. That pushes NU’s chances down by quite a lot.
But at the same time…
This is probably the most unpredictable season ever since Season 77. If there’s a time for NU to prove naysayers and historical context wrong, the time is now.
-
The Lastimosa Trap
By: Toby Pavon
It’s no secret, Jerom Lastimosa is THE GUY for the Adamson Soaring Falcons. He is a thorn on the side of every opponent Adamson faces, he is a walking bucket, he is their unanimous, unquestioned, undisputed, reigning, defending, go-to guy. His presence has been a focal point for Adamson’s offense because of his knack for getting buckets and drawing the attention of opposing defenses.
As the focal point of Adamson’s offense, Jerom is also the focal point of every opposing defense Adamson will ever play against. Game after game, you can count on opposing defenses sending traps, quick double teams, box-and-one schemes against Jerom, forcing him to give up the ball, and quite frankly, it’s tiring.
The thing is, it makes sense. When the opposing team has a player that can hit step-back threes, turn around mid-rangers and weave his way to layups with relative ease, the first order of business will always to be to get the ball out of his hands. It’s straight-forward, it’s obvious and it’s annoying.
What’s even more annoying is how effective this strategy has been against Adamson. In their season opener against UST, Nic Cabanero dumped 33 points on the Falcons while executing a defensive plan that forced the Falcons offense to stall. How did they do this? Coach Bal David had UST’s defense trap Lastimosa any time he touched the ball. This resulted in 3 turnovers, and a horrendous 4/11 shooting from the field for Jerom.
UST’s defenders give Jerom their full attention the moment he uses the screen In their most recent game against NU, it was more of the same. NU was trapping Jerom at every opportunity which forced him to 8 turnovers and yet another horrendous 4/11 shooting from the field. Fortunately for Jerom, in order to shoot horrendously in the UAAP, you have to actually play in the UAAP, right?
NU’s defenders double Jerom just as he crosses the half court line, the again when he gets the ball back. This could have been a pass to Magbuhos who popped to the arc, but the defense took away that pass. NU’s defenders pick him up and double him again even as Jerom receives the ball again off the pass. NU aggressively forces Jerom out of position while cutting off the pass to Lenda rolling into the paint. The one game that an opponent resisted the urge to constantly trap Jerom, he shot 9/19 from the field for 25 points. Unfortunately, when they eventually did start to trap him in overtime, he couldn’t even get a single shot attempt up.
But trapping Jerom and forcing him to give up the ball as a means of beating Adamson is usually easier said than done. In their two victories, Jerom was not the highest scorer for the Falcons. Against UE, it was Joem Sabandal who put up a scoring clinic for 16 points, while against FEU it was Vince Magbuhos who poured in bucket after bucket from beyond the arc, making 7/8 three pointers for a team high 23 points.
Choosing not to trap Jerom means he has room to operate. Without the pressure, Jerom makes a crisp pass to Magbuhos waiting in the wing. Watching teams trap Jerom over and over again is extremely annoying, and only the Soaring Falcons can make it stop. How? By making it not work. And how do they do that? By doing what they did in their wins, having players not named Jerom Lastimosa hit their shots.
It became painfully clear why teams choose to trap him. As a team, the Soaring Falcons shot an atrocious 2/24 from the three point line. This was despite all the opportunities generated by Jerom’s gravity. Both a combination of bad luck, and simply not having players on the floor whose sole purpose is to knock down threes, the Soaring Falcons, on their worst games, are unable to make teams pay for trapping Jerom so often.
Adamson’s offense is good enough that it can generate open shots like this. Notice how both defenders are out of position to recover as Jed Colonia receives the pass. Unfortunately Jed is not known for his ability to make three pointers and opted to drive in this play. By no means is the Soaring Falcons offense bad. Often, they are lauded for having some of the best ball movement in the league. Their lineup is made up of players who would be considered good at scoring, some of whom can shoot the three ball, but where they suffer is from a lack of who would be considered three-point shooters. Joshua Yerro, Joem Sabandal, Didat Hanapi, Vince Magbuhos are all capable shooters who can knock down the three ball, but they aren’t able to do it with the necessary consistency to keep defenders worried about them catching the emergency pass from Jerom.
