FAR Eastern University’s (FEU) Nash Racela showed no offense after his fellow University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) coaches tagged the De La Salle Green Archers, and not his Tamaraws, as the team to beat in Season 79 of the men’s basketball tournament.
In fact, Racela agreed the Green Archers are the favorites to hoist this season’s biggest trophy, mainly because of Ben Mbala, the do-it-all Cameroonian reinforcement of the Taft-based squad, is finally seeing action in Season 79.
“Life is about respecting other people’s opinion. I would give them the respect, so I hope everybody will do the same,” said Racela, the man responsible for bringing back the UAAP crown to Morayta after beating University of Santo Tomas (UST) in three games last season.
“FEU is always under the radar, especially in the last couple of years. Personally, I like that. And I would prefer that we are not in the spotlight. While other people like the limelight, we let our performance speak for ourselves,” he added.
Season 79 officially kicked off on Tuesday in a press conference at the Novotel in Quezon City, with all the head coaches, except for Ateneo’s Tab Baldwin and University of the East’s (UE) Derrick Pumaren, saying De La Salle is the overwhelming favorite.
“After La Salle, the 2-3-4 spots will be known after the first two to three games of each team,” said Franz Pumaren, who is returning to the UAAP as head coach of Adamson University.
The Green Archers are also parading a new coach in Aldin Ayo, who led Letran to the National Collegiate Athletic Association title in 2015.
With Mbala and Jeron Teng, De La Salle has undoubtedly the firepower to dominate. And Ayo is embracing the pressure for the title-hungry Green Archers.
“Wherever you go, there’s pressure. If there’s pressure, it opens opportunities if you handle it well. The pressure will motivate us,” Ayo said.
De La Salle failed to make it to the Final Four last season and finished fifth.
Besides Pumaren and Ayo, three other schools have new coaches on their benches—University of the Philippines (Bo Perasol), Ateneo (Tab Baldwin) and UST (Boy Sablan). Eric Altamirano (National University), Derrick Pumaren (UE) and Racela, meanwhile, are the returning coaches.
Season 79 will start on Saturday in an Olympic-style opening ceremony inside the UST campus in España. UAAP President Fr. Emerito de Sagun said the ceremony will be simple and will focus on the athletes and their achievements.
The following day, UP and Adamson University face off at 2 p.m., to be followed by the tussle between the Blue Eagles and Growling Tigers at 4 p.m. at the Araneta Colisuem.
The Bulldogs and Red Warriors will meet in the first game on September 7 at the Mall of Asia Arena at 2 p.m., while FEU and De La Salle clash at 4 p.m. in a highly anticipated collision between teams that nearly came to blows in a tune-up game.
Atty. Rebo Saguisag also returns as commissioner of basketball.
One striking innovation deals on a team that sweeps the double-round eliminations. The traditional “thrice-to-beat” advantage in the semifinals has been scrapped. Instead, that team will be seeded in the finals and will await the result of the stepladder Final Four where the No. 4 team faces the No. 3 squad with the survivor owning a twice-to-beat advantage over the No. 2 team. The finals will be a best-of-three affair.
“This applies to all sports,” de Sagun said.