MANILA, Philippines – Recently, the UAAP and NCAA Press Corps, from which this author belongs to, have honored the best performers in both leagues in their annual Collegiate Awards.
And boy, it's truly the best because all the awardees showed up. Here’s a list:
MYTHICAL 5 – UAAP Most Valuable Player Kiefer Ravena of Ateneo, Far Eastern University’s Mac Belo, NCAA MVP Earl Scottie Thompson of Perpetual Help, San Beda’s Ola Adeogun and La Salle’s Jeron Teng.
COACHES – National University's Eric Altamirano and San Beda's Boyet Fernandez.
OTHER AWARDEES – La Salle’s Almond Vosotros (Super Senior); NU’s Alfred Aroga (Pivotal Player), San Beda’s Baser Amer (Accel Court General), NU’s Gelo Alolino (Impact Player), Arellano’s Jiovani Jalalon (Impact Player), NU’s Troy Rosario (Doctor J Breakthrough Player), San Beda’s Kyle Pascual (Super Senior), San Beda’s Anthony Semerad (Pivotal Player), NU’s Glenn Khobuntin (Super Senior).
After much deliberation, Kiefer ended up as the Smart Player of the Year for a spectacular season.
Did you see the awardees? You could form a team out of these guys.
This reminds me of 2008. The year Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manny V. Pangilinan graced our event and gave a memorable speech. Among our awardees back then were Chris Tiu, Jayvee Casio, Dylan Ababou and Mark Barroca. He kind of kidded of forming a team out of this stellar batch. And lo and behold, years later, the original Gilas Pilipinas under Serbian Rajko Toroman was formed.
This brings me an idea: Why not form a team out of this 2014 batch?
I mean, nothing could go wrong if we have Ravena, Teng, Amer, Thompson, Jalalon and Vosotros, Alolino as our guards, Belo, Rosario, Semerad and Khobuntin as our forwards and Pascual as one of our big men. Let Altamirano or Fernandez or both coach this team. Heck, we could throw in either Adeogun or Aroga by naturalizing one of them. And we haven't even spoken of the talented Ben Mbala of La Salle yet.
I salivate at the thought of these guys playing side by side. Just the thought of it is giving me goosebumps.
And I will not be surprised if they did converge to form a national team or a Gilas 3.0 in the near future.
I can't wait for that day to arrive.
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Joey Villar is a contributing columnist for Philstar.com. His views are purely his own.