Chinoy Hoops Fan

FilOil: DLSU's option play leads to Jeron Teng's game-tying triple

2012-06-05T09:15:00.001+08:00

The situation: June 2, the final day of the elimination round of the 2012 FilOil Flying V Pre-season Tournament. DLSU is trailing ADMU by 3, 53-50, with 18.8 seconds to go.

DLSU has Almond Vosotros (17) inbounding the ball, with Norbert Torres (6), Yutien Andrada (20), Jeron Teng (24) and LA Revilla (12).

ADMU counters with Oping Sumalinog (17), JP Erram (10), Nico Salva (8), Kiefer Ravena (15) and Juami Tiongson (5).

Read more »

FilOil Mythical 5 (20 games in)

2012-04-28T10:07:00.001+08:00

Yes it's early, so early that San Sebastian hasn't even played a single game yet, but after hitting the 20 game mark yesterday, it's time for a look around the summer league to see who's been tearing it up.

Center: Greg Slaughter of ADMU - 27.3 minutes, 18.5 points (55% FG, 58% FT), 12.3 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 2.3 blocks, 2.5 turnovers

You can also make the case for Ola Adeogun, who is playing less minutes (23.8 points), thus averaging less points (14.0, on 60% FG, 67% FT), but still has more boards (12.8) and assists (1.3), and I bet some San Beda fans are rolling their eyes at the supposed homer-ism right now.

All that said, I don't like the fact that Adeogun turns the ball over more (3.3), and you have to consider the fact that right now, everyone save for Slaughter on Ateneo is playing poorly. Salva's been inconsistent, Ravena's shot is missing, the point guards aren't scoring, etcetera, etcetera. He's responded to the situation by putting the Eagles on his back, and that makes him more mythical in my eyes.

Power Forward: Jam Cortes of CSJL - 30.7 minutes, 14.0 points (47% FG, 86% FT), 10.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.3 blocks, 2.0 turnovers

True he's been playing quite a bit of center with Raymond Almazan injured, but Cortes is a power forward at heart, so I'm slotting him in there. Cortes is another guy carrying his squad, with the aforementioned Almazan out, and with Kevin Alas still regaining his bearings, it's been all Jam for Letran, and he's picking up on the consistent production he was churning out before he got an ejection in the second round of last season's NCAA tourney. He wasn't quite the same player after that, but he seems to have rediscovered his spark in the FilOil.

Also considered: Eric Camson

Small Forward: Bobby Ray Parks of NU - 26.3 minutes, 20.7 points (33% 3PT, 54% FG, 76% FT), 6.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.7 blocks, 1.7 turnovers

The LeBron James of local collegiate basketball, Parks has been the prime beneficiary of NU's shift to an up-tempo, turnover generating beast of a team, allowing him to get into the open court more, where he excels (aside: I can't believe it took them a full year to realize that NU should be running on every play).

Also considered: No one!

Shooting Guard: Mark De Guzman of NU - 25.0 minutes, 12.3 points, (53% 3PT, 45% FG), 2.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.7 steals, 1.3 turnovers

The most difficult position to fill so far. I considered RR Garcia (more point guard than shooting guard), AJ Serjue (only played two games, one was great, the other was crap), Julius Armon (28% FG shooting???) and Carlo Lastimosa (only played one game against a weak opponent), but ultimately I went off the grid here and picked another NU Bulldog, Mark De Guzman.

Why Mark De Guzman? The former CSB Blazer has, in three games, converted 9-of-17 three pointers (53%), giving Bobby Ray Parks what he sorely lacked last season: a consistent outside threat to throw it back to after he drives into the heart of the defense. If NU goes places this season, it'll be largely because of the addition of De Guzman, preventing guys from doubling Parks and Emmanuel Mbe.

Point Guard: Roi Sumang of UE - 31.5 minutes, 16.5 points (45% FG, 42% FT), 5.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 3.0 steals, 1.5 blocks, 3.0 turnovers

Sumang looked like a shell of his former self last UAAP season, due to a knee injury that he spent a lot of last year recovering from, but he's rediscovered his edge, churning out a pretty amazing statline, and standing out on a nondescript UE Red Warriors squad.

Sure he has some flaws, he's only played two games, he hasn't made a triple, and his free throw percentage is subpar for a point guard, but his league-leading assists number says a lot, and would be higher if his teammates could convert more shots. Toss in three steals and a block and a half per game, and Roi's the man.

Also considered: RR Garcia

FilOil 2012 - Why Has Ateneo Looked Off?

2012-04-21T08:21:00.002+08:00

After steamrolling through much of the UAAP tournament last year, Ateneo has yet to find their groove in the FilOil tournament. A combination of new personnel, the loss of Emman Monfort and Kirk Long (the two guys mostly responsible for setting up the table for their teammates), and minutes being spread throughout the line-up has seen the Eagles' numbers plummet. As a result, they've been having a hard time putting away sub-par competition (they beat a Kevin Alas-less Letran squad and a Perpetual Help Altas team by a combined six points).

