Scouting Report - #UAAP77 Week 1

(c) Sherwin Vardeleon

UAAP Season 77 is finally upon us! The opening weekend saw three blowouts and an intense clash between contenders FEU and La Salle. At this stage, all of those preseason predictions and rankings [I am guilty of doing one. Or two. Come on! Its part of my job!] are proven futile and should be thrown out of the window.

And with two playdates already done, lets take a quick look on the early achievers of this young collegiate basketball season and give credit to the boys who deserve it. Here we go!

WHAT YOU MISSED

July 12, 2014 - Saturday - Araneta

UE def. UP, 87-59.

FEU def. La Salle, 82-77.

July 13, 2014 - Sunday - Araneta

Ateneo def. Adamson, 79-57.

NU def. UST, 59-40.

POWER RANKINGS

1. FEU (1-0)

Terrence who? RR who? The Tamaraws showed no signs of missing last year's star guards as Mike Tolomia, Mac Belo, and the returning Russel Escoto towed FEU to a hard-fought opening day upset win against the favored La Salle team.

2. NU (1-0)

It wasn't pretty, but the Bulldogs ushered in its post-Bobby Ray Parks era with a statement win versus their tormentors last season UST, blasting their rivals with ease in a total team effort.

3. UE (1-0)

"Thunder" Dan Alberto zapped UP with five treys to set the wheels in motion for the Red Warriors' trek to the Final Four. The bench production for UE allowed coach Derrick Pumaren to go easy on Roi Sumang's exposure in opening day.

4. ADMU (1-0)

Sign of things to come? Kiefer Ravena might just have opened Chapter 1 of his "Eff-You" season this year, torching the lowly Falcons and posterizing defenders not once, but twice. "Eff-You" indeed.

5. DLSU (0-1)

The Green Archers might be stunned with an opening day loss against FEU, but it just wasn't their game to win. Expect the defending champs to bounce back in their next game – against rivals Ateneo.

6. UST (0-1)

Its just not the same without coach Pido. That's not a dig towards new coach Bong dela Cruz, but in the Tigers' first outing, the runner-ups seemed to be discombobulated [Did I spell it right?] against a more ready NU squad. The good thing is its just their first game; the bad thing is that they have to get it fast.

7. ADU (0-1)

With 11 rookies, even coach Kenneth Duremdes didn't expect the mugging they would get from Ateneo in their opener. He hoped that they would at least compete, but the team's immaturity surfaced, forcing "Captain Marbel" to reassess his plans, even if it needs him to exit the dugout in the fourth quarter of the succeeding game.

8. UP (0-1)

I'll just let this meme do the talking.

(c) UAAP-NCAA Memes

MVP WATCH

(c) Sherwin Vardeleon

(weekly production/ averages in parentheses)

1. Mike Tolomia (23 points, 4/6 3PT FGs, 3 rebounds, 5 assists in W vs DLSU): The fourth-year guard made the most of his extended responsibility, bucking a slow first half and torching La Salle with 20 second half points, as the defending champs struggled to find an answer against the Tams in the endgame.

2. Kiefer Ravena (22 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals in W vs ADU): It was a statement game for the elder Ravena sibling as Kiefer really showed the way for Ateneo. It also won't hurt that he had two slam dunks which sent Mika Reyes wildly cheering from her seat.

(c) Sherwin Vardeleon

3. Mac Belo (20 points, 4 rebounds in W vs DLSU): Belo has shown tremendous improvements from his days in the Sinag Pilipinas squad, and the forward has been a workhorse in the paint against taller counterparts.

(c) Sherwin Vardeleon

4. Dan Alberto (15 points, 5/6 3PT FGs, 2 assists in W vs UP): Whoever said that Dan Alberto will be an early season MVP candidate, please raise your hands. Nobody? Exactly.

