DLSU is UAAP title favorite

NOTHING is set in stone.

On paper, De La Salle University appears to be the overwhelming favorite to snare with the men’s basketball championship in Season 79 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).

However, the title “paper” champion carries no weight at all. The last time I checked, the league has yet to declare a titlist on the basis of preseason prognostications, has it?

While it’s true that the Green Archers took the Fil Oil summer tournament, where most schools mixed their Team A roster with some promising prospects from their team B, the UAAP is different animal.

Add to that, La Salle, which has not won the UAAP crown since 2013 when the Teng brothers Jeron (DLSU) and Jeric (University of Santo Tomas) duke it out in a three-game finals, has a new guy doing the X-ing and O-ing in UAAP rookie bench tactician Aldin Ayo.

Conceding that the erstwhile unknown Ayo is a “championship coach” material, having piloted the tough-as-nail Letran Knights team that shattered talent-laden San Beda College’s five-year title stranglehold with a 2-1 victory during the 2015 finals of the rival league National Collegiate Athletic Association – again as a debuting NCAA head coach – there are just too many ingredients that make up a championship mix.

Foremost of which is team chemistry. This is something that a team with championship aspirations cannot do without.  A team may have a pair of go-to guys and an “import” but it’s the role players that could determine one’s fortunes.

With La Salle, you have an undisputed meal ticket in Jeron Teng and role-playing veterans in Jason Perkins, Thomas Torres and Paolo Rivero and Andrei Caracut among the locals and former Southwestern University (Cebu) standout Benoit Mbala as its foreign recruit for the first (and probably last) time.

Teng, the 2013 UAAP Finals Most Valuable Player when the Green Archers overcame a 0-1 deficit to beat the Growling Tigers in the best-of-seven titular duel, unquestionably will get his points as the main man on offense.

However, the team also must have the 6-foot-7 Mbla heavily involved on both ends of the floor – a potential 18-point, 12-rebound, 2-block Big Fella who could spell the difference between victory and defeat.

It’s said that a team needs to make its bigs a happy lot by pounding the rock inside and getting them involved offensively.

Our take on UAAP Season 79 (trust me, I may be wrong, too)

(1) Final Four:  La Salle, National University (with Cameroonian Alfred Aroga and hotshot J-Jay Alejandro still around), Adamson and Ateneo.

Far Eastern University is the defending champion but the departure of first-string vets Mac Belo, Mike Tolomia and Roger Pogoy will take a heavy toll on the young Tamaraws.  Host University of Santo Tomas, University of the East and Universiad ng Pilipinas also have the next season to think about this early.

(2) There won’t be a 14-0 sweep in the seven-team, two-round elimination phase, necessitating a pair of Final Four (semifinal) matchups (1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 with 1 and 2 enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage over their respective opponents). The last time it happened in 2007, UE went unblemished during the elims and automatically earned a final ticket with a two-week break only to be swept by La Salle, 2-0, in the finals in a coaching duel between brothers Franz (now in his inaugural campaign with Adamson) and Dindo (UE) Pumaren.

There simply are so many factors that could prevent a sweep. Health is one of them. Season-ending injury or even a health-related  three-game absence to a key player or two (Teng and/or Mbala, in the case of La Salle) in one game or another can quickly put to an end a team’s bid for a perfect 14-win elims finish. Even a single bad day in the office (or an off-night) by a team and perfection goes out of the window outright.

And yes, it’s true: Offense wins games (and the ladies in red, blue, green, yellow, gold and maroon) but it’s defense that wins championships.