San Beda, Lyceum remain ‘NCAA’ favorites

MANILA, Philippines — San Beda and Lyceum of the Philippines University will remain the teams to beat despite losing their stars as the two take on different foes Sunday at the start of the 95th NCAA basketball tournament at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.

The Lions will be eyeing a four-peat feat and a league record 23rd championship overall as they face off with the host Arellano U Chiefs in the main game at 4 p.m. minus Robert Bolick and Javee Mocon, the cornerstones of their three-year reign.

The Pirates, for their part, will try again for the third straight year to challenge the Lions for the crown as the former square off with the vastly improved Letran Knights at 2 p.m. without their main man CJ Perez, the 2017 NCAA MVP.

And most teams agree SBU and LPU are still the league’s yardstick.

“It’s still San Beda,” said Perpetual Help coach Frankie Lim, himself a former coach of San Beda who steered the Lions to several titles more than a decade ago, in yesterday’s media briefing at the MOA Arena.

“I think the top teams are those with imports,” said San Sebastian mentor Egay Macaraya, who joked that Perez stayed with LPU in the form of his former player Jayson David, who is an Amerasian like the now Columbian Dyip standout.

The Lions have made their presence felt early after they topped a pre-season tournament with a 10-game sweep last week.

While it will be Cameroonian Donald Tankoua doing most of the heavy-lifting, San Beda’s present stars James Canlas and Evan Nelle are expected to fill in the gaping hole left by the prolific tandem of Bolick and Mocon.

“I keep saying in the past that they (Canlas and Nelle) are our future. Now I think the future has arrived,” said SBU coach Boyet Fernandez.

The Pirates are likewise loaded with an almost intact roster of Cameroonian Mike Nzeusseu, twins JV and JC Marcelino, Raymar Caduyac and Jeff Santos while adding David and Enzo Navarro, who are both transferees from San Sebastian.

“It’s going to be an exciting season for us,” said LPU mentor Topex Robinson.

This season also marked a lot of coaching changes with Mapua’s Randy Alcantara, Letran’s Boni Tan, Emilio Aguinaldo College’s Oliver Bunyi, Arellano U’s Cholo Martin and Jose Rizal U’s Louie Gonzales all making their debuts.