Masarap Nga Maging Atenista Ngayon (Pero Next Year Asa na Kayo)

• Congratulations to the Ateneo Blue Eagles for winning back-to-back UAAP Men's Basketball Championship as they defeated the UE Red Warrios 71-58 last Thursday.
• I think Lawrence Chongson lost the coaching battle. Norman Black was able to adjust to UE's zone defense and he was well prepared for UE's offense. I'm also wondering why Lawrence did not use the same rotation patterns he used in Game 2. As they say, if ain't broke, don't fix it. Who the hell is Flores? Where's Tagarda? Why is he leaving his starters for so long on the court? He already knew that minutes played by his starters was big issue in Game 1 and he did good in adjusting in Game 2. Then he lets Elmer play N minutes again just like in Game 1. Why is that? He wasn't able to trust his bench much in the finals because he did a poor job developing his bench in the eliminations. I know it's frustrating to see your bench players give up the lead but you need to expose them for them to get better. It's what we call investment in your bench players. Also, I think UE played one-on-one too much and it resulted to them taking difficult contested shots. I know I'm sounding like a broken record calling out coaches on doing a better job in getting their star players easier looks but it works. Plus, it actually gives you a better shot at winning a championship. UE (don't blame only the coach on this one, blame the players too) should have done a better job not to settle for bad shots. Jai Reyes hardly takes a bad shot in the game. He might take a contested shot once in a while but he'll only take the shot if he knows that he has enough daylight to knock down the shot. On the other hand, Val was taking shots off the dribble with a defender closely guarding him. A simple pick-and-roll might have done the trick. Val doesn't need much space to convert on a shot but he still needs some space. I don't care if you Kobe Bryant or Val Acuna or Ferdinand, you will miss a shot most of the time if you've got a defender on your face. I'll have to agree with Norman Black that UE has system. It's just the his system lets his players create their own shot. I don't mind having Paul Lee on a isolation most of the time but Elmer and Val aren't really as good as Paul in creating their own shot. Maybe I few isolation plays for those guys is alright but you can already count their shots as automatic if they're open. I liked how they set up Elmer for open jump shot in their 1st possession in game 2. So why not call the same play or something similar to that play instead of dribbling for 23 seconds and taking bad shot?
• This is a well deserved Finals MVP for Rabeh. He's the main reason why ADMU has been a contender in the last 2 years. I know I said Eric was the ADMU's season MVP but I said that for his consistency on both ends of the floor and his focus on the game but that all disappeared in the finals. I think Ateneo would have won lesser games if Rabeh was gone compared to when Eric leaves. Not like most people, I wasn't really worried about Ateneo if Eric wouldn't show up again because the Eagles have proven that they can win w/o Eric when they won game 1. Their real barometer is Rabeh. He was distracted a little bit in game 2 and it cost them a sweep. Together with Nonoy, they are Ateneo's pillar of strength down low.
• Let me give some love to the other guys. Basketball is a team game and you can't win only one player. Jainamite was a key part in Ateneo's 2nd straigth championship. I know I hate the guy but he can really light it up if you give him an easy look. He's been their floor leader as well. I was little bit worried about ADMU with Tiu's departure not because of Tiu's points or outside shooting but because of his leadership. DLSU looked very good to win it again in season 71 but they sorely missed the leadership brought by TY Tang and Cholo Villianueva. Fortunately for Ateneo, Jai stepped right in to lead this team on and off the court. Don't get me wrong, I still hate the guy. Let's not forget last year's Finals MVP, Nonoy. He's not going to get a lot of attention because he's not a great on offense but his defense is probably as important as Rabeh's offense. Salamat and Buenafe also showed up in time to win Ateneo's 2nd straight championship. Guys like Kirk and Bacon was also key to Norman's system because he needs guy who will do their roles w/o hurting their team's chances of winning. (Let's leave missing or making bad shots to Buenafe.)
  
• Sid Ventura picked the UE Red Warriors because it seemed the stars were aligned for them just like how it was for UST in 2006. Rookie Coach(Pido and Lawrence). Typhoon (Milenyo and Ondoy). 3rd seed beating a 2nd seed (UST beats UE and now UE beats FEU). Controversy within the 2nd seeded team(Custodio and Barroca). Ateneo being the no. 1 seed. It looked like he was right except for one thing, the composition of this 2009 team. In 2006, his best offensive player was a perimeter player(JC Intal). In 2006, his best big man was much known to score on offensive rebounds and open inside or outside looks (Doug Kramer). In 2006, he his PG was more of a slasher than a shooter (Macky Escalona). This year, Norman had low post threat offensively (Rabeh Al-Hussaini). He had defensive presence inside (Nonoy Baclao). He had a PG who could knock down open shots when his big man gets doubled team (Jai Reyes). In short, the 2009 ADMU Blue Eagles were more of a traditional half-court team. A team perfect for Norman Black's system.
  Black has always been blessed with talented players like Tenorio, Intal and Bugia in the past but it was only when he had Rabeh that he was able to lead this team to a championship.
• I believed ADMU's opponent was only themselves. If they play tough defense and execute Black's game plan like how they did most of the season, they will win it all and true enough they played like how they did all season long and won the crown. If UE was able to somehow get Ateneo to play out of character in game 3, they might have already ended their long championship drought (Has it been 24 or 23 years?).
  