Jerom attracts the defense and finds the open man who swings it to the open man in the corner which is normally the sign of good offense, but Aaron Flowers who is open in the corner is not known for being able to make three pointers, so he is forced to put the ball on the floor and drive instead. In many instances, the better shot for them is a drive to the paint for a layup or a mid range shot, a shot that allows defenders to recover or to help on the closeout, negating the advantage Jerom gives them. And when teams realize that they have time to recover, the drives become more and more contested, and points become harder and harder to come by.
Several good looks don’t go down which is the trend for Adamson’s offense. The ball movement has been good but they aren’t able to convert the chances. Basketball is a game of going with what works. Opposing teams have found out that trapping Jerom works. They will continue trapping him because it works. And they will not stop trapping him until it doesn’t work. So if Adamson wants to have any chance of having a deep run this season, they have to make this very obvious defensive scheme against them, NOT WORK.
-
What’s up with U, FEU?
By Gio Gloria
Success has rarely eluded the FEU Tamaraws at least for men’s college basketball.
The Tamaraws have been a beacon of consistency for so long that your father and his father know that FEU is a good basketball program. With 20 UAAP championships, the Tamaraws are the winningest Men’s Basketball program in UAAP league history, even when you remove the two UAAP titles FEU “clinched” due to technicalities (they would tie the UE Red Warriors and the UST Growling Tigers with 18 UAAP Men’s Basketball championships).
While the Tamaraws’ UAAP Season 78 championship back in 2015 was their last UAAP title since Season 68 (2005), FEU has missed the UAAP Final Four only five times, the lowest among all the member schools.
All of that, though, has made what has happened to the FEU Tamaraws of UAAP Season 85 so far difficult to fathom.
It’s quite uncharacteristic of the Tamaraws to be starting Season 85 winless through five games and it’s not lost on many observers, who are all accustomed to seeing FEU rack up wins on their way to another Final Four run. In fact, their latest loss to the DLSU Green Archers was a beatdown to say the least.
As it stands, the Tamaraws might miss the Final Four for the first time in a decade, a development that will snap the longest active streak of consecutive Final Fours (eight). It will take a run of miraculous proportions and some things to work in FEU’s favor for the run to continue, but right now, it’s not impossible. It’s just going to be difficult.
Numbers through five games show that the Tamaraws give up the most points in the UAAP per game (78.2). This largely comes from letting their opponents shoot a league-high 35.1 percent from behind the 3-point line, which resulted in opposing teams scoring a UAAP-best 37.6 perimeter points per game.
It doesn’t help that the offense has been atrocious compared to the rest of the UAAP. FEU is second to last in points per game (67.6), largely due to poor shooting (35.8 percent shooting from the field, which is seventh in the UAAP). Moreover, slow starts on offense only add to the Tamaraws’ early woes as opponent’s starters to score a league-high 49.4 points per game on them.
The disappointing results naturally give rise to certain questions.
Could it be the loss of Nash Racela, whose fingerprints on this FEU squad are slowly disappearing? Of course, his brother Olsen Racela has been with the Tamaraws for six years already and most, if not all, of the players Nash brought in have already moved on. However, Olsen has led FEU to Final Four appearances in all his seasons as head coach, so success has obviously not evaded him.
How about the loss of RJ Abarrientos? Of course, Abarrientos is talented, but the Tamaraws are too good of a college program to be overly dependent on one player. Besides, FEU still has very capable players in LJay Gonzales, Xyrus Torres, and leading scorer Patrick Sleat.
It’s possible that the rest of the league has gotten better and the race to the UAAP title wide open, but when has that ever been an excuse?
Rather than point figures and speculate, it may be better for the Tamaraws to focus on themselves and the wins they can still get. Maybe things will get better for the Tamaraws if they go back to the basics. They can run their sets and utilize the pick-and-roll and see how things develop. The likes of Gonzales and Sleat are capable slashers and Torres is due for a breakout game sometime soon.
There have also been signs that the Tamaraws’ defense can be good, especially when they only allow 9.8 second chance points per game, which is fourth in the UAAP. Physical basketball has been synonymous with the Tamaraws and boosting their offense with a more concerted effort on the defensive end can exert less pressure and allow them to keep things close and winnable.
The FEU Tamaraws are in uncharted territory in that wins have been hard to come by. The road to the Final Four is a steep and uphill climb and even for a historic program, this could be one they may not overcome unless they act fast.
-
Catch Your Breath, Dave Ildefonso – Ateneo Needs You Right Now
Leche, matatalo na naman Ateneo sa UP. Okay lang. There’s a reason why the Fighting Maroons are the kings of the UAAP. Tanggap ko na.
