Looking at DLSU's knockout loss to FEU

MANILA, Philippines – That was a painful 70-71 loss by La Salle to FEU. Right before the buzzer no less from Arvin Tolentino. I have to ask: Why was Tolentino left alone? I think Jasper Parker didn’t need to draw two men on him (with all due respect to Parker).

But you pick your poison. FEU was going to take what the defense gave them. A two-pointer to send it to overtime or a three for all the marbles.

The Archers did not take advantage of Prince Orizu being in foul trouble. You’d think with all their bigs they’d lord it over FEU, but they didn’t. Justine Baltazar had a so-so game while Taane Samuel and Brandon Bates were mostly ineffective.

In contrast, Barkley Eboña stepped up and was a monster on the boards.

It is a painful loss. Talking to Kib Montalbo during the summer, he was so focused on winning back the crown. The way he spoke about it — he was driven. I always postulated that the Green Archers during the summer were molded in his likeness — fearless and selfless. But sadly, things just didn’t work out his team’s way.

Yet even before the knockout loss to FEU, DLSU was in third spot and in the running for a twice-to-beat advantage. They had everything to look forward to except Ateneo axed them, after which they looked out of it against UP.

How they went from one of the hottest teams in the league to one that skidded toward the end — three straight losses — is beguiling.

Where did this all go wrong for the guys in green and white?

While I think that the feng shui that determined their roster number is bunk, they still had the personnel to pull off a Final Four slot and even a championship series berth.

I thought that it didn’t help that Montalbo wasn’t his old self. I thought that coming off last season, this team would take on his personality — one that never stopped competing and played with reckless abandon. But that injury that sidelined him during the summer and during the UAAP season definitely did not help.

It also didn’t help that Taane Samuel also got injured in their very first game of the UAAP season and Brandon Bates battled homesickness. Whether that affected the latter big time, I have no idea. All I can say is they did not play the way they did during the preseason.

Sure, it is the preseason and people and teams are still rolling out their wares and gameplan.

Well, most of the UAAP teams played like they did in the preseason.

I remember during the summer and even during the summer leagues, this team talked about a share-the-wealth system. They passed that ball and were arguably the most fun team to watch outside Ateneo.

However, come UAAP, that ball didn’t go around the way it did. I thought they instead relied on one-on-one brilliance and one guy trying to make a play instead of a team effort.

It is easy to say that teams scouted them. I disagree with that. Whatever they did right during the summer, I didn’t see at all during the UAAP season. Granted they have seven guys in uniform then who were not listed come the UAAP. And isn’t that a tragedy? What a waste of the experience of going against top competition (for NCAA teams this is the last big tourney before their main campaign).

Now they are losing three vital cogs in Andrei Caracut, Kib Montalbo, and Santi Santillan. But they have some pretty good players moving up in Jordan Bartlett, Joel Cagulangan, Tyrus Hill, and Kurt Lojera. That will shore up a few positions.

Having said all this, I don’t doubt they will be back with a vengeance. For the most part, they have been the model of consistency after all.

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