Coach Franz Pumaren Resigns

Next season, we will not be seeing Franz Pumaren on the bench of La Salle. As expected from Franz since his brother Dindo came in to La Salle to take place as assistant head coach, rumors spread that it was an initiative for Franz Pumaren to be replaced by his brother because of his longing to run in the coming elections. Neverthless the rumors came out true. Franz Pumaren will be running for congress this coming elections.

Since Dindo now holds the responsibility as head coach, there will be a lot of pressure for him since Archer fans expect a comeback of the Green Archers to the final four next year after a disappointing season 72. Since there are a lot of people who criticize him far what happend 2 years ago he should prove next season that he is a fine "replacement" for Franz Pumaren. Obviously it will not be easy for Dindo to follow the footsteps of his brother which gave La Salle a consistent appearance in the final four and a bunch of titles ever since his brother took over as head coach. As for Dindo, it will be a very steep hill to climb.

EDIT:

BTW Franz Pumaren will still coach dunring the PCCL. His resignation will be effective on January.

Ball Points (10-5-09)

• A lot of basketball today and it started with a battle between the two best guest teams this year in the NCAA, EAC and AU. I'm really wondering why they didn't make this game as the main event for today. The other game for today was UPHSD against the AUF. Who's going to watch that game? I know those 2 teams have pretty courtside reporters but it's a meaningless game between two cellar dweller teams. Anyway, back to AU VS EAC. It was great game as expected with both teams trading punches courtesy of their star players, Gio Ciriacruz(28 points) and Argel Mendoza(29 points). I know it's not an ADMU-DLSU game but a diehard basketball fan would surely enjoy this one. EAC eventually won the game 86-81 with Argel coming up big in the clutch. Guys like Argel and Gio will definitely benefit from their squad's guest appearance in the NCAA. Aside from getting more attention from scouts, they also got a chance to test their skills with some of the best players in the collegiate ranks like RJ Jazul and John Wilson. It's too bad Gio has played his last game in the NCAA as his team will not take part in the F4 but I hope we'll see more of his spunk in the coming PCCL. I'm not sure if he can make it the pros as he reminds me of a Yousif Aljamal. An undersized big man who works hard, plays smart, can drive and can shoot the ball from the outside. He's not the biggest guy. He's not the fastest guy. He's not highest leaper. He still produces for his team despite those physical limitations but those limitations might hinder him from going to the PBA but who knows. Maybe he can work harder on his game and can show the scouts that he has what it takes to play with the big boys. Right now, I can see him succeed in the PBL with his abilities. Building his name in the PBL will surely help him reach the PBA. For Argel, his ability to score even against contact might be enough to get him in the PBA. I'm not sure if he is graduating this year. I'd like to see him in a better team either in the NCAA or the PBL. I want to see if his success is solely because on the fact that he's on a bad team. (By the way, AUF won a meaningless game 73-66. )
• In the first game of "Pinoy Basketbol Kakampi nyo", PBL-LP was too much for the pretty boys from NCAA and UAAP. The first half saw the UAAP-NCAA volunteers (Yes they are not stars.) dominate the game with fluidity and shooting. The second half was a different story as the men from LP-PBL took the game to the boys. They just played with much more aggressiveness and hunger. Guys like Melegrito and Leynes were playing hard-nose defense on the UAAP-NCAA guards which disrupted the offense of the collegiate players. Revenge for Gerilla? This guy dominated the guy inside and out. Maybe he wanted this game to make a statement against the school that threw him out of their basketball team. How about Joshua David Spider Webb? This kid took the game seriously and was finding loopholes to get to the rim. His ability to get to the paint is phenomenal. How about Gerwin Gaco wearing a vintage Harbour Centre jersey? It certainly brought a lot of good memories back. Go Oracle! Go for no. 8! Well, they just answered our question, j_myxx. Mangahas and Mirza were on the other team which I don't get. Those 2 guys did nothing for LP-PBL. They should've been on the UAAP-NCAA team. Gelo Montecastro made me eat my words. He was fantastic in the 1st half but Jan Tan? WTH is Tanuan doing in the LP-PBL team? Still it is a game for a good cause so we can't thank these players enough.
• Smart -Gilas destroys Powerade 98-69. Excellent display of teamwork by the Gilas boys. More on game tomorrow. Can someone tell me how I can get those T-Shirts Gilas wore in their warm-ups. How about Lia Cruz? It's been a while since we last saw her. She was hot. Damn.
  
• More on UE-ADMU finals. I'm sorry. I know I said we won't see any double digit lead wins in this series but we did. I think it was just human tendecy to relax knowing your up one game. I just did not think this ADMU team was capable of getting into a mental lapse as they did in game 2. This team was so flawless going into the finals that I believed that this team would always give themselves a chance to win with their fantastic system. Boom has been mentioning how James Martinez really feels bad about not being part of this UE team. So I was wondering how this guy could have changed this UE team if he was healthy. He would surely give UE a lot more depth which was big concern after Game 1 but his absence has led to emergence of guys like Reyes and Lingganay. Only God knows what would've happened if James played this year.
  