UAAP S74	ADMU Averages	FilOil 2012
72.29	Points	58.50
21.67% (2.59 / 11.94)	Three-point percentage	18.75% (3.00 / 16.00)
46.48% (22.94 / 49.35)	Two-point percentage	39.13% (18.00 / 46.00)
41.65% (25.53 / 61.29)	Field goal percentage	33.87% (21.00 / 62.00)
72.54% (18.65 / 25.71)	Free throw percentage	60.00% (13.50 / 22.50)
43.00	Rebounds	53.50
17.53	Assists	16.00
15.65	Turnovers	19.00
14.53	Fast break points	10.50
16.76	Bench scoring	20.00

One Blue Eagles whose shot has been particularly off in the early-goings of this tournament is Kiefer Ravena. While he's made some crucial scores (in particular, a triple right after Letran had tied things up in the fourth quarter), he's been unable to hit the mid-range jumper so far. That said, he's been compensating in other aspects, which is what you'd want from your star when his attempts aren't falling.

UAAP S74	Ravena Averages	FilOil 2012
27.60	Minutes	26.50
13.60	Points	11.50
52.29%	Two-point percentage	29.41%
44.85%	Field goal percentage	26.92%
4.20	Rebounds	5.50
3.00	Assists	4.00
1.50	Steals	2.00
1.70	Turnovers	0.50

Can the Eagles bounce back and post an impressive win against the NCAA champions, the San Beda Red Lions? We'll find out later at 5:15pm at the Arena in San Juan.

EDIT: Ravena's averages versus San Beda (two games in last year's Fil-Oil, one game in the PCCL) are pretty amazing. In 28.33 minutes, he norms 18.33 points on 61.11 percent shooting, four rebounds, 3.33 assists and 0.67 steals to just 1.67 turnovers. If he's going to snap out of his funk, San Beda's a good a time as any.

FilOil 2012 - April 18 box scores

2012-04-19T07:48:00.001+08:00

The box scores for AdU vs LPU, JRU vs EAC and SBC vs UST, under the cut

Updated to include ADMU vs UPHSD

Read more »

FilOil Random Thoughts - Gameday April 18, 2012

2012-04-18T08:56:00.000+08:00

In addition to this blog post, I also wrote the primer for GMA News Online. Give it a read why don't you? And then come back here.

LPU Pirates vs ADU Soaring Falcons

Lyceum lost all seven of their games in last season's Fil-Oil, but rebounded nicely in the actual NCAA as a guest team. It will be interesting to see if head coach Bonnie Tan will be out to win or if he's going to be more focused on testing line-ups and working in their new players.
Speaking of new players, Lyceum has two new centers, Daniel Garcia and Joseph Ambohot. Both though are ridiculously raw, based on what I saw of them in the Fr. Martin Cup. That said, it's unlikely Lyceum will be using them to score, and would rather they focus on rebounding. With Austin Manyara (6.0 rebs in 20.7 mins) and Eric Camson (7.6 rebs in 23.1 mins) standing across the court though, they may be in for a rough day.
Adamson's point guard position has to worry fans of the Soaring Falcons, as they are going from Jerick Canada and Lester Alvarez to...Ryan Monteclaro. The team is also hoping that Jericho Cruz, who is more of a wingman, can be converted to play the position.

UPHSD Altas vs ADMU Blue Eagles

This should be the debut of new head coach Aric del Rosario for the Altas. It'll be interesting to see if he has done anything drastic to their playing style.
The Altas should have some added size in foreign center Femi Babayemi and former Junior Alta Eugene Canuza. Would those two be enough to stop the giants on Ateneo, especially Greg Slaughter?
I wasn't a big fan of the starting five Ateneo put out versus Letran - Slaughter, Golla, Sumalinog, Ravena, Tiongson. The offense took a while to get going, and it seems like Sumalinog still has not rediscovered his shot. Salva presumably was nursing a minor injury, logging just nine minutes, which is why he didn't start.
One thing Letran did that I presume the Altas will try, is to put a big guy with range on Slaughter, and then run plays on offense to free him up on the perimeter, daring Slaughter to chase him out to the arc. The Knights tried that with Junjun Alas, but he was unable to make Ateneo pay for leaving him open, missing all three of his triples.
I thought it was clever of acting head coach Sandy A. to pair Buenafe up in the second unit with JP Erram and Tonino Gonzaga. Though the former Finals MVP has lost a lot of weight, he's still not quite in peak condition, but that's negated by Erram and Gonzaga, who are two athletic help defenders who can compensate for Buenafe losing his man.

JRU Heavy Bombers vs EAC Generals

JRU relies on generating turnovers for turnover points for a large chunk of their offense. They got the tables turned on them in their debut against NU, as the Bulldogs forced 23 errors and scored 23 points off them. Meanwhile, the Bombers managed to force 16 turnovers, but could only score four points ,as the superior athleticism and speed of the Bulldogs allowed them to catch up and flash some impressive transition defense.
While everyone on JRU had a bad outing, of note is the poor performance of John Villarias. The sophomore put up some nice numbers in his rookie year (10.7 points, 4.5 rebs, 2.6 asts, 1.2 stls) but he was a miserable 1-for-8 from the field for just two points in his 19 minutes of play.
The EAC Generals might be even more of a perimeter-oriented team than last season, after losing their best post player, Claude Cubo (11.7 points, 7.3 rebounds), to graduation. Their remaining prospects at center don't exactly inspire confidence though. Rafael Sanchez (11.4 mins, 1.5 points, 2.4 rebs in NCAA S87) is the veteran, and they have two rookies in Jeff Mallari and Dominador Pillas, but their best bet might be foreign center Happi Noube, who had averages of 8.0 points and 7.7 rebounds in last year's FilOil tourney.
While rosters are still in flux, it's worth noting that EAC did not list two of their main contributors from last season's campaign, Milan Vargas (8.5 points, 4.2 rebs) and Fil-Am Joshua Torralba (10.4 points, 3.6 rebs). Even without them though, they still have the likes of Jan Jamon (13.7 points, led the team in scoring in the NCAA), Remy Morada (5.1 points) and Franz Chiong (4.5 points), shooters will who will benefit from more touches.

