Francis Lopez (with ball) and the Maroons have been head and shoulders above Nic Cabanero and the Tigers this season. —UAAP MEDIA
It is understandable to expect that in Final Four stagings, the most competitive showdown will be the one between the No. 2 and No. 3 squads.
The way the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament has turned out, however, will defy that expectation.
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La Salle and University of the Philippines (UP) have dominated the tournament, putting such a gulf between them and the rest of the field that both of them seem untouchable on their way to another Finals showdown.
The Maroons face the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Tigers, who are No. 3 only by virtue of the fact that other teams had worse records. UP, at No. 2, finished with an 11-3 (win-loss) record in the elimination round. UST finished at 7-7, the only other team this season that did not have a losing record aside from the top two squads.
That four-game difference between the two schools could have very well been the difference between the No. 1 and No. 4 teams during those times of parity.
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UP owns two victories over UST in the elimination round, further heightening the mismatch.
Still, the Maroons refuse to be overconfident.
“In terms of results, sure, at 2-0. But both games were closer than the final score,” UP assistant coach Christian Luanzon said. “You know, UST [also has] experience, with Forthsky [Padrigao] at the point, also with [Mo] Tounkara and his abilities on both ends, you have Nic [Cabañero].
“[W]e’re gonna have to prepare for all of them. It’s gonna be a good series,” Luanzon added.
First since 2019
The game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. at Smart Araneta Coliseum, which will be followed by the other semifinal bracket featuring the defending champion Green Archers and No. 4 Adamson Falcons, who needed to get through a knockout game just to make the semifinals.
La Salle will carry a 12-2 record into the Final Four. Adamson, minus that do-or-die win vs University of the East, won six games out of 14 matches.
The Tigers are in the UAAP postseason for the first time since 2019, but coach Pido Jarencio said this season’s crew is not out to continue that story.
“We want to write our own story,” he said.
Incidentally, the last time UST won a UAAP title was in 2006, when the Tigers were also ranked third at the end of the preliminaries.
At one point during that season, UST was even at the bottom of the standings, so being the underdogs is nothing new for Jarencio and his crew.
“It’s going to be like David [versus] Goliath. It’s going to be a good match. For us, we just need to fight. We need to prepare,” said Jarencio.
But this isn’t just any Goliath. This is a Goliath on steroids. And David will need more than just a slingshot to get through to the championship series.
“They [have] twice-to-beat [protection], but who knows? The ball is round. We might get lucky. We’re down here, on the ground. Let’s see.”
La Salle is as overwhelming a favorite in the other bracket, having beaten Adamson twice by a combined margin of 55 points.
That’s no longer a factor, Nash Racela said.
“Well, the good thing about it is we don’t have to bring it to the Final Four. We just leave it at that. So hopefully we give them a challenge and hopefully beat them,” the Falcons coach said.
And, like UP, La Salle is tempering its confidence.
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“There’s still a lot of work to be done. We want to set our team to a high standard and then making sure that the things that we need to work on will be addressed,” coach Topex Robinson said. INQ
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