After two straight UAAP finals defeats, including a painful one last season, the UP Fighting Maroons are determined to win it all this year.
The loss stings to this day.
The UP Fighting Maroons were five minutes away from their second UAAP men’s basketball championship in three seasons. Instead, the DLSU Green Archers snatched the crown out of their hands, leaving the team and its legions of fans stunned.
That was nine months ago, and the Fighting Maroons have spent all this time retooling and staying focused, using that painful loss in December as motivation to finish the job in Season 87.
They have the tools to do it, plus overall conditions are ripe. While some of the contenders, as well as the defending champions, lost a number of key players, the Maroons lost just two key players from their rotation: reigning MVP Malick Diouf and shooter CJ Cansino.
Loaded lineup
UP did well to replace them, though. Bo Perasol, the program director of the university’s Office for Athletics and Student Development, said the new faces have been impressive.
“As far as the newcomers are concerned, Quentin Millora-Brown just joined us in Korea and in Taipei, and he’s really quite a revelation,” Perasol said during the team’s send-off dinner last Tuesday. “It’s just a shame that he’s going to play for us for only one year. So he’s really going to help us in our campaign.
“Our new big man, our new foreign student-athlete, Dikachi Udodo, is also quite a revelation. He’s young, but he’s learning his ropes. The good thing about that is he has five more years to play for us.
“The team that we have right now will speak for itself. The last three training camps that we had, one in Serbia, one in Korea, and just the last one we had in Taipei, where they really did very well. I would like to say that this team has, I think they’ve had the time to gel together and to have the chemistry together, that’s why they have been playing as a unit.”
There is also former Gilas Youth standout Jacob Bayla, who will be beefing up the wing rotation. Perasol is also happy with the team’s bigs.
“Our front line has gotten deeper with Gani Stevens, Sean Alter, and the other big guys,” he said. “Of course, I have to mention Francis Lopez. With all of that, it’s just a matter of adjusting to the reality of playing in an arena that’s really full of fans.”
Then there is UP’s guard rotation, which Ateneo Blue Eagles coach Tab Baldwin once labeled the deepest in the league. All of them — JD Cagulangan, Terrence Fortea, Gerry Abadiano, and Jan-Jan Felicilda — have come back.
The wings don’t look too shabby, either, with Harold Alarcon, Chicco Briones, Aldous Torculas, and Reyland Torres all a year wiser.
“The other guys just matured,” Perasol said. “Our backcourt combinations really improved a lot. They have matured enough, and I really think that they could compete with the best in the UAAP. As I’ve been watching the preseason games, I think that Gerry Abadiano is going to be performing really well. We’re hoping that he’s going to perform well, of course. We have J.D. Cagulangan as our lead point guard.”
The end goal
Loaded or not, the Fighting Maroons still have to make all this hype turn into actual wins on the court.
“You cannot just say that it’s going to translate to wins, what you have been doing in the offseason,” Perasol said. “Because the pressure, the stress is different when you are playing in the UAAP.
“I mean, I would be really disappointed if we’re not going to go to the finals. But being in the finals is another story. I think any team that’s going to be in the finals deserves to be there. I think that whoever is going to be there is strong enough to be the champion.”
“So always the goal is to be in the championship and to have the chance to win it all.”
But will a third straight finals appearance with no hardware to show be enough for the UP community?
“Well, if you want to be simplistic about it, it’s always the championship trophy that matters,” Perasol admitted. “We all would want to be poetic about it that you just have to fight, and the community will appreciate that. But reality will speak that it’s important to win the championship.
“So we had three opportunities to do that, and we only succeeded once. So maybe in our fourth round, we’re going to get our second one.”
Banner Images from UP Fighting Maroons.