SBC Red Lions vs UST Growling Tigers

After conceding a 0-6 start to DLSU in their season opener, San Beda bounced right back scoring the first quarter's last 13 points, on route to a big lead, 49-34, headed into the final quarter. But they eased up on the gas a bit too early, allowing the Archers to claw back in the dying minutes, slicing the deficit to four, 67-63 with 16 seconds remaining.
The team's surprise package was undersized scorer Ryusei Koga, who poured in eight points in 10 minutes on 4-of-7 shooting. He also chipped in three boards and two assists in limited minutes and so it'd be interesting to see if he can pull off similar production again.
The Red Lions struggled on the perimeter, making just 4-of-11 from beyond the arc. Take away Anjo Caram's two late triples, and the rest of the team was a mere 2-of-9, with Julius Armon posting a 1-for-5 clip.
The Tigers return a mostly intact line-up, but their one loss is a big one, power forward Chris Camus (7.27 points, 7.67 rebs, 1.47 asts, 1.13 stls, 1.53 blks), who was their best defender last season. Guys like Melo Afuang and Karim Abdul will have to do a better job on the boards to compensate for his absence.
The return of Clark Bautista and Aljon Mariano will definitely help a bench unit that averaged just 19.27 points last UAAP season. If Louie Vigil and Kim Lo continue to make strides as well, then UST will be a tougher team to tangle with.

FilOil 2012 - April 14 box scores

2012-04-15T03:07:00.000+08:00

Box scores for ADMU over CSJL, SBC over DLSU and NU over JRU, under the cut

Read more »

FilOil Random Thoughts - Gameday April 14, 2012

2012-04-14T10:31:00.000+08:00

ADMU vs CSJL

Ateneo lost three of their four best perimeter defenders to graduation, Kirk Long, Emman Monfort and Bacon Austria. Their ability to stop trigger-happy guards immediately gets tested as they go up against the likes of Mark Cruz, Kevin Alas, and Kevin Racal. Can Juami Tiongson, Kiefer Ravena, Tonino Gonzaga, and new Eagles Kiefer Lim and Nico Elorde pick up the slack?
That said, Kevin Alas is still questionable for today's game.

Game Day! Hope I can play! Arriba Letranista!
— Kevin Louie Alas (@kevinlouiealas) April 14, 2012

The Greg Slaughter (13.3 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.9 blocks) - Raymond Almazan (7.1 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.6 blocks) match-up could decide the game. If Slaughter gets into attack mode early and gets Almazan into foul trouble, that opens up the interior for Ateneo's slashers.
Another intriguing match-up will be Nico Salva (13.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 47.15% FG shooting) against Jam Cortes (12.2 points, 10.1 rebounds, 49.48% FG shoting). Salva will drag Cortes to the perimeter, where he's got the advantage, but on the flipside, Cortes can punish Salva by backing him into the post.
Ateneo has a hard time with physical defenses, as seen in their struggles against San Sebastian in the PCCL. Letran plays a similar kind of defense, though they do not have an all-around Calvin Abueva type who can stop multiple positions. Time to see if the Eagles have learned from that thrashing.

SBC vs DLSU

Player most likely to excel under new head coach Ronnie Magsanoc: Baser Amer (18.5 minutes, 7.0 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 0.9 steals). Amer had a hard time adjusting to then-head coach Frankie Lim's system, which saw him constantly checking over his shoulder to see what play he needed to run on that specific possession. If Magsanoc is more willing to let Amer get creative and run wild, he could put up near his high school numbers average of 11.7 assists
Player most likely to excel under new head coach Gee Abanilla: Joshua Webb (9.6 minutes, 3.5 points, 1.5 rebounds, 0.6 assists). Last season saw Webb post his worst numbers since his rookie year, as then-head coach Dindo Pumaren buried him on the bench. We saw glimpses of this already in the PCCL, when the Archers turned Webb loose, allowing him to post several double-digit scoring games (13.75 points through 4 games. When they got knocked out versus Letran, he tellingly only tallied 6 markers). Webb in transition and coming off the weak side is tons better than the catch-and-shoot Webb we saw in Season 74
The last time these two teams played, San Beda needed a game-winner by Garvo Lanete to come out on top, 70-68.
No Arnold Van Opstal for La Salle, as he's still nursing an injury. That leaves Norbert Torres, Papot Paredes, Yutien Andrada, Jovet Mendoza and Ponso Gotladera to go up against Ola Adeogun.

Missing out on filoil due to a torn hamstring. Sorry to the fans and supporters, very unfortunate and ill timed.
— Arnold van Awesome (@Arnoldvanopstal) April 3, 2012

Intriguing rookie match-up: Julius Armon versus Jeron Teng. Of course, Armon has several years on Teng, plus experience playing in the Fr. Martin Cup, while Teng is fresh from high school, though to his credit, he has played in international competition. Still, Armon is much more of a polished product at this point than Teng that this could get out of hand should they face off one-on-one.

