Season 76: Seven to spoil 6-peat

MANILA, Philippines - A raiding party from all corners is poised on six-peat seeking King Eagles nest.

Seven other teams, all coveting the prestigious UAAP plum that Ateneo has held like personal possession the past five seasons, look to pounce on this opportunity to strike against a ruler perceived to be relatively vulnerable this season.

“If there’s a year to do it, I think it’s this year,” said Eric Altamirano of National University, who like everybody else is emboldened by the departure of key components of Ateneo’s five-peat victors, coach Norman Black to five players, led by starters Greg Slaughter and Nico Salva.

“With the graduation of key players from Ateneo, I think the playing field is evened out and anybody can beat any team this season,” added Altamirano.

The Bulldogs, owing to an intact lineup led by two-time MVP Bobby Ray Parks Jr. and Emmanuel Mbe and a strong showing in the summer leagues have been installed among the top contenders for the Season 76 cage crown.

The same with University of the East, which has beefed up its frontline with Sierra Leone native Charles Mammie to complement forward Chris Javier and ace guard Roi Sumang and enjoyed success in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup.

But come UAAP time, both NU and UE expect things to be different and a lot tougher.

There’s Ateneo and its championship pride, University of Santo Tomas and its three Ps (Puso, Palaban, Pride), La Salle and its determination to regain its glory years, and Adamson and the magic touch of its champion coach (in the ABL). Also expecting to figure in the equation are Far Eastern and its revamped crew, and University of the Philippines and its “fighting” youngsters.

“I really think every team will be strong enough to contend for the championship and I hope we’ll be able to stand our ground,” Ateneo coach Bo Perasol said.

Perasol is one of three new faces calling the shots for their respective teams this season, along with Nash Racela of FEU and Juno Sauler of La Salle.

Established stars like Parks of NU, Kiefer Ravena of Ateneo, Jeric Teng of UST and his brother Jeron of La Salle, RR Garcia and Terrence Romeo of FEU, and Sumang of UE are all back to play big roles for their respective squads. But the league, coming off a blockbuster season in 2012-13, expects others to shine, including newbies like Andre Paras of UP, in line with its Season 76 theme “Greatness Never Ends.”

“As the coaches said, the games will be very competitive because each team has improved itself; recruitment is so good that every team got so many good players; even the new ones will be ready to step in,” said UAAP Season 76 president Fr. Max Rendon of host Adamson.

Of course, that doesn’t include Jerie Pingoy, the FEU juniors star who transferred to Ateneo and would have to sit out two years of residency in compliance with the league’s new rule on eligibility for high school grads moving to another UAAP school for college. 

The UAAP looks forward to equaling or surpassing the achievements last year, which saw a record crowd in women’s volleyball and improved attendance in sports outside basketball.

“We hope to sustain it. As a matter of fact, we’ll be using two big venues, Araneta Coliseum and MOA Arena, for maybe most of the volleyball games because everybody has seen what happened last year and how volleyball picked up,” Rendon said.

“Also ABS-CBN is trying to help us promote other sports. They said there will be games (broadcast) every week, like football, men’s volleyball, to promote the sports,” he added.