These were some of the thoughts racing through my head as Dave Ildefonso hit his pair of free throws to keep Ateneo within three points in the last minute of action this past Sunday.
I accepted my alma mater losing to UP even before Season 85 began.
Call it denial or an acceptance of fate but, I don’t see how Ateneo could stand up to UP in another Finals matchup.
A laundry list of improvements needs to happen between now and the Final Four including better bench play from the guards, Forthsky Padrigao making major strides as a playmaker and everyone hitting open shots.
For this wannabe sports journalist though, I’d argue Ildefonso is the biggest piece of the puzzle.
The greatest basketball mamarus of our time had their hot takes about that game against La Salle – a new norm in the land of sports journalism to protect oneself from critics and would-be analysts.
“Si Dave, star lang naman ‘yan sa pangalan eh. Hindi kasi nag-preseason dito sa ‘Pinas before Season 85 kaya ayan, hirap tuloy sa clutch situations.”
While I’m just a dude who has more opinions than basketball skills, I’ve been around enough athletes of different disciplines and skill levels to believe that it’s not a confidence thing with him. He’s overthinking what to do in the moment.
We all know he can make shots with a hand in his face. We’ve seen him dismantle defenses with crisp passes to shooters. We all started asking “what if he did join Ateneo” prior to Season 84. We wondered how great he would be under the guiding hand of Tab Baldwin.
Season 85 Ildefonso just feels…well, off.
His picture-perfect jump shots are not falling, he struggles to make the right decision when the ball is in his hands, blitz-heavy defenses are having a field day stopping him – in short, he doesn’t look like the player that the Ateneo hopefuls yearned for.
Last season was at least a bit easier to stomach when he had vets like SJ Belangel and Gian Mamuyac helping him learn the ins and outs of the Baldwin system. The former was supposed to be with the Blue Eagles this season as the main guy to take the pressure off of Dave Ildefonso on offense.
But when life throws you curveballs in the form of losing your best player to pro basketball overseas, the mere thought of being placed in that role will often catche you off guard. It’s a fact of life.
As a member of the Bulldogs, Dave had carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to do.
But with Ateneo, he had to tone it down for his first season and was then expected to take over again in just a few months for Season 85. It’s not as easy as some armchair analysts make it out to be. Winning the mental battle with yourself is the hardest part of doing anything in life.
In other words, sa sobrang dami ng options niya ngayon, parang nalulula siya.
Ildefonso was doing his best to be a playmaker while also getting buckets of his own against UP. Most were good shots that just didn’t go in and most of his passes ended up in the hands of his shooters who just couldn’t convert.
He had a good idea of what he wanted to do, but the Fighting Maroons are just that damn good at locking him down which led to his four turnovers.
The Ateneo Blue Eagles need someone to lead them this season and he has the opportunity to be “that” guy: the sure-handed forward/guard who cooks opposing defenses for lunch and then has what’s left of them for merienda just because he can.
Becoming the head of the table for a group that once featured the likes of Thirdy Ravena, Matt Nieto and SJ Belangel is no joking matter. The pressure to deliver lies on him as the face of the team.
We don’t need someone to blame. That’s tabloid journalism. Kumbaga, madali lang manisi ng iba.
Coach Tab previously mentioned Ateneo missing that man-for-others mentality earlier in the season following their win over UST last Wednesday. In crunch time against UP, we needed someone to take control of the situation. A literal man-for-others. The man willing to take the pressure off of his teammates.
Being a man-for-others works in certain situations like in nation-building. But sometimes, it means taking on a role you did not expect to get wholeheartedly and to just run up that damned hill. Basketball is a team sport and being a leader willing to take both blame and praise are part and parcel of being a man-for-others.
Everyone’s guilty of putting the pressure on Ildefonso to win a title, probably even himself. That’s okay. If my now-barely used history degree has anything to say about it, the course of human history has always revolved around competition – the same is more evident in the realm of sports.
I’m reminded of what a certain blonde-haired, bad-ass said from a spin-off comedy-drama from the 80’s once said that applies perfectly to his situation: When an eagle’s hungry, it doesn’t hesitate. If you want to be an eagle, you first have to learn how to fly.
We’ve already seen you learn how to fly last season. Just catch your breath first and then show them how hungry you really are for a championship.
About Us
Data-driven takes about basketball and everything around it.
Follow Me On
Subscribe To My Newsletter
Subscribe for new travel stories and exclusive content.
Humblebola 