UE Forces Rubber Match

• UE started with the five that gave them a 19-1 run last game. Elmer, Acuna, Lee, Reyes and Lingganay. All 5 guys were patrolling around the perimeter and Rabeh had his difficulties guarding the quicker Elmer Espiritu. It was a close game in the 1st quarter so you can't say that this lineup was able to destroy ADMU. It did however gave UE a scoring punch off the bench with Pari Llagas.
• Chongson finally trusted his bench in this game. I was little scared for UE since Coach Lawrence made his 1st substitution with only a minute left in the 1st quarter but he used his bench for more than a half of the second quarter. He played with a lineup of Reyes, Zamar, Tagarda, Duran and Llagas for around 6 minutes and it gave his starters a lot of rest. Tagarda and Duran looks like pretty solid role players as both guys provided a lot of energy. TJ Manotoc provided a great point about playing young big men like Duran. The worse thing those guys can do is give up a hard foul on Rabeh which isn't really a bad thing at all. Tagarda as Boom would put it is UE's energizer bunny. The guy was all over the court huslting. He did take an ill-advised jumper in the 2nd quarter but he got 2 straight offensive rebounds that was crucial in UE's run in the 2nd half. UE's bench was pivotal as they gave the starters a lot of rest while still keeping the scoreboard close.
• A lot more attention was paid to Jai and Rabeh but ADMU continued to do the right thing and moved that ball around against that zone defense (Did UE play zone defense the whole game? I never noticed them play man to man at all) and that paved the way for the other guys like Chua and Austria to get open looks. UE improved their defensive rotation in the 2nd half to lessen ADMU's open shots as they were making their run.
• ADMU played out of character in the 2nd half. Poor defense and jacking up shots early in the shot clock cost them the game. They lost their focus especially Rabeh. Pari was getting under the skin of the former MVP with his physical play. Rabeh tends to just stand around when he gets frustrated and that's not something Norman Black wants. I'm sure he's going to get an earful from Norman tonight. Even the usually composed Kirk Long got on the wrong side of Norman when he rushed to their front court and was charged an offensive foul. (He just entered the game when that play occurred and he was quickly replaced by Austria)
• Val Acuna disappeared in the 1st half. Nonoy scared the hell out of him with an amazing block in the 1st half. Coach Lawrence called him out for being too cautious and for not attacking Nonoy's defense and he responded well in the 2nd half. He was back torching the Eagles with 3 pointers and nifty moves in the 3rd quarter. This guy is so damn talented for his size. Too bad we won't see much from him as he will be graduating this year. (I'm not sure about this but Boom did say Val is a graduating player.) He'll have to cut down on his forced 3 pointers if he wants to end the heartbreak for UE this Thursday.
  
• Elmer Espiritu was on fire today. He was consistently checking if his feet was set behind the 3 point arc and firing long ranged bombs all game long. He was also knocking down tough fadeaway Js against the Ateneo big men and lets not forget his spectacular alley-opp play in the 4th quarter. This was the Elmer that UE needed. He needs to be factor not only defensively but also offensively if UE wants to win against the Eagles. The commentators were asking Coach Lawrence to give Elmer some rest all game long. He gave that to them and it worked wonders for the Red Warriors.
• I think I saw Joseph Yeo in that game. Ow, sorry. That was actually Raphy Reyes. He looks like a very good player. I think he'll still be around next year to help Paul Lee around. He's very athletic and energetic but he needs to be smarter on the court. A dependable jumper will also help I guess.
• Paul lee kept on barreling over everyone in the 1st quarter. He was actually able to fish 2 fouls from Kirk because of that but Jai also drew Paul's second foul because of that. Chongson used a nice simple play that gave Lee a new way to score. Llagas would the ball in the perimeter and would pass the ball to the cutting Lee. Llagas' jumper kept Rabeh honest on defense so it gives Lee more space to operate. ADMU was able to check the play a couple of times in the 2nd half so Chongson can't expect this play would still work come Thursday. Lee never stopped driving even though he was blocked a ton of times in this game. That's what we call focus. It was all business for the Mythical 5 member and he was well under control for most parts of the game. Chongson does need to utilize a couple more plays to free Wowwow-Lee to score. Don't expect Norman to fall for the same tricks in Game 3.
• Where the hell is Eric Salamat? 4 points? He was very aggressive when the game started but he vanished as the game went along. He's seems to be a happy go lucky guy and he has showed in the past that he's a very clutch player so it really makes me wonder why he's disappearing on the grandest stage of the UAAP. Is he just too friendly with Raphy? Maybe a little bromance among the two is keeping Eric's mind out of the ball game.
• WTH is with those hidden punches? I first saw it in the UST-DLSU game with Camus and Mendoza trading punches. The UAAP should do a better job at controlling this kind of behaviour. Monfort was caught with this but I also saw Rabeh do it as well. Llagas also got away with a similar move but no suspensions please for crying out loud.
• It will be difficult for UE to win because they were very hot from outside today especially their big men. I'm sure ADMU will make the right adjustments and will be able to check UE's offense. The Eagles' opponent is themselves. If they play the right way once again they are almost unbeatable. UE has better one-on-one players but ADMU has the better system and they still have Rabeh. Eric will be the key as he has the ability to destroy UE's zone defense to open things up for their shooters. The role players for ADMU should also knock down the open shots. So much attention will be given to their main men so it is up to them to punish UE. For UE, they have to be creative once again with their adjustments and force ADMU to play out of character once again.
• It's a good thing I'm not rooting for Ateneo anymore. Remember 2006? A 3rd seed coached by a rookie coach up against a no. 1 seeded Blue Eagles team? Seeing JC Intal, Doug Kramer, Macky Escalona and the gang unable to win the crown against an underdog UST team led by Jojo Duncil, Allan Evangelista and Jervy Cruz still kills me up to this day. You can only imagine how much pressure ADMU is under right now. It's going to be interesting to see how these Eagles led by Jainamite and Rabeh react.
  