(c) Sherwin Vardeleon

5. Gelo Alolino (13 points, 6/10 FGs, 3 rebounds, 3 steals in W vs UST): It all starts with Alolino, as the NU playmaker anchored the all-around assault for the Bulldogs in exorcising the demons of their bitter UST losses last season.

BEST FIVE

G - Mike Tolomia (FEU)

G - Kiefer Ravena (ADMU)

F - Mac Belo (FEU)

F - Russel Escoto (FEU)

C - Troy Rosario (NU)

ROOKIE WATCH

(c) spin.ph/ UAAP-NCAA memes

(weekly production/ averages in parentheses)

1. Ivan Villanueva (15 points, 6/9 FGs, 9 rebounds in L vs ADMU): Extra Rice Jr.? The former Letran Squire showed his soft shooting touch even as the Falcons struggled in its first game of the season.

2. Arvin Tolentino (12 points, 2/6 3PT FGs, 5/12 FGs in W vs ADU): The ex-San Beda Red Cub lived up to his hype as he joined forces with Kiefer Ravena in the early Ateneo pullaway, draining threes amd setting the tone for the W.

3. Rev Diputado (8 points, 2/2 3PT FGs in W vs UST): Diputado, a former Bullpup, showed that his spot in coach Eric Altamirano's rotation is safe as he was solid in his time on the floor while Alolino is resting on the bench, drilling occasional threes while setting his teammates up in offense.

WHAT THEY SAID

"We're playing undersized. Si Carl Bryan Cruz nasa kili-kili na ni AVO. Sacrifice." - Nash Racela on FEU's bigs matching up with La Salle's big men.

"Maganda ba or di maganda? Kung maganda, itutuloy namin. Kung ayaw nyo eh di palitan namin. Baka mas maging topic nyo pa yung outfit namin than the result." - Juno Sauler on the coaching staff's coat-and-tie uniforms

"I didn't do anything. I'm a good boy." - Kiefer Ravena on the unsportsmanlike foul whistled on him in their Adamson game.

WEEKLY NOTABLE

The La Salle coaching staff donned these uniforms which set the Twitter world ablaze last Saturday. What do you think?

UNI-WATCH

Just a quick word on the opening day uniforms.

The Nike jerseys (Ateneo, La Salle, FEU) are still the usual, but I observed one thing which bugs me until now. The school's names, regularly emblazoned on the shirt's chest, is now placed on a lower position, particularly the "tummy area." We believe that this space is alloted for the advertising patches, but isn't it too spacious for a certain patch to be placed in the center of the uniform?

Unless... they are pushing for a sponsor's logo to be placed above the school's name in the jerseys (which just further hammers a discreet belief on the league's commercialization, if its not yet that commercialized).

NU and UST, for me, had the best opening day uniforms.

Without any biases, I liked the loudness of the UST golden yellow uniform bearing a tiger print lining in both sides.

I also liked the simplicity of NU's white uniforms, going away from the usual "big U" NU logo and the one bearing a bulldog, and rather opting with the simple "National University" text upfront. Plus points for the style of the numbers at the back, which is the same font face of those of San Mig Coffee's. [Quick tangent: NU assistant coach Mon Jose also served as a video coordinator and later, an assistant coach for the Coffee Mixers during the 2014 PBA Governors' Cup.]

Still not digging UP's threads. Its nice that you have the word "Pilipinas" written on your jersey's front (with a little "Unibersidad ng" text written above it), but the white "bibs" that hug the maroon jersey just doesn't make the cut. And I'm using that term lightly. It really resembles an infant's bib, right?

The author covers the UAAP for Balls Channel, Solar Sports Desk, and occasionally, for Inquirer Libre.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the author's employers.

