NCAA 95 Preview: JRU Heavy Bombers

Key losses: Jed Mendoza, Mark Mallari, Junmark Silvarez, Darius Estrella
Key additions: John Delos Santos

MANILA, Philippines - The three biggest challenges of the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers this season are one, to put points on the board; two, to better last year’s three-win total; and three, to stay out of the cellar.

Those are tall orders for a team that is far from a full year of learning first year head coach Louie Gonzales’ system.

They gave a good account of themselves during the summer with their pressing defense in the first half of play. Come the second half when the other teams made their adjustments, that was it for JRU.

Why do we say put points on the board?

During the summer, they averaged 65 points per game; that is quite a low average. Arellano University and the College of St. Benilde were slightly better by just a few points; but still below 70. And now they lose veteran and one of their key players and scorers in Darius Estrella to a knee injury before the season.

That’s not so bad, but when your team surrenders 11.2 more points per game, then that is bad. Bad enough for a team to be at the bottom of the standings, which is where they were last season with a 3-15 record.

At this point, they just have to play good defense and hope they are able to get some transition points. They cannot simply allow the trio I call the “Dial Longrange” or “DL” boys in John delos Santos, MJ dela Virgen and Ry dela Rosa (whose names all have the preposition particle “de” in their surnames) to jack up a barrage of outside shots. If they want to keep the game close, they ought to get their frontcourt players like Andrei Dulalia, Jarvy Ramos – who seems to have regressed a bit – and Stefan Steinl to contribute not only for rebounding purposes, but to also score. 

Back to Delos Santos… in this spitfire of a guard, they have their new Zam Paniamogan except John plays better defense and has better hang time. 

The odds are really stacked up against this team. As we pointed out, they do well in the first half then fall apart when opposing squads make their halftime adjustments. If JRU can keep the game close and keep their turnovers to a minimum, then they will have a shot.