• Great quote by Coach Lawrence as reported by Tiff, "Hindi pwede puro puso lang dapat may utak din!" or something like that.

Ball Points (10-3-09)

• As expected the UAAP-NCAA All-Stars will not be featuring the best players from both leagues on Monday' charity event dubbed as "Pinoy Basketbol Kakampi Nyo". The team will be composed of Joshua Webb (DLSU), Jan Colina (ADU), Jewel Ponferrada (NU), Jeric Fortuna (UST), Paul Sanga (FEU), Reil Cervantes (FEU), Woody Co (UP), Macky Acosta (MIT), Allan Mangahas (MIT), Mark Sarangay (MIT), TG Guillermo (MIT), Marc de Guzman (CSB), Gelo Montecastro (CSB), MC Abolucion (CSB) and Jan Tan (CSB). Players from UE and ADMU will not take part in the event as they are currently gutting it out in the UAAP Finals. (The UAAP Finals will be done by that time if ADMU wins the game tomorrow.) Players like Ababou and Aldrech Ramos will also not be part of the team as they are part of the 2nd game of the event with Smart-Gilas squaring off with Powerade. Players from JRU, SBC, SSC-R and CSJL were also excluded in the lineup to give them time to prepare for their remaining elimination games and the Final 4. Then players from EAC, AU, UPHSD and AUF will also not take part in the event as they have games scheduled on the same day. That means no Argel Mendoza, no Gio Ciriacruz and no Matt Carney. So who's left for the NCAA? MIT and CSB. It's a good thing that both teams even lent their players despite being in a slugfest for the 6th seed in the NCAA that will give them a chance to play in the PCCL. Knowing that they can only get players from two teams, the NCAA should have allowed the UAAP to field more players to make the game a little bit more interesting. No Kokoy Hermosisima? No Khasim Mirza? Montercastro over Jeric Teng? Jan Tan over Chris Camus? And where the hell is Edwin Cornejo? I know it's just a charity game but the 2 leagues should made the necessary adjustments to make to field a much more competitive team. Joshua Webb will look like Dwayde Wade with this team. I don't know who the LP and PBL will field but I can already see a blowout.
  
• As first seen on patayangbutiki.com and firequinito.com, Chris Tiu's brother Charles tweeted about an incident in a scrimmage between TNT and Smart-Gilas. Apparently, CJ Giles threw an elbow at Ranidel de Ocampo which then caused the TNT players to gank up on the Smart-Gilas import. Ranidel has been known to get under the skin of some of his opponents like Hamed Haddadi in the past so no surprises here. Maybe these large-headed professionals couldn't take the fact that a couple of kids and an american were blowing them out as Charles Tiu said or maybe Giles couldn't take the physical nature of Pinoy basketball as firequinito said. I guess Monday's charity event won't be just a charity after all. Maybe Yeng can add Mac Cardona to the team just to make things more interesting.
• The NBA has now expanded the use of instant replay starting this season. The NBA will now allow officials to use instant replay to check if a shot or a foul occurred before a 24 second violation. The NBA refs can also use the said technology to determine who touched the ball last before it went out of bounds if the game is already under 2 minutes. These changes might slow the game proceeding a little bit but I'll take that delay to allow the refs to call the games much more accurately.
• Just like their seniors' counterparts, the ADMU Eaglets are one win away from a championship as they upset the no. 1 seeded DLSZ Junior Archers 80-73. As expected, Kiefer Ravena led the Loyola -based squad with 33 markers, 9 boards, 4 dishes, 3 steals and 3 shot blocks. ADMU will be nowhere near the finals w/o this kid. This guy is indeed impressive with natural ability to score and basketball IQ. What also makes this kid standout is his calmness and smoothness on the court. This kid will just destroy the opposing team's defensive with his swagger while operating with the basketball. He's still in his 3rd year so he'll still be around with the Eaglets next year and we'll all have to wait one more year to see him in Eagles' uniform. Al Bugarin and Von Pesummal also provided quality minutes for the Eaglets. Nico Elorde also caught my attention with his toughness and aggressiveness but guarding Kiefer all game long will take a definitely take a toll on your game. Louis Fortuna also looks good with his shooting, basketball IQ and energy much like his older brother, Jeric Fortuna. Luigi Dela Paz and Gweynne Capacio (who looks more like Mark Andaya rather than his father Glen Capacio) were both out of their elements as they were frustrated all game long of the incredible defense the Eaglets threw at them. This game was exciting all throughout and even terrible commentary (I know its just a juniors' game but why would put Sid Ventura and Eric Tipan together. They're already bad individually so what do you expect if you put them together?) will not prevent me from watching Game 2 on Tuesday.