NU vs JRU

The last time these two teams played, it was in the PCCL and a Bobby Ray Parks-less NU team fell 66-62 to a complete JRU squad.
NU's biggest weakness, an average of 19.14 turnovers per game, happens to be JRU's strength, 21.58 turnovers forced for 18.37 turnover points. If the Heavy Bombers defense can disrupt the undersized NU point guards, Cedrick Labing-isa, Robin Rono, Gelo Alolino, and rookie JJ Alejandro, this could be a long game for the Bulldogs
Intriguing match-up: John Villarias (10.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.2 steals) versus Bobby Ray Parks (20.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.1 steals).

FilOil 2012 Rosters

2012-04-13T17:49:00.000+08:00

These are the rosters as of April 13, 2012. Yet to submit are FEU, JRU and NU. These are courtesy of Inboundpass.com

FilOil Preseason Tournament Rosters

10 Must-Watch FilOil Games

2012-04-04T21:48:00.000+08:00

Arranged in chronological order, here are my picks for 10 must-watch Fil-Oil games, featuring rivalries, storylines, player match-ups, and of course, Ateneo versus La Salle-ness.

1. April 14 - 4pm - Group A: SBC Red Lions vs DLSU Green Archers
Of all the opening day games, this is the most intriguing because these two marquee teams underwent a ton of offseason changes. Both will have new coaches, Ronnie Magsanoc for San Beda, and Gee Abanilla for DLSU, and both will parade some fresh new line-ups, most notably two guys with huge star potential, Julius Armon and Jeron Teng, respectively. When they played each other last year, it was a close affair, with San Beda banking on superior end-game execution late to edge La Salle 70-68. Will that be the case this year? We'll find out soon enough.

2. April 21 - 3:30pm - Group A: SBC Red Lions vs ADMU Blue Eagles
When these two teams met last season, it was Kiefer Ravena's grand debut, then the second time, it was the Eagles' coronation night, as they won their first FilOil title. Toss in the fact that once again, these two squads are the defending champions of their respective leagues, and the whole Semerads defection/hijacking (depending on which side you're from) issue, and this is a must-watch game.

3. April 27 - 1:45pm - Group B: SSCR Golden Stags vs NU Bulldogs
Ask Bobby Ray Parks what aspect of the game he was most unready for in the UAAP and he'll tell you it was the physicality that he was least prepared for. Again, this was in the UAAP. Now he'll be up against probably one of the most physical teams ever, the reigning PCCL champs. And while the Stags don't have nearly the deep line-up that NU will be parading, they will have Calvin Abueva and Ian Sangalang, two guys who could probably go toe-to-toe against Parks and Emmanuel Mbe, and even come out on top.

4. April 28 - 1:45pm - Group B: ADU Falcons vs FEU Tamaraws
Two teams that always bring it that will come out with revamped rosters. We'll find out how Adamson will look like minus the dynamic point guard duo of Jerick Canada and Lester Alvarez, while on the flip side, we'll also get a glimpse of how FEU defends without Aldrech Ramos patrolling the paint. And more importantly, whether or not these two squads are still Final Four contenders.

5. May 4 - 3:30pm - Group B: FEU Tamaraws vs SSCR Golden Stags
A battle between the two bridesmaids in their respective leagues last season, it will also be a contrast in styles, as FEU will try to catch fire from long-range via RR Garcia and Terrence Romeo, while the Stags aim to dominate the shaded area with Abueva and Sangalang. Most intriguing side story? The Bringas brothers playing against Baste, as Arvie (the younger) was a high school standout there, while Mark (the elder) had a cup of tea with the Stags in NCAA Season 84 before transferring to FEU.

6. May 5 - 3:30pm - Group A: DLSU Green Archers vs UST Growling Tigers
It'll be brother versus brother when Jeron Teng faces off against Jeric Teng, with the two likely guarding each other in the process. Also, an underrated plot line: two Petron Blaze Bosters assistants going up against each other in Abanilla versus Pido Jarencio.

7. May 16 - 1:45pm - Group B: EAC Generals vs AU Chiefs
With the NCAA looking to impose a ban on foreigners a few seasons down the road, Fil-foreigners might become the thing, and these two squads have a headstart on it, with EAC tapping Joshua Torralba and Igee King last season, and AU revamping its roster to feature AJ Serjue and James Forrester. If the rest of their respective squads click, either could wind up as a dark horse in their mother league. This game could be a good gauge of that aforementioned "clicking."

8. May 23 - 1:45pm - Group B: FEU Tamaraws vs AU Chiefs
Oh look, an old friend for Far Eastern. Former championship-winning FEU coach Koy Banal will play across the Tamaraws this time, backed up by his new squad, the Arellano University Chiefs. Not only is AU's coach new, their squad looks a lot different, what with Gerald Lapuz and Andrian Celada out, and some Fil-for blood injected. Bert Flores going up against his old mentor will definitely be worth watching, along with a RR Garcia-Vergel Zulueta scorers' duel.

9. June 2 - 11:30am - Group A: SBC Red Lions vs CSJL Knights
A likely NCAA Finals preview, San Beda has added motivation coming into this game, as Letran is the school that was the biggest advocate of eliminating foreign players. Meanwhile the host school Letran will be looking to kick off their hosting stint with a bang by declawing the defending champs. Warning: this game WILL get physical.

