COULD Season 76 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) be the Year of the Bulldogs? So far, all the stars in the sky appear to be aligned in favor of National University in its fifth year under the SM Group headed by Hans Sy.
Consider the following developments (individual accomplishments not included): NU won the UAAP Cheerdance competitions for the first time since the event’s inception in 1994, shattering the University of the Philippines’ three-year reign in the process.
(Sad to note that the UP Pep Squad could not even lift the spirits of the Fighting Maroons following their forgettable (but perfect?) 0-14 finish in men’s basketball, ranking a far second this time after committing a number of falls during their six-minute performance.
The last time that the Fighting Maroons also went winless in 14 assignments in 2010, their Pep squad took the sting out of the debacle by snaring the first of their three consecutive cheerdancing titles.)
The NU Cheer Squadron additionally topped the Group Stunts competitions this year. In 2012, NU placed third in Cheerdance behind UP and Far Eastern University, a league-leading eight-time overall winner like UST which in Season 76 placed only fourth (trailing even third-placer De La Salle University).
In the ongoing juniors (high school) tournament, the top-seeded Bullpups completed the two-round elimination phase with a lily-white 14-0 record and moved directly into the finals with a thrice-to-beat advantage over the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eaglets in what essentially is a best-of-five titular affair with NU ahead, 1-0.
The Blue Eaglets (11-3), armed with a twice-to-beat incentive as the No. 2 seed, ousted 2012 champion Far Eastern University-Diliman to reach the finals.
Earlier, the fourth seeded Baby Tamaraws eliminated third-seeded De La Salle-Zobel at the start of the stepladder playoffs.
The NU Baby Bullpups, who annexed the juniors crown in 1974 and 2011, are bidding to regain the title they lost to the Jerie Pingoy-led FEU-Diliman squad a year ago.
With a little bit of luck, and by a quirk of fate, NU also has secured the top spot in both the men’s and women’s seniors (college) divisions this season following the elimination phase.
The Bulldogs earned the No. 1 seed in the men’s division despite not topping any of the two rounds (4-3 and 6-1). They were ranked first following the application of the second tiebreaker – point differential – that unlocked a three-way logjam among NU, De La Salle and FEU, who had all ended up with identical 10-4 records at the end of the elims segment.
Armed with a twice-to-beat advantage, NU yesterday went up against No. 4 seed University of Santo Tomas (which abruptly put to a halt Ateneo’s “six-peat” bid with an 82-74 win last September 18 for an 8-6 record and the last semifinal ticket) at the start of the Final Four playoffs.
The Tigers, however, beat the Bulldogs, 71-62, to force a do-or-die match for the finals berth. Red-hot De La Salle, following its 74-69 playoff triumph over FEU last Saturday that made the Green Archers the No. 2 seed with their eighth straight victory overall, will clash with their victims once again on Wednesday, September 25, in their own Final Four matchup.
In the women’s division, NU (12-2) emerged as the No. 1 seed following the forfeiture of five victories by the back-to-back champion FEU due to player ineligibility violations.
The Lady Bulldogs, who edged the De La Salle Lady Archers (12-2) via a tiebreaker, tangled with fourth-seeded Adamson University (8-6) at the start of their own Final Four party yesterday.
The Lady Archers took on the No. 3 seed UST (8-6) in the other semifinal series. Both NU and La Salle own a twice-to-beat edge over their respective foes.
If not for the forfeiture, FEU would have finished with a league-best 12-2 record. Instead, the Lady Tams went home with a fifth-place 7-7 finish that put their “three-peat” title quest in tatters.
The NU cage squads are in great position to make a clean sweep of the three UAAP titles in the juniors, seniors and women’s divisions this season.
Just remember the SM slogan: They’ve got it all, too, to score a hat-trick.
NOTE: Strange things do happen in basketball. La Salle currently owns an eight-game winning streak in the UAAP – its longest since 2002 – under 11th-hour head coach Juno Sauler, who had replaced Gee Abanilla just a few weeks before the start of the tournament last June 29. Abanilla, under contract also with the San Miguel Beer group of DLSU team patron Danding Cojuangco, was kicked upstairs following the Green’s quick exit in the Fil-Oil preaseason tournament and was merrily exiled to the Petron Blaze Boosters in the professional Philippine Basketball Association. And look what Abanilla has done so far as PB Boosters’ top bench strategist? Like Sauler, Abanilla currently enjoys an eight-game win streak in the PBA Third Conference (Governors’ Cup) as well following an opening-assignment loss (against Meralco) for a league-best 8-1 mark at the end of the preliminary round.