Ball Points (10-2-09)

• The SBC Red Lions have proven their worth as title contenders as they disposed the 4th seeded Letran Knights, 76-64. The Lions dominated from start to finish. It was also an ugly game from start to finish. In the the 1st quarter alone, more than 20 fouls were committed between the two teams. What made things worse was the pile of TOs by both teams. Coach Louie Alas was also ejected middle in the 1st quarter for 2 technical fouls. The officials were tightening things up because of all the commotion that happened in the game between MIT and AUF. I think the refs overreacted this time around. There was no flow at all in the game. Officiating made the game unbearable. The Knights were clearly on the losing end of this adjustment as the team is known for their physical play. They weren't able to adjust to the way the calls were made and it might have cost them this game. They had 2 players with 3 fouls and another 2 with 2 fouls in the 1st quarter alone. However, this game will not affect their standings as they are safely locked up in the no. 4 spot but a cause of concern is Guevarra's injury. He landed awkwardly after going up for fast break layup late in the 4th against Sudan. He immediately looked at their bench and said "tuhod" after the incident. I'm not sure what his injury is but it will surely be a big blow to his career and to the Knights if he severely injured his knee.
• In the 1st game today, MIT defeated AUF for their 4th straight win. This was also an ugly game as a lot of trash talking and scuffles occurred in the game. Stevens even received an elbow from Gomez with only seconds remaining in the game which was already decided. Coaches and officials did a good job to prevent any brawls from happening but a lot of players were ejected for coming out of their benches. MIT is looking sharp and are now the favorites to the get the no. 6 seed which will give them an opportunity to compete in the PCCL. CSB (tied at 6th place, 5-11) has 2 more remaining games against MIT and UPHSD. EAC (tied at 6th place, 5-11) has also 2 more remaining games against AU and the rampaging JRU Heavy Bombers. MIT (7th, 5-12) on the meantime has only one game remaining against the CSB Blazers. The CSB-MIT match will probably decide on who will get the no. 6 seed. The Cardinals have all the momentum right now and I don't know if CSB can show up with their complete lineup because of their injuries.
• Joshua Webb(DLSU), Jon Colina(ADU) and Woody Co(UP) have been confirmed to take part in the 1st game of Monday's charity event pitting the UAAP-NCAA stars against the LP-PBL stars. If ADMU, UE and Smart-Gilas players will not participate in the 1st game, you can expect guys like RR Garcia, Reil Cervantes, Khazim Mirza and Kokoy Hermosisima to complete the UAAP cast. It's not yet clear who will be fielded for the NCAA as players from F4 teams might not take part in the event but you can expect guys like Gio Ciriacruz and Argel Mendoza to represent the NCAA.
• Training camp just begun but a lot of players are already hurt. Bill Walker (BOS) is out for 6-8 weeks with a torn meniscus in his right knee. Aaron Gray (CHI) fractures left fibula and could miss 2 months. Eddy Curry (NYK) is injured once again. He reportedly tweaked his hamstring and calf. No. 1 overall pick Blake Griffin (LAC) will also be out 5-6 days with a sore knee. The no. 4 overall pick, Tyreke Evans (SAC) also has a bone bruise and is considered day-to-day. Rashad McCants will not be signed by the Rockets because of his abdominal injury. Comebacking Gilbert Arenas (WAS) reportedly has a limp as well.