10. June 2 - 4pm - Group A: ADMU Blue Eagles vs DLSU Green Archers
On one hand, La Salle is 4-0 against Ateneo in the FilOil. On the other hand, in those four years, Ateneo has always wound up raising the UAAP trophy a few months later. Trend, omen, or coincidence? Whatever it is, this is definitely a must-watch game. As if I needed to tell you that!

2012 FilOil Schedule

2012-04-04T20:47:00.000+08:00

This is the schedule for the 2012 FilOil Flying V Hanes Preseason Cup, as of April 4. As is usually the case, expect certain playdates to change because of things like, the date of teams' overseas training changing, PBA-DL conflicts, Fr. Martin Cup conflicts, etc. etc.

All 18 UAAP and NCAA teams will be participating this year, as opposed to last season when Perpetual Help went into hiding. Teams can field foreign students, but only one per team on the court, and the big twist is that everyone in the line-up has to be eligible for their upcoming home league season. Can't field all your just-about-to-start residency players this time.

FilOil Schedule - April 4, 2012

Coaching Search: Replacing Norman Black

2012-02-18T22:49:00.000+08:00

With Ateneo announcing Black's departure after Season 75, Blue Eagles fans have already whipped themselves into a frenzy over who his replacement should be. Black leaves a large pair of shoes to fill, especially if he exits with a fifth straight title in hand, so there's absolutely no pressure on the next guy (that's sarcasm, by the way). Who's available and how likely is that person going to be the choice? Here's a semi-serious look at a list of candidates, with some gambling odds thrown in.

Olsen Racela: 2-1
After retirement, Racela was installed as the head coach of the RP Under-16 team which bagged fourth place in Vietnam last October, losing only two out of their eight games. You can argue if there's more pressure coaching a national squad or coaching Ateneo, but the point guard considered by many to be the best in the business back in the day would carry a lot of good will into the job, and perhaps more importantly, will be able to steer some of his U-16 charges towards the blue and white.

Sandy Arepacochaga: 3-1
Jamike Jarin: 5-1
If you're looking for continuity in the basketball program, the best thing to do would be to elevate one of these two Norman Black assistants to the big chair when he leaves. Arespacochaga can't be blamed for a third place finish in his one stint as head coach as that was the season Larry Fonacier went down with an ACL injury. Surely he deserves a second chance? Alternately, you could go with Jarin, who steered the Blue Eaglets to multiple titles, even before a kid named Kiefer Ravena became part of the squad. That said, Jarin could be eyed to take the San Beda head coach position should Frankie Lim incur an extended suspension, though things could change in the light of Norman's exit.

Leo Austria: 25-1
I put Austria on this list despite having no clue how many years he still has on his contract with Adamson, but here are a few things I do know: Austria is possibly the most brilliant tactical mind in the UAAP next to Black, and has done great things with an Adamson team that doesn't have near the resources of an Ateneo. More importantly, he seems like the type of person Black would wholeheartedly endorse after the two coached a mix of Falcons and Eagles in Hong Kong two years ago. Plus, his other son Ged Austria, is presumably enrolling in Katipunan this upcoming school year so who knows?

Ricky Dandan: 40-1
Despite currently employed as the head coach of the UP Fighting Maroons, Dandan has quite some links to the other university on Katipunan. He used to be an assistant for Joe Lipa when Lipa was head coach, and then became the director of Ateneo's basketball program up until he left for UP. Perhaps he gets lured back to his old stomping grounds, this time as the head coach?

Yuri Escueta: 75-1
The current head coach of Ateneo's Team B could in theory move up to Team A, and Escueta was coached by Black in the past, so he could conceivably implement Black's system. However, let's not forget that Escueta has just a year under his belt at this very moment of coaching said Team B. Perhaps if Black was leaving in five years, not one.

Chris Tiu: 100-1
Well, Tiu doesn't seem interested at all in the PBA, and he was quite the disciple of Black, so maybe he makes the leap to coaching? He could probably help channel talent from Xavier School to Ateneo, and younger brother Charles could even be an assistant, splitting time with his duties on the Powerade staff.

Chot Reyes: 150-1
Maybe we've got this MVP coaching carousel all mixed up and Reyes becomes the odd man out in the big leagues, sending him back to the collegiate game. While part of him might relish the idea of piloting his alma mater, it seems like he's destined for bigger things like the National Team, so this one feels like a bit of a reach.

Jong Uichico: 200-1
Uichico used to be part of Black's coaching staff in Magnolia, and is currently not doing anything besides consulting for Meralco. Plus, his son was a Blue Eagle (albeit, a benchwarmer) for a season or two under Black. Maybe he takes the job to stick it to La Salle for not getting him when Dindo Pumaren resigned? He has said though that he refuses to coach Ateneo, but maybe MVP can convince him otherwise?

Rajko Toroman: 400-1
Hey, Toroman only has a two-year consultancy contract with SMC. Maybe he gets bored just sitting around consulting and wakes up one morning to find out that MVP is dangling him an offer that doubles his salary to coach Ateneo, with someone like Arespacochaga filling in the 2013 season as interim head coach. Maybe we'll see an influx of Serbian-Filipino big men don the blue and white if that happens?

