SINCE the turn of the 2lst century in 2000, only four schools have taken turns in securing the men’s basketball title in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.
Ateneo de Manila University, of course, lords it over with six championships during the 13-year stretch, including the past five seasons.
In 2002, No. 3 seed Ateneo (behind Enrico Villanueva, L.A. Tenorio and Larry Fonacier) defeated No. 1 seed De La Salle University (bannered by Mike Cortez and Mark Cardona) in a maximum three games during the finals (winning the first and third contests) to earn its first UAAP crown since back-to-back title finishes in 1987 and 1988 while scuttling its arch nemesis’s bid for a fifth consecutive crown.
It was just as sweet that ADMU prevented DLSU a 14-0 sweep of the elimination phase with a 76-63 victory at the elims’ conclusion that denied the Green Archers an automatic trip to the best-of-three finals.
During the 2001 Final Four playoffs, La Salle quickly disposed of No. 4 seed University of Santo Tomas and Ateneo knocked off James Yap and No. 3 seed University of the East twice to arrange a titular duel.
A buzzer-beating shot by little-publicized guard Gec Chia in the second game against the Red Warriors sent head coach Joel Banal and the Blue Eagles to the finals.
Fast forward the time machine and most collegiate cage fans from this generation know that Ateneo has dominated the UAAP for the last five years, gifting Blue Eagles bench boss Norman Black with a championship each time.
The Blue Eagles’ dynastic rule, which includes last year’s 2-0 finals sweep of UST, was historic for players Nico Salva (back-to-back Finals Most Valuable Player awardee), Justin Chua, Tonino Gonzaga and Chris Sumalinog, who all became the first players in UAAP or National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) annals to collect five rings with the same team during their collegiate careers.
Mammoth Greg Slaughter also owns five collegiate titles – three with the University of the Visayas in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) and a pair with Ateneo in the UAAP after completing the one-year residency rule.
Far Eastern University and De La Salle have the second most number of UAAP championships since 2000 with three each.
De La Salle won in 2000, 2001 and 2007 (after a one-year UAAP suspension due to eligibility violations by two players from 2003 to 2005).
FEU was triumphant in 2003 (when Tamaraws coach Koy Banal beat then-defending titlist Ateneo, a team that was mentored by Koy’s elder brother Joel, in the finals), 2004 and 2005.
De La Salle and FEU were the combatants in the 2004 UAAP finals. The Green Archers actually defeated the Tamaraws in the best-of-three series but were stripped of their title a year later due to player ineligibility.
The two schools also clashed during the 2005 finals but the Green Archers, again due to the aforementioned league violations, surrendered their runner-up trophy.
During La Salle’s one-year sabbatical in 2006, Ateneo was favored to romp away with the UAAP title but UST unexpectedly turned back the Blue Eagles in a thrilling three-game championship series that the Growling Tigers, behind rookie mentor and former school player Pido Jarencio and star center Jervy Cruz, grabbed with victories in the second and third games.
Meanwhile, the other four UAAP members – National University, Adamson University, University of the Philippines and University of the East – have yet to pull off a title finish in nearly three decades or even longer.