ADMU Draws First Blood

• Ateneo Blue Eagles wins over the UE Red Warriors 78-71 in Game 1 of UAAP Finals
• Both teams with some minor tweaks in their starting lineups. Austria started over Kirk Long for ADMU. UE started with Paul Lee in the bench. Zamar and Reyes started in their backcourt while it was the usual trio of Acuna, Espiritu and Llagas up front. UE started out pretty alright for the 1st couple of minutes without Lee but he started out slow and needed some time to get into the flow of the game.
• Rabeh dominated Llagas at the start of the game. Pari was just standing while Rabeh showed his full arsenal of moves. It was all business for the big man as he remained focused all game long. Pari needs to get more physical with Rabeh. He needs to push the former UAAP MVP out of his comfort spots. Rabeh is just unstoppable if he gets the ball where he wants. There is no way that UE can defend him one on one. As good as Eric is this year, Rabeh's the main reason why ADMU is one win away from back-to-back championships.
• As expected, you won't see a game blown wide open in this series. UE was able to make 19-1 run in the 2nd quarter to grab the lead by halftime. Coach Lawrence made great adjustment when he switched to smaller unit (Espiritu, Acuna, Lee, Reyes, Lingganay) and played zone defense. Nonoy Baclao isn't really known for his low post moves as this was evident as he failed to score on the hot shot small forward, Acuna. Rabeh also struggled to score on the small unit as they sent multiple defenders whenever he would get the ball down low. Plus, a great shot blocker was awaiting for him. Acuna gave Nonoy, known as a great defender, a lot of headaches on the other end. His height and ability to shoot and to drive proved too much for the former Finals MVP.
• UE did a great job taking care of ball in the 2nd and 3rd quarter. Unfortunately their turnovers late in the game were probably to blame for their loss. ADMU, known for their great execution, showed their end game brilliance in this game. You never saw a sign of panic from these Eagles even when UE finally took the lead. Their experience was a key factor in this game. UE needs to pick their shots. I know they've got guys who can knock down a shot from anywhere but you can't beat this Eagle team only with talent.
• UE needs to work on their defense. First of all, Jai can only hit a shot when he's open. The guy can brag all he wants but even a guy like me will be enough to stop the guy. You just have to challenge his shot and there's no way that he can make a shot. (So Jai, stop loading your gun. You gun is a measly water gun.) Jai is getting open shot after open shot when he comes off the screen. UE bigs need to show to prevent an open shot and it's not like the screener is rolling hard towards the basket. I know they're in a zone but they need to be aware of where Jai is on the floor. The only thing he can do is shoot so why is it so hard to stop him? Additionally, UE needs to defend harder on the free throw area. Rabeh is getting open shots in FT area for too often. He's already unstoppable down low so you might at least stop him from the perimeter. UE should also consider putting a quicker guy on Rabeh and have him front the man mountain from Ateneo. UE needs to change their defense to try to limit Rabeh.
• The Red Warriors got a lot of help from Raphy Reyes. He was very active all game long and provided the Warriors the much needed spark. He scored a lot of crucial baskets and gave UE a lot of hustle plays. UE needs to get a lot of help from the other guys. Zamar, Raphy Rudy and their other bench guys need to be part of the game. They have to provide something positive in Game 2 if UE wants to equalize the series.
• A well deserved SMOY award for Nico Salva. All season long, he has been able to provide ADMU quality minutes. This guy can score with the best of them. He'll knock down open shots and won't take bad shots. He has also been able to ability to score one-on-one. In one play in the 2nd quarter, he was able to score on DPOY, Elmer Espiritu, by throwing a couple fakes on him.
• Paul Lee had a slow start as he came off the bench. ADMU also did a great job clogging the lane whenever Paul was on attack mode. Unfortunately for ADMU, you can only limit great players and not stop them completely. He was usual self (taking and making difficult shots) come 2nd quarter.
• UE's very lucky Eric Salamat didn't show up. He was averaging 1.2 points in the finals for his career and his 4 points today surely didn't help. INVESTIGATE HIM FOR GAME-FIXING! OR BETTER YET TAKE HIM OFF THE TEAM TO IMPROVE TEAM CHEMISTRY. Just like how FEU did it.

Ball Points (9-29-09)

• The SBP has organized a couple of exhibition games for the benefit of the victims of Typhoon Ondoy. The event, entitled "Pinoy Basketbol Kakampi Nyo", is scheduled on Monday at the Big Dome. The 1st game is a match up between the collegiate stars (UAAP and NCAA) and the stars from the PBL and Liga Pilipinas. In the main event, we will treated to a duel between the the two existing Philippine national teams, Smart-Gilas and Powerade. I know it's just a exhibition game but I can't help to think that maybe Noli Eala is trying to see if this Gilas team has what it takes to match up with Yeng's team. Smart-Gilas has to be competitive in the game. If Powerade does blowout Gilas, expect Yeng Guiao and other PBA officials to bash the Gilas program and use the game's result as a justification for Powerade to continue representing the country in international competitions.
• The juniors' and womens' finals in the UAAP have been postponed once again. The games will now be held on Saturday. The games were originally postponed from 9/26 to 9/29 due to Ondoy. There still no announcements if the UAAP mens' finals game 1 will also be moved. The Wedesday games (AUF vs MIT, SBC vs CSJL) in the NCAA have all been moved to Friday.
• A lot of players have already expressed their frustrations on media day. S-Jax has reiterated his trade request despite being retained as the team's captain. Lamarcus Aldridge has expressed his displeasure on contract negotiations. Also, Kenyon Martin still not found the heart to forgive Mark Cuban for his "thug" comments. Of course there are also a couple player who are looking forward to next season. There's T-Mac, Agent Zero and KG who are all looking to bounce back after injury-plagued seasons. There's Eddy Curry losing a lot of weight. Then of course there's the Shaq promising to get the king a ring.
• Media day also means a lot of gay pictures and amazing quotes that should make your day.

Ball Points (9-26-09)

