Here’s an early ranking of UAAP Season 87’s class of foreign student athletes with a three-game sample size.
Without question, a huge part of the excitement leading up to the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament was the upcoming batch of foreign student-athletes (FSA). After all, this season marks a fresh start for most teams, with UE’s Precious Momowei and Adamson’s OJ Ojarikre being the only Season 86 holdovers.
Defending champs La Salle have bought in Henry Agunanne to replace Bright Nwankwo, while former Guang Ming Dragon Dikachi Udodo is UP’s Malick Diouf heir. Ayodeji Balogun succeeds Joseph Obasa in Ateneo, while UST picked Mo Tounkara over Peter Osang to spearhead their resurgence. NU also brought in 21-year-old Mo Diassana in place of Omar John.
With a three-game sample size, The GAME attempts to rank UAAP Season 87’s FSAs, while excluding Diassana due to a season-ending injury in his debut against La Salle.
Individual performances and statistics will be major criteria, along with these FSAs’ overall impact in their team’s early campaigns. For instance, if the team plays fine going all-Filipino, that’s going to factor into our decision-making.
With that in mind, here’s our initial ranking of the UAAP Season 87 FSAs three games into the season:
1. Precious Momowei (UE Red Warriors)
Precious Momowei narrowly escaped UST’s Mo Tounkara as he reasserts his status among the UAAP Season 87 FSAs. After folding to Tounkara and UST, the sophomore Momowei quickly rebounded as he outplayed UP’s stacked frontline in a losing effort.
While limited offensively, he did snag 12 rebounds in UE’s first Season 87 win against Mo Konateh and FEU, alongside getting a huge block that sealed the victory.
Momowei is currently averaging 13 points to go along with 11.7 rebounds and 1.67 blocks in close to 36 minutes played per contest, stamping his class among his peers. Now, here’s to hoping that he receives much-needed help from UE’s locals so they can improve on their 1-3 record.
2. Mo Tounkara (UST Growling Tigers)
From the looks of it, UST will finally have a solid FSA in Mo Tounkara for Season 87 as he adds to the Tigers’ depth with good finishing inside and a mid-range touch early on. He was stellar in his debut against UE after outplaying Precious Momowei. Against Ateneo, Tounkara also produced a 10-point third quarter that helped the Tigers pull away from the Blue Eagles.
However, the Malian was limited against Adamson, along with the whole UST that extinguished their 2-0 start. Still, Tounkara is averaging 12.0 points (second behind Momowei), and 9.0 rebounds to start the season in España.
3. Mo Konateh (FEU Tamaraws)
FEU has dropped three straight winnable contests, but we shouldn’t overlook their new FSA Mo Konateh either. Right off the bat, we’ve noticed his aggressiveness and mobility on both ends of the floor for the young Tams, whether it’s for a rebound, or trying to score in the low post.
In fact, Konateh is the league’s top rebounder as he averages 14.67 boards that includes his 17 rebounds against UE and Momowei. He’s only averaging 8.3 points, but again, there’s his aggressiveness that will hopefully translate to better numbers soon.
So while FEU remains winless, it’s hard to overlook the Gambian’s play and overall value to the rookie-laden Tamaraws.
4. OJ Ojarikre (Adamson Soaring Falcons)
OJ Ojarikre’s niche lies on the defensive end, acting as Adamson’s last line as evidenced by his league-leading 3.0 blocks. If he can’t reject, then expect that Ojarikre will definitely alter opposing shots in the paint. More likely than not, it’s through this that Adamson has allowed the least points in the paint after three games.
He’s also a decent rebounder for his size, averaging 8.0 rebounds in three games played into Season 87, which has helped Adamson capture a 2-1 record early on.
But while an asset, Ojarikre is limited offensively, only scoring through pick-and-roll plays or offensive putbacks to average 4.0 points in three games. A better offense, though, would have guaranteed him the third spot in our rankings.
5. Dikachi Ududo (UP Fighting Maroons)
Six-foot-nine Ududo is part of UP’s stacked frontline that features NCAA Division 1 product Quentin Millora-Brown, Gani Stevens, and the second-year Sean Alter.
Udodo is far from a dominant FSA, but he’s a workhorse who tries to make the most out of the limited minutes given to him. The Nigerian big usually scores off the fastbreak, or through showing flashes of finesse in the paint early into the season.
In about nine minutes played, Ududo is averaging 6.0 points, and 3.3 rebounds as UP maintains its spotless 3-0 record.
6. Henry Agunnane (DLSU Green Archers)
Henry Agunnane’s first three games have shown that he’s in a transition phase at the UAAP level. He did have a double-double against Adamson, but it’s hard to overlook his limited production against NU in their opener, along with his Ateneo-La Salle rivalry debut.
As of writing, Agunnane is averaging 5.0 points and 9.0 rebounds early into La Salle’s title defense. He does play at around 17 minutes per contest, which helps him tackle the learning curves head-on.
7. Ayodeji Balogun (Ateneo Blue Eagles)
Ateneo’s Ayodeji Balogun has been a non-factor so far, with averages of 3.0 points and 2.33 rebounds in nine minutes played after three games. It’s worth noting that Ateneo has relied more on their locals, with guys like Kris Porter, Kyle Ong, and Josh Lazaro getting more minutes over the CEU product.
Whether or not he’ll move the needle remains to be seen as Season 87 unfolds for the Blue Eagles.
Banner images courtesy of the UAAP Media Bureau.