SINCE 2000, Ateneo de Manila University is pacing all eight schools in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball competitions insofar as win-loss records and championships are concerned.
Entering Season 70, the Blue Eagles owned a league-best 148-46 record during the elimination round for a .763 winning clip. The team has not finished with more than five losses in any of the previous 14 seasons, except for the year past when it went 7-7 and missed the Final Four playoffs for the only time during the stretch.
Significantly, Ateneo twice completed the 14-game elims sked with a 9-5 ledger in 2002 and 2007 but corralled the UAAP crown in 2002 with a 2-1 Finals victory over No. 1 seed De La Salle University that halted the Green Archers’ four-year title reign.
It would be the Blue Battalion’s first of six championships since 2000. In the playoffs, the Blue Eagles went 27-16, a .628 winning rate, including spotless 3-0 marks in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
La Salle registered five title finishes since the turn of the 21st century – 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2013. No thanks to violations on player eligibility, the UAAP extinguished the Green Archers’ records from 2003 to 2005 and ordered the return of their 2004 championship and 2005 runner-up trophies to the league.
While slapping the school with a one-year suspension in 2006, the UAAP Board also upgraded Far Eastern University’s runner-up finish in 2004 to a title conquest that helped the Tamaraws establish a three-year reign, having topped the competitions in 2003 and 2005 as well.
Though with only championships to rank third behind Ateneo and La Salle, FEU’s regular winning percentage of .675 (131-63) trails only the Blue Eagles’ record. The Tamaraws, however, went a frigid 14-17 (.452) in the playoffs despite making it to the Final Four 10 times, fourth-seed knockout game twice and the Finals on six occasions.
Without deleting DLSU’s records of 7-7 (2003), 10-4 (2004) and 10-4 (2005), the Green ranked third in regular winning percentage at .659 (120-62). Its 25-12 (.676) playoff mark, built around eight Finals appearances, is the best among all.
The University of the East is the only other UAAP squad with a winning elimination-round record since 2000 – .588 (114-80). The Red Warriors are the only ones to complete the prelims with a perfect 14-0 record, accomplishing the feat in 2007.
While UE automatically qualified for the Finals, it was swept by La Salle in the best-of-three championship series that had a Pumaren (Dindo, UE) vs. Pumaren (Franz, DLSU) coaching matchup serving as a side attraction.
Because of this incident, the UAAP Board has since ruled that a team that sweeps the 14-game preliminary round will go straight to the Finals with a thrice-to-beat incentive or theoretically a 1-0 lead in a best-of-five duel.
No other school has since duplicated UE’s 14-0 feat in 2007. Certainly there won’t be a sweep this year as all teams have already suffered at least one defeat by the time the seventh playdate was completed.
Which team then owns the worst record in the UAAP since 2000? Is it University of Santo Tomas, National University, Adamson University or the University of the Philippines?
Clue: The worst two teams will play each other on August 9.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Bandera. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.