• The Stags' record finally has a blemish. The Letran Knights just handed them their first loss of the season yesterday and they did with conviction with an 80-63 victory over the NCAA's no. 1 seed. The Stags struggled with the physicality of the Knights all game long and Knights might just have found the Stag's Achilles' Heel. The two lone representatives of the NCAA in the Gilas program, Jazul and Guevarra, were impressive in this one as they scored 27 points a piece. This might be a blessing in disguise for SSC-R as this loss will give Ato his first chance of preparing for a game right after a loss. It's not going to be easy though as they are set to face the rampaging JRU Heavy Bombers next Monday. JRU is also looking to bounce bask after barely beating AUF 85-81 last Wednesday. It's going to be interesting to see how this Stags will react right after a defeat.
• Smart - Gilas defeated the Singapore Slingers 70-67 last Wednesday. As I said before the result of this game hardly matters. The goal of SBP is to expose these guys to the international game to prepare them for the 2011 Fiba -Asia tournament (qualifier for the 2012 Olympics). JV looked very impressive in orchestrating the offense. I think he's much more comfortable when he's not appointed as the main man of the team. He's going to have less pressure on himself with guys like Ababou, Barroca and Aguilar on the team. A lot of CJ Giles in this one. He provided the team with a reliable option in their half court sets and a lot of highlights (Check out the 0:55 mark of this video). The team also needs to run a little bit more and refrain from depending on CJ to produce in the half court. Japeth was also impressive in this game. He seems to be comfortable with Gilas. (maybe because he's the star of the team. haha) Barroca ended up with only 6 points because he missed a couple of shots he usually makes. He is coming off a lot of drama and maybe he still needs some time. This team is still incomplete as the collegiate tournaments are not yet done. The 2 Fil- Australians were non-factors in the game as expected. This team still has a lot of potential and I'm hoping that they'll be the answer to our woeful showings in past international tournaments.
• Stephen Jackson and Carlos Boozer are still with their teams as training camp approaches. It looks like Jack will still be a Warrior this season as their aren't any ideal situations for him right now. It also doesn't help that he just recently signed a large contract extension and contenders are already loaded in his positions. Utah is also having a lot of difficulty of finding a trade partner and having Boozer around might mess up the team's chemistry. The team's frontline is also clogged up. Their top 4 frontliners are a combined $48M approximately in salary this year compared to the defending champions' $41M. Look for Boozer to be pursued more by the other teams when the trade deadline approaches as he is on an expiring contract if he is not yet traded before the season starts.
• It looks like we're going to finally see the Spark back in the PBA's next season. BGK surely will welcome the return of their man and this should make the perennial contender even stronger this season. His return will also move Helterbrand back to his natural position, PG. Helterbrand has gotten used to being the team's SG but I'm not expecting him to struggle returning to his old position especially now that he has his partner back with him.
• The UAAP Men's Basketball Championship Game 1 has been moved to October 1. The Juniors' and Women's games scheduled today were also suspended due to the typhoon.

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.

UST forces rubber match with ADMU

• Sorry for the title guys. Haha.
• As expected, ADMU books a seat in the finals with a crushing 81-64win over the UST Growling Tigers. (Maybe Crying Tigers after this game.)
• ADMU is simply the better team and are still the favorites to win the UAAP crown with this victory.
• ADMU just plays the game the right way. They’ll play defense, rotate the ball and take the best shot possible.
• UST needs to study how to defend the pick-and-roll. I don’t get it why they keep on giving Jai Reyes an open shot after he comes off the screen. The guy only knows how to shoot and either switching (which should work fabulously with UST since they basically have 4 perimeter players and an agile big man on floor always) or fighting through the screen will be more than enough to neutralize Jainamite. Why is UST double teaming the screener every single time knowing the guy who came off the screen is a deadly shooter?
• I hate Jai Reyes but he surely looked like a back-to-back champion in this game. He torched UST by hitting every open shot they gave him in route to 17 points. The guy is too cocky for what he can do for his team. He’s just a measly shooter who benefits from the attention the opposing defense gives to Rabeh and Eric. (Fine, his leadership has been crucial this year for ADMU especially with the graduation of Chirs Tiu and yes this is his girl.) Eric Salamat has every right to salute to the crown every play because he has been an integral part of Eagles’ offense and DEFENSE but Jai needs to shut up and play basketball.
• Eric Salamat probably is the MVP of this Ateneo team. (I’m sorry Rabeh, I think you’re too busy talking to the refs and crying about ticky-tacky fouls. ) The guy was either snatching the ball or tipping the ball to his teammates. He was part of every defensive play in the 2^nd quarter. On the other end, he would draw the defense and make spectacular passes to his teammates. He was literally everywhere on the floor. He took a back seat in the 2^nd half as he wasn’t needed as guys like Jai and Ryan were barbecuing the Tigers. His stats of6 points, 5 assists and 4 steals are not indications of his brilliant performance.
• So sad to see Ababou and Mirza graduate on such a humiliating finish to their collegiate careers. Mirza reverted back to his old form and jacked up a ton of 3s instead of doing a Corey Maggette and fish a ton of fouls. Ababou did manage to get his number quietly but I’m sure he would’ve liked to go down fighting a closer fight. Fortuna and Teng had their moments but they should’ve done a better job of setting up those guys instead of taking ill-advised shots.
• I know their offense includes a lot of 3 point attempts but I’m sure Pido doesn’t want them to take a 3 on every damn possession. Ateneo runs for high percentage 2 point attempts and they do such a great job of selective fastbreak. They know when to push the tempo or to set up in the halfcourt.
• Hats off to Pido Jarencio this year for his new design of UST’s offense. A lot of people were expecting DLSU or ADU to enter the final 4 this year but Pido adjusted to the arsenal he was given this year without his MVP, Jervy Cruz. It’s going to be a rough year next year for them unless they’re keeping another RP youth member and another 20-10 guy in their team B.

Andy..Andy..Andy..

Why did it have to be Andy?...