Frankie Lim: 500-1
Let's say the NCAA ManCom suspends him for a year and San Beda decides for continuity purposes to get a new head coach. Well, what nice timing because Norman Black leaves after a year! Lim can certainly keep the Blue Eagles' talent pipeline brimming, and he's a proven winner at the collegiate level. Sure Red Lions fans will be calling foul, but the look on the Semerads' faces is going to be priceless as they try to transfer once again.

Erik Spoelstra: 1,000,000-1
Imagine this: the Heat get the number one seed in the East, and face off against the New York Knicks in round one of the playoffs. Linsanity breaks out and the Heat get ousted in five games. Pat Riley makes the hard decision to let Spoelstra go and takes over the team, leaving Spoelstra out in the cold. Doesn't MVP call him up immediately and ask him to fly over to Manila? Plus, the kicker: Spoelstra's high school was a Jesuit high school, and Ateneo is run by Jesuits, great fit!

Other Random Names: Kirk Long (has said in an interview that he wants to coach, but he probably didn't mean this quickly after graduating college), Joe Lipa (age might be a factor), Ronnie Magsanoc (MVP guy, but seems more likely to be an option for San Beda), Lawrence Chongson (purely for the lolz), Larry Brown (has said he will coach anything, even a high school team, but Ateneo might be a stretch)

Coach Speak - Norman Black II

2012-02-12T08:21:00.000+08:00

This interview was supposed to run in the latest issue of Rebound magazine, but got cut due to lack of space.

A few hours before Game 1 of the S74 UAAP Finals, I was lucky enough to get to chat with Ateneo head Coach Norman Black. Our conversation lasted about thirty minutes, much more than the five minutes I asked for, but questions beget more questions and Coach Norman is always very gracious. This isn't the entire transcript as I left out some more FEU-specific queries and some SINAG stuff as well.

+++

AD: What aspect of coaching is your favorite? The way you and your staff make adjustments at halftime, it seems to me that you excel at the “chess match” aspect of the game.

NB: I think more than the chess aspect, it’s just being prepared, planning to anticipate. First of all, scouting them [the other teams] and finding out what they’re trying to do and what they’re trying to accomplish, and what plays they’re running offensively and defensively, and making sure your players are prepared for that. Outside of that, there’s also the anticipation of what they might to, what they might come up with.

AD: That came up when you played FEU in the second round right, when you realized that they had gone back to the triangle offense used last season under Glenn Capacio right?

NB: We watched the first game and they used a little bit of the triangle in the first game, but they really used it extensively in the second game. That surprised us a bit, but they’ve been using the triangle since that game pretty consistently, so the only thing for them to do is go back to their old plays again, their flex offense, or come up with new plays.

AD: Coming into the Ateneo job, did you expect to love coaching collegiate ball so much?

NB: I enjoy coaching, period. I could be coaching in grade school and I’d be very, very happy. I could be back in the pros and I’d be very, very happy. I just enjoy coaching. I enjoy mostly taking players, recruiting them, molding them and watching them grow and get better, and as they get better, the team gets better. If you have a team and you don’t improve over the course of the conference, the year, and in the case of some of these guys, over the course of five years, then that’s a bit of a disappointment. Maybe you didn’t get the best out of them and they underachieved. To see them continually get better and improve their game, that’s what coaching is all about because coaching is basically just teaching.

AD: So you could see yourself doing this forever?

NB: Yeah, I’m a coach for life.

AD: Could you see yourself being coach for life at Ateneo?

NB: I have no idea. You know what they say about coaching, you’re hired to be fired. I know I’ll be coaching. Hopefully it’ll be in Ateneo, but if not, I’ll be coaching somewhere.

AD: Could you talk about your graduating veterans a bit?

NB: They’ve been leading the team very well. Everyone understands that since it’s their last year, their last two games, so a lot of our motivation is those three guys.

AD: Is it difficult to see veterans graduate?

NB: You remember when you recruited them, and how time flies. Last year, I couldn’t believe that Eric Salamat was graduating, because it seems like I just recruited him from San Sebastian, [and] all of a sudden, he’s graduating. Same thing with Kirk Long, Bacon Austria and Emman Monfort. You hate to see them go, but you know there are other guys that you’ve also recruited.

You know, the difference between the system of Ateneo and the system of other teams is most of the players that come to Ateneo know they may not become a star immediately. That’s why some of them don’t come to Ateneo. They know they may not become a star immediately. We normally have to recruit guys who are good players, but are willing to wait one, two years for the seniors and the juniors to graduate before their star can start to shine. The disadvantage is they don’t become Rookie of the Year or star players immediately. The advantage is they are on a winning team. They learn a winning tradition and what it takes to become a winner, and how hard you have to work to make it happen. By the time it’s their turn, in their second, third, fourth year, they’re ready to play.

Everyone keeps asking me how come your players don’t play as much as say, some other star players of other teams. Obviously, with winning 13 out of the 14 games, if I was letting my starters play 35 minutes a game, we’d probably have everyone on the Mythical Five team. But we’re all about winning and luckily for me, I’ve been able to convince my players of that, to put winning as a team ahead of individual accomplishments.

Rebound 2011-12 Championship issue

2012-02-04T08:10:00.000+08:00

The latest issue of Rebound magazine is in stores now! It's got some really great articles in there, including of course, features on the two championship teams, and some of the Final Four contenders. Some standouts include Chris Soler getting to interview new DLSU head coach Gee Abanilla, and Sid Ventura following the Sinag squad in Jakarta.

