UAAP Final Four

So who will win it all? Will NU defend its UAAP title? Will FEU make up for last year’s runner-up finish? Will Kiefer Ravena graduate with a collegiate career-ending championship? Or will UST pull the rug from underneath in the same way that they’ve been winning? One thing certain is that the UAAP season has been an interesting one full of twists, heartbreaks and surprises.

 For starters, who would’ve expected UST to be at the top of the standings? When pre-season forecasts were made, the Tigers weren’t even mentioned unanimously to be a top three team. Many had placed them at having a shot of making the Final Four at either the third or fourth spots. But where are they now? The more intriguing part of it all is that they’ve done this amidst the spotlight that was flashed on the likes of Ateneo, La Salle, NU and FEU. This is one advantage when one isn’t tabbed to make it to the top. UST quietly toiled under the radar and was fine that all the talk was about either the colors blue, gold or green. They may not have recruited the best players out of high school, but their players go all out and even outplay all those high-profile blue chip players who were courted by the schools with the deeper pockets. The Tigers hardly drew any pre-season talk until they started winning against the big names of the UAAP.

But all that has changed now. The Final Four is a different ballgame and UST is now the hunted one. The pressure on the top seed will always be there against a fourth seed that has nothing to lose. It will be interesting to see how UST copes with the pressure of being the top seed. Will they crumble or will they breeze right through? For NU, it’s a simple case of “been there, done that.” Fourth place. Weren’t they also there last year? And didn’t they win the UAAP championship over FEU? The Bulldogs actually like their current status (sounding like Facebook here). With the pressure on UST, NU can play stress-free and has the tools to beat UST twice. I wouldn’t be surprised if a rubber match will decide the outcome of this semis duel.

 FEU and Ateneo are playing as I write this piece and something is telling me that yesterday’s game might have been Bo Perasol’s last as the head coach of the Blue Eagles. For this year, the drive has somehow been the wish of basketball fans for Kiefer Ravena to end his Ateneo career with a title (more than his second MVP award). Funny how this season has been about Ravena. Nothing wrong with this per se, but I think it should’ve been about Ateneo the team and not just one player. Ravena is a great kid but if people see him as Ateneo, then the Blue Eagles won’t win. One player can’t win it all. But if Ateneo plays as a team for Ateneo the school, they could actually win it all. The Blue Eagles are much deeper than just Kiefer, aren’t they? Speaking of a deep bench, FEU is deeeep, and the nice bonus is that many of their players are from the south. This should make them favorites of the Bisdaks and Mindanaoans. With starters and leaders Mike Tolomia and Mac Belo on the bench, RR Pogoy (formerly of the UC Juniors team) waxed hot to lead FEU to a come-from-behind win over La Salle, knocking out the Archers from a spot in the Final Four. The irony of it all was that FEU didn’t need to win the game at all. They were safe at second place (win or lose), and it was better to rest their starters and give the reserves the much-needed exposure and playing minutes to prepare for the Final Four up ahead. True to form, the FEU bench stepped up and delivered with their starters serving as their chief cheerleaders on the court. This is the luxury that FEU has over other teams. Their depth is anchored on the trust that Coach Nash Racela on all players who can all step up to the plate and make that crucial play. This deep bench will be Ateneo’s headache. The big question is if Ateneo can give FEU a dose of its own medicine with its own deep bench, again looking beyond Kiefer.

 Another way to look at the Final Four is how the teams with the deeper pockets dropped to third and fourth (and fifth) while the “not so deep” pocketed UST and FEU are at the top. Although UST and FEU also spend a lot for their teams, this isn’t anywhere near the likes of Ateneo, NU and La Salle. The neighbors in Morayta and Espana though, are richer in bigger hearts and are more of the blue-collar type set of players. So which teams would you like to see in the finals?