Of course, you might have heard by now about probably the biggest news of the UAAP season 72. Andy Barroca quits the FEU basketball varsity team due to the allegations hurled at him. These accusations were based on his sub-par performances on the last 2 elimination games where he averaged 7.5 PPG and 3.5 TOPG and shot 33.33% from the field far from his season averages of 12.71 PPG, 2.57 TOPG and 44.58% FG. This was evident in the ADMU – FEU game last 9/12/2009 where he managed to score only 8 points. Apparently some of his teammates asked Coach Glen Capacio to take Andy out of the game because they were suspecting that he wasn’t playing to his abilities but another story says that only the team officials are accusing him and his agent said that his teammates do not believe the allegations threw against him. Personally, I don’t believe that Andy threw the ADMU game or any other games but I’ll admit it that my opinion is biased because I love Andy Barroca to death and I truly believe he will be a key part of Smart-Gilas’ campaign for 2012 Olympics. Plus it helps that he has an identical name with a beautiful girl. Now let’s try to evaluate whether or not Andy played to his ability in that ADMU game. In their game against ADMU, Coach Glen decided to tinker his starting lineup by placing Andy back at the point and putting Sanga at the 2 spot. The result? Andy scores all of his 8 points on that game courtesy of 4 made shots from the field against the lowly defense of Jai Reyes. A common denominator among all his 4 field goals, the play was set for him. Andy is the kind of player that needs to dominate the ball to be successful at the offensive end. As Rick Olivares said, Andy was so successful with Smart – Gilas and Oracle because he was given the ball and control of the offense. Of course this year in the UAAP, the point guard chores have been handed over to RR Garica and Andy had to slide to the 2 spot for the most part of the season. This means that he’ll have less control of the offense. Remember when Steve Francis played the 2 spot because Orlando wanted to give a young Jameer Nelson the break that he needed? Steve Francis struggled and it marked the start of the downfall of his career. Players are going to struggle if you won’t play them at the right position and if you’re not going to give them the role that is suitable for their talent (In this case Andy’s a scorer). But I don’t think you can blame Coach Glen on playing RR and Andy in the same backcourt. RR’s a heck of a player and he probably needs the ball more than Andy since Andy’s a better shooter and it makes sense to put a scorer on the shooting guard position.

Andy did commit a couple of mistakes in that game. He missed 2 FTs at the end of the 1^st half but even Steve Nash can miss 2 straight FTs. Now let’s move on to the 4^th quarter. Andy sort of took a back seat in their offense and was contented on just setting up the play and I guess he had good reason to do so since guys like Sanga and Ramos were on fire. Losing the 18 point lead wasn’t his entire fault but he did play a part. A play called for Andy to post up against Jai. He backed down against Jai and took a turnaround J. He missed the shot but it didn’t really matter because as how Mico Halili would put it “He was caught dancing with wrong pairs of shoes”. He reacted a little bit against the call but didn’t show much emotion while arguing against the referee but I don’t think he’s really an emotional player. He’s going to talk with the referees but he’s not a Sheed. The second play called for him was a curl with Reil setting up the screen for him. He was double –teamed but he still forced the shot against the defense of a Nonoy Baclao. This was clearly a bad decision on his part and he should’ve made the pass to a wide open Cervantes. Was this intentional? Maybe. Maybe not. A lot of players do force their shots not just Andy. He also committed 2 fouls that led to 4 FT attempts. One foul had him going for a steal. He had a clear chance to get the ball but shouldn’t have he just back off especially knowing that they were already in the penalty? The other foul was a silly frustration foul. A friend of mine said, “That’s why it’s called a frustration foul, he was frustrated”. He looked a little lax after the call but like I said he’s not really known to be an emotional player.

Based on my love for Andy and examining the game against ADMU, I’ll have to conclude that FEU made a mistake of accusing Andy of game-fixing and this might come back to bite them at their asses especially now that UE won last 9/19. Can’t the guy just have a bad game? He hasn’t been known to dominate in the UAAP despite his talent and besides this guy has been playing non-stop and maybe the guy’s just burned out. How come JR Cawaling (5.5 PPG and 4.5 TOPG in their last 2 elimination games plus a couple of stupid fancy pass attempts) or DLSU veterans (Barua, Mangahas, Malabes) are not accused of game fixing? There are always 2 sides of a story and maybe Barroca feared for his life and didn’t want to end up like Barracael. Throwing a simple basketball game is easier than being shot. Maybe a patron of ADMU gave him 20M to allow ADMU have an easier route to back-to-back championships and money does talk especially for a guy that comes from a poor family like Andy. Maybe he just had a bad game. I highly doubt that we’ll ever get the chance to know what really happened but I guess FEU did the right thing of releasing Barroca now that the mess has been made public because I can’t see Andy being comfortable playing again for FEU. A friend told me if Andy continues to play, he’s going to be cautious about every turnover and missed shot. At least, Noli still wants Andy to be the main man of Smart-Gilas despite the controversies.

Here’s a blog post coming from someone that has the connections to the FEU team and here is here official statement of FEU regarding the issue. (But you better have loud speakers to hear their crappy answers) Of course, Rick doesn’t believe Andy is guilty of the allegations and he’s got a lot of reasons to believe so but as jaemark said, he’s been known to be close to SBP guys and he might just be protecting Barroca especially now that Andy is already with Smart – Gilas.