On my part, I got to pen the Ateneo four-peat article, which was a huge honor. And as you can expect, it's a pretty damn long article, so I hope y'all enjoy that.

Another fun thing that we did was we drafted fantasy-NBA style all the players in the UAAP and NCAA and formed teams. Then we got San Beda assistant Jude Roque and Ateneo assistant Sandy Arespacochaga to critique our squads.

All that and tons more for just P140 so get out there and snap that baby up!

The Jeron Teng mailbag

2012-01-14T09:29:00.002+08:00

Going off some received tweets about the news that Jeron Teng will commit to DLSU...

Here's what we know about Jeron Teng: he scores most of his points as a slasher, but he's going to score at a lower percentage because of the speed and height of his UAAP defenders. His rebounding is questionable, because of the lack of height in the Tiong Lian (6'3" centers ahoy!) and because he'll be a collegiate shooting guard instead of a high school forward. As the primary scoring option in Xavier School, he doesn't pass a whole lot, but let's assume he will with DLSU as he can't overpower double teams anymore. Xavier plays an up-tempo style with a big focus on the transition game so maybe he manages a steal every now and then, though he himself with turn the ball over a lot as he gets used to the faster pace of the college game and the general increase in athleticism. I'm also projecting him to play around 20 minutes per game because DLSU would want to showcase their blue chip recruit. That makes me think he'll resemble something like the following two players. See if you can guess who they are.

Player 1: 20 minutes, 9.73 points on 34.58 percent shooting, 4.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.8 steals, 2.8 turnovers.

Player 2: 20.43 minutes, 9.43 points on 36.71 percent shooting, 3.9 rebounds, 0.93 assists, 0.5 steals, 2.71 turnovers

So who are the above two players?

Player 1 happens to be Jarelan Tampus, with his per-minute averages expanded to 20 minutes instead of the 15 minutes he averaged in Season 74.

Player 2 happens to be Joshua Webb, circa Season 72.

That's right, I have Jeron Teng looking like two of his own teammates. Admittedly, he'd be ahead of the curve if he can average that in his rookie year (versus Tampus' and Webb's sophomore year stats) but if you're La Salle, you're wishing he can provide more than that, especially since the hope is that he can be a future go-to guy.

(You're also hoping he can eventually expand his range to hit three-pointers more reliably. Tampus was 0/1 in Season 74 and 0/0 as a rookie, Webb is 7/48 for his career)

DLSU has Simon Atkins and Maui Villanueva graduating, leaving the rest of their roster intact. Here's how it looks right now:

PG: LA Revilla / Almond Vosotros / Dan Sara
SG: Luigi Dela Paz / Jarelan Tampus
SF: Joshua Webb / Joseph Marata

Assuming everyone comes back, that's a pretty crowded line-up, and we're not even factoring in Mark Tallo (PG), or possible recruits like Alex Torres and Gab Reyes from DLSZ (both SG/SF).

Let's say Revilla decides not to come back due to his health, while Marata and Sara get dropped to Team B.

PG: Mark Tallo / Almond Vosotros
SG: Jeron Teng / Luigi Dela Paz / Jarelan Tampus
SF: Joshua Webb / Gab Reyes / Alex Torres

That's a ton of guys who need the ball in their hands to be effective, with Tallo and Vosotros not being traditional point guards to boot. In fact, you could make the argument that everyone in that line-up is a scorer! And to further complicate things, we're not even factoring in the amount of touches the big men will need too. It goes without saying that head coach Gee Abanilla will definitely need to work on ball sharing in the off-season. If La Salle's offense devolves into a series of iso-sets, I doubt they'll be able to make the Final Four.

For argument's sake, let's look at the NU and ADMU line-ups, which were the other two schools that were going hard after Jeron.

NU
PG: Jelo Alolino / Cedrick Labing-isa / JJ Alejandro (rookie)
SG: Ajeet Singh / Robin Rono / Reden Celda
SF: Bobby Ray Parks / Jeoffrey Javillonar

ADMU
PG: Juami Tiongson / Nico Elorde (transferee)
SG: Kiefer Ravena / Tonino Gonzaga / Von Pessumal / Jomar Adonardo (Team B)
SF: Ryan Buenafe (one-year leave) / Oping Sumalinog / Gwynne Capacio

Both teams are pretty stacked as well, plus you have guys like Parks and Ravena who will dominate the ball much more over the others, but you can at least say that some of the other guys are role players (defenders like Singh and Gonzaga, traditional point guards like Alolino and Elorde) who won't demand the ball, or will look to pass first before anything else.

Jeron Teng commits to DLSU

2012-01-13T20:39:00.001+08:00

Image courtesy of Archer Pride's Twitter account

As reported by numerous media outlets earlier today, blue-chipper Jeron Teng of the Xavier School Golden Stallions has committed to DLSU and will be a Green Archer in Season 75. His brother, Jeric, tweeted this morning about having to play against his brother, before saying that Jeron would be an Archer. Later in the afternoon, Jeron then confirmed the news on his own Twitter account, all of which can be seen in a snazzy graphic courtesy of GMA News.

Publicity-wise, this is a big get for La Salle. The Archers have been up and down in recent years, hitting a nadir last season when they went 1-6 in the second round to close out the season at 5-9. As a result, head coach Dindo Pumaren was let go, replaced by Gee Abanilla. Getting Teng was a show of force, a message to the other seven teams that DLSU was not about to go quietly into the night.