UAAP Season 77 Primer: La Salle Green Archers

Originally posted on the Balls Channel website

Head Coach: Marco Januz "Juno" Sauler (2nd season)

Last Season: Champions (10-4 in the eliminations)

                #2-seed in the Final Four; beat FEU in one game in the Final Four

                beat UST in the Finals, 2-1

Key Losses: LA Revilla, Luigi dela Paz, Gabby Reyes, Jarelan Tampus

Holdovers: Jeron Teng, Almond Vosotros, Jason Perkins, Arnold Van Opstal, Norbert Torres, Thomas Torres, Kib Montalbo, Matt Salem, Robert Bolick

Key Acquisitions: Yutien Andrada (returnee), Julian Sargent, Terrence Mustre, Prince Rivero, Abu Tratter

The Coach Says:

“My expectation for us is to play good basketball. I don’t believe in rankings and favorites. What’s more important is how you conduct yourselves during the season, during the games, and hopefully, whatever it is you want to get, you can get to that destination. We want to play good basketball. Wherever that will take us, then we’ll accept that.” – coach Juno Sauler

The Players Say:

“May pressure din sa amin kasi champions, kasi out of all the teams, kami yung team to beat. Na-feel namin na kami yun this season, because last year’s defending champion (Ateneo), sila yung target ng lahat.” – Jeron Teng, forward

“No expectations. Sakto lang, walang gaanong pressure. We’ll just promise na we will work harder time times ten than last season.” – Almond Vosotros, guard

“People are out there to get us. But we’re just getting focused on getting better as a team. We’ll be doing all we can to execute better. Every team will be a challenge.” – Jason Perkins, forward

X-Factor: Almond Vosotros

If there’s someone who has saved La Salle for a number of times in the past year or so, it’s no less than Almond Vosotros.

The 5-foot-10 killer will be playing his final year for the Green Archers, and it seems like coach Juno Sauler’s stoic demeanor which comes with his no-nonsense approach to the craft has already rubbed off to Vosotros.

“Sakto lang,” he said, when he was asked on the team’s expectation for this season.

“Honestly, si Coach Juno, the way he talks sa team, he’s very inspirational. Bihira lang siya magsalita ng marami, as in few words lang talaga. Pero talagang mage-gets mo kung ano yung point niya, kung ano gusto niya sa team, kung ano ang gusto niya para sa amin at para sa future,” Vosotros said.

And it really helps that being the floor general is like being the team’s coach on the floor.

Aside from embodying Sauler’s persona in the hard court, you better expect the 24-year-old guard to once again hit a number of those backbreaking shots, not to mention being the squad’s anchor on offense and defense.

If someone’s going to end his collegiate career with a bang, expect Vosotros to be a sure shot at it, the same way La Salle expects his treys to go in every single time.

Prognosis:

No doubt, La Salle is overwhelming favorite to repeat this season.

With a virtually intact lineup and an athletic cast of rookies coming into the fray, coach Juno Sauler will have an impressive roster at his disposal.

Already loaded from point guard (Vosotros, Thomas Torres, Kib Montalbo, Robert Bolick), wingers (Jeron Teng, Jason Perkins, Matt Salem), to the big guys (Arnold Van Opstal, Norbert Torres, Yutien Andrada), the Green Archers will also get a big boost with the inclusion of swingman Julian Sargent and hardworking forward Abu Tratter.

But despite the downpour of praise rained to La Salle, Sauler has always reminded his boys on the importance of constant improvement, and at the same time, shutting down the talks of them being the number-one team when Season 77 tips off.

Aside from the nitty-gritty of their playbook, the coach of a few words also wants to see more of the team’s consistency in their performance, as even though the Green Archers have won the Filoil preseason tilt, it showed times when the team tended to be sloppy and did relaxed when they owned big leads, costing them games in the process.

Though La Salle is convinced that their back-to-back championship aspirations would not be a walk-in-the-park, if their team, which is oozing with potential, can get its bearings together and live up to their hype, the Green Archers will be a very, very hard team to beat this season.

*****

UAAP Previews: Adamson | Ateneo | La Salle | FEU | NU | UE | UP | UST