With a talent-laden pool to choose from, newly-crowned UAAP champion La Salle remains confident of putting up a championship caliber squad when it goes for back-to-back next year sans two of its top players.
Cholo Villanueva and TY Tang, two of the vital cogs in the Archers’ stirring sweep of the University of the East Warriors in the finals Sunday, will not be around next year after playing out their final year of eligibility.
“TY and Cholo are one of the main reasons why we’re UAAP champions right now, losing them would be a big blow to us,” said La Salle coach Franz Pumaren after La Salle copped its seventh title overall.
“But we’ve been in this kind of situation before. This is college basketball, your players come and go. We just have to start somewhere,” he added.
Villanueva and Tang played a crucial role the whole season, leading a team that reeled from a season-long suspension and over a rival that looked invincible in the elims.
The two shone the most in the finals with Tang firing 17 points in a pulsating Game 1 victory, 64-63, while Villanueva did almost everything – from taking and making the clutch shots, rebounding and even defending.
The 24-year-old Villanueva, whose future work involves working with special children, in fact, was named co-Finals MVP along with another clutch player in the sweet-shooting JV Casio.
Actually, La Salle is losing a third player in Brian Ilad, whose last playing days with the Archers were spent under suspension after punching another graduating player Mark Fampulme of UE.
But despite Villanueva and Tang’s departure, Pumaren said some high school players would want to fill in the void.
That includes David Webb, the grandson of former senator and basketball great Freddie Webb who led La Salle-Zobel to another surprise title conquest over rival 2006 titlist Ateneo in the high school division.
“His style suits the team pretty well, he’ll be a great addition to the team,” said Pumaren of the 2007 UAAP juniors Finals MVP.
Pumaren also expects some members from La Salle-Zobel to join the squad next season.
“I expect the Zobel boys to try out, I’m waiting for them,” he said.
La Salle is also bent on luring high school phenom Ryan Buenafe into its fold ahead of competitors like San Beda and Ateneo.
Buenafe powered the San Sebastian Staglets to a three-peat feat in the NCAA while copping the season and Finals MVP plums in the process, making him the most sought-after high school player in the country today.
“Of course we want him to play for us but in the end, it would really be up to the players if they want to play for La Salle, the decision is on them,” said Pumaren.