By Nikole Javier
All UAAP teams are looking forward to a balanced but competitive athletic year as the Season 86 men’s basketball tournament kicks off on Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
While the fact remains the reigning champions Ateneo Blue Eagles are surely the team to beat this season, the rest of the squads are readily competitive to make it through the Final Four and improve their best finish from last year.
Regardless of where they stood in the previous season, Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin refused to get ahead of himself and instead focused on the team standing in their way on their opening match against the National University Bulldogs.
“Who might be at the top or the bottom of the league is irrelevant. It’s gonna sort itself out through the season. So, I’ve completely passed on that question [of who is the team to beat]. The only team I’m worried about is NU. It’s our opening game and we know how tough NU is. We expect that we’re gonna get the brunt on that on Saturday,” Baldwin said.
The Blue Eagles and the Bulldogs face each other as the main event of the double header at 4 p.m. following host school University of the East Red Warriors and the Adamson Falcons clash after the opening ceremony at 2 p.m.
Meanwhile, returning head coach Pido Jarencio is seeking to bring University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers, which finished at the bottom of the standings, back on the map in his second coaching stint with the squad.
“Kami siyempre prepared for this season since February noong nag-take over ako. Regarding sa mga teams, lahat malakas naman eh. For me, lahat malakas. Balanced ‘yong liga. Para sa akin, basta laro lang. Papawisan sila sa amin, for sure,” said Jarencio.
For UE head coach Jack Santiago’s part, whose team made the most surprising and exciting improvement last season, the target is to continue leveling the field along with the powerhouse squads.
“Alam naman natin, we lost a lot of players last season. But unti-unti napunuan namin ‘yon ng recruits. We’re dealing with a lot of changes now to maximize mga baging players but of course, ang bottomline here, we need to play as a team since ‘yong nga other teams din malalakas, nag-build din sila,” said Santiago.
Meanwhile, the rest of the coaches have prepared in the same way and have tempered expectations within their respective teams.
