Count them out and they'll prove you wrong..

• UE books the final ticket to this year's UAAP finals with a very impressive 78-72 victory over this year's host, the FEU Tamaraws.
• A lot of people (including me) predicted an ADMU - FEU finals this year in the UAAP and I guess we all had good reasons to believe so. The Eagles are the defending champions and they only lost one starter and a couple of role players. (Chris Tiu, Mike Baldos, Yuri Escueta, Jobe who?) Then there's the ever dependable Norman Black who always finds a way to discipline his large-headed players to play basketball the right way. FEU did lose a lot of key players like Fernandez and Baracael but their talent and depth was undeniable. Andy Barroca made a lot of noise in the off-season with his stints with Oracle and Smart-Gilas and he was also joined by his teammates Ramos and Cawaling in Smart-Gilas. Guys like Cervantes, Sanga and Knuttel were also coming back to help FEU get a crown. Of course they were also able to recruit a couple of quality players in RR Garcia and Pipo Noundou. Unfortunately for FEU, you still had to play the games to win a championship
• UE has always been in the Final 4 in recent years but have yet to translate those F4 appearances to a UAAP crown. The past UE teams have crumbled under pressure from the time of coach Boyzie Zamar , James Yap and Ronald Tubid up to the time of coach Dindo Pumaren, Mark Borboran and Marcy Arellano. This year, no one was giving them shit and maybe that's how they like it. No pressure. No expectations. Just plain old basketball. As the game's commentators said UE was the hungrier team.
• UE was undeniably the dark horse of this season. The core of the team was coming off a successful PBL season under Lawrence Chongson and it ultimately lead to his hiring as UE's head coach when Dindo called it quits. This guy pressed the right button when he freed up the offense and allowed the players to just play . When you place your players in a free-wheeling system , you're going to give your players control of what the team is going to do on the floor. In order to be successful in this system , you need players who are smart and creative enough to make their own decisions on the floor. Chongson has one damn good one. Paul Lee. In a restricted system like FEU's, the coach is responsible for placing his players in a position where they can be great. Players like Carmelo Anthony, JR Cawaling and Reil Cervantes are great fits in this system as they need the ball in particular spots to be productive. The same can't be said with players like Derrick Rose, RR Garica and Barroca as what makes them good is their creativity and their ability to make the right decisions on their own. I'm not saying Capacio's a bad coach. In fact I like him for his emphasis on defense and his discipline but you have to adjust to the players you have. You can't treat every player the same way. You can't ask Yao Ming to come off screens and spot up for a 3 point shot. (Maybe you can, the big does have a soft touch.)You need a system that will utilize the talent of each of your players.
• The game started out fantastic. The two teams combined for only 4 TO's in the 1st half. The 2nd half was a different story as FEU stacked up their turnovers that eventually caused them the game. It was a game of runs like the ADMU-FEU game. Whenever FEU would build a double-digit lead, UE would respond with their own run and like the ADMU-FEU game, FEU couldn't execute at the end.
• Where did JR Cawaling go? This guy is so damn gifted but he finds a way to magically disappear. He was a beast in the first half. I was already rejoicing when their captain finally showed up. Little did I know, he was planning an escape plan. His aggressiveness was nowhere to be found in crunch time and he let his teammates down once again. Hey! Why isn't he off the team yet?!
• Noundou had a decent game but he took so many ill-advised jump shots. He was so successful driving down the lane and stopping for a close ranged shot in the 1st half and continuing that might have changed the result. I wonder why he settled for outside shots (even 3 point attempts), which he missed most of them, when Cervantes was being guarded by Paul Lee on the block. Credit him for playing his heart out despite the injury.
• When Cervantes did get the ball at the block against Lee, he couldn't take advantage of the situation 100% of the time. This guy needs to develop a better post game either facing up or backing down and stop taking turn around jump shots. His partner Aldrech Ramos also missed a couple of open shots which he normally converts. RR Garcia's poise went down the drain. His lack of experience was evident in the game. I also didn't see Sanga in the game. Wonder where he went. I think he joined JR on his early vacation. Game-fixing? Kick them out as well FEU!
• Espiritu was non-existent offensively but he did change a lot of shots and blocked a few ones as well. Llagas moves so well in the shaded area and his teammates are so good in giving him the ball at the right spots. Rudy Lingganay gave his team a big boost with 15 points and his poise in the end game. Acuna showed the complete arsenal in this game. He mixed it up with 3 point shots and amazing drives and totaled 17 points in the game. Lee? Nothing else should be said about this stud. This guy threw a couple of questionable shots in this game but he did make some them including a couple of difficult threes. He wasn't the leading scorer in this one but he was certainly their main man. This guy is genuinely happy when his teammates makes incredible plays off his dishes. This guy was even tapping the number 6 patch (James Martinez) on his jersey at the end of the game. Just goes to show how unselfish he is.
• Schools are now aiming to win it all in the year that they are hosting but yet another host school failing to win the crown. Bad omen for the next year's host? (DLSU)
• These guys needs to improve on their FTs. Paul Lee missed 2 FTs at crunch time when they had a 76-72 lead with less than 2 minutes remaining. This is unforgivable for the team's best player. Good thing for him it didn't come back to haunt them.