But what exactly do they get player-wise? Teng is the biggest name in what is a shallow recruitment year, and a lot of his recognition stems from a 104-point scoring binge that he put up a year ago. Since then, he and the rest of the Stallions won a third straight Tiong Lian title, with Teng getting his second straight MVP plume. That was February 2011. It's a bit surprising really that Teng didn't wait until after this season's Tiong Lian (which starts tomorrow, as a matter of fact), to see if he could boost his stock.

So who is Teng on the court based on last year? Here's what I wrote after his big scoring game:

listed at 6'1", Teng played the small forward spot, though he definitely does not have the shooting touch most people associate with that position. Instead, Teng operates mostly in the paint, hitting 8-foot jumpers reliably, or bullying his way into the lane. This was made easier for him due to the lack of height on the Grace Christian team. Despite double, triple, and even quadruple teams, Teng would usually opt to take shot forced shots, banking on his athleticism to get the rebound and the easy put-back. Teng's 0 assists was indicative of his score-first mentality, though it may just be a statement about his team's composition and depth (or lack of it).

Teng and his teammates run a pressure defense, and they took good advantage of it, forcing 42 turnovers, with 30 steals. That led to more shot opportunities (124 to 84), most of them uncontested, letting Teng pad his stats even more.

I also took a look at Jeron's contemporaries a few days after his big game, other high school stars with big scoring games and how they translated in the collegiate ranks. Let's just say, it's not a nice group to be in.

Jeron's decision to become a Green Archer makes a lot of sense vis a vis his other options. The two other schools that really went after him were NU, which has Bobby Ray Parks, and ADMU, which has Kiefer Ravena. Splitting touches with either of those two would have been tough, while at Taft, down the road if everything goes to plan, he could possibly be the main man for that team.

High School Elite

2012-01-03T08:58:00.000+08:00

Scouting for high school talent for a university or college basketball program is a tough gig in the Philippines.

Sure in Manila, you have UAAP/NCAA high school affiliates and other leagues like the Tiong Lian, but the province are a different thing entirely. This isn't the US where everybody is ranked, where YouTube highlight reels can be Googled, and where you can record out of state high school games. Legwork and connections therefore are key. You have to head out to all these little gyms based on recommendations from alumni living in the area to see if you have a diamond in the rough. And even then, it's hard to tell if you have a legit gamechanger, or someone who's merely dominating inferior opposition, but can't make the leap.

One group trying to change all that is the National Basketball Training Center, headed up by program director Eric Altamirano. After five years of existence, the Sea-Oil NBTC Elite League is now run in 17 cities with almost 5,000 participants, scattered across 139 schools. That's a huge improvement from when there were just 100 boys in their first year, based in Manila, Cebu and Davao.

"The Seaoil NBTC Elite League provides a competitive environment where the skills of the kids are developed and honed. We also teach them strategies and one facet of the game that is often overlooked – mental preparedness. The workshops are specifically designed not only with basketball in mind but also in imparting life’s values and character building. We believe in the holistic formation of a person,” said Altamirano.

And for the first time, the NBTC will be introducing the Seaoil High School All-Star Game, patterned after the McDonald's All-American High School Basketball Games of the US. The latter is known to be a must-watch affair in America, with nearly all the players becoming big names in the (US) NCAA. Just to give you an idea, the 2010 game had Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight, Tristan Thompson and Harrison Barnes go up against Kyrie Irving, Perry Jones III, Kendall Marshall and Jared Sullinger.

National Training Director Alex Compton added, "The Sea Oil High School All-Star Game will close out the year’s Seaoil NBTC Elite League in the first week of March 2012 following the National Finals. People from all over the country will also get to follow their respective players on television as the All-Star Game will be televised on AKTV.”

San Beda Red Lion Baser Amer and FEU Tamaraws Terrence Romeo are both products of the NBTC, so you know they're doing something right.

The Annual College Basketball Awards - 2011

2012-01-03T08:33:00.001+08:00

Hosted by the UAAP-NCAA Press Corp and SMART, this year's edition of the Annual College Basketball Awards recognizes the following individuals who stood out in their 2011 hoops campaign:

The Mythical Five: Calvin Abueva, Bobby Ray Parks, Greg Slaughter, Kiefer Ravena, Garvo Lanete

UAAP Coach of the Year: Norman Black

NCAA Coach of the Year: Frankie Lim

Distinction of Excellence plum (for being the first NCAA team win the PCCL): San Sebastian Stags

Energy Player: Kevin Alas

Pivotal Player: Dave Marcelo and Nico Salva

Defensive Stopper: Kirk Long

Maynilad Super Senior: Emman Monfort

Impact Player: Ronald Pascual

Mr. Efficiency: Ian Sangalang & Aldrech Ramos

Court General: RR Garcia

NBA 2011-12: Christmas Opening Day

2011-12-25T17:27:00.001+08:00

IMG source

12pm ET: Boston Celtics at New York Knicks

Spotlight on: the Celtics bench. It's a motley crew that's half-veterans who might not have any juice left (Marquis Daniels, Keyon Dooling, Sasha Pavlovic, Chris Wilcox) and half-young guns who have yet to see significant NBA minutes (Avery Bradley, JaJuan Johnson, E'Twaun Moore). Boston usually starts the season on fire, but with Pierce hurt and an abbreviated training camp, the aging Celtics are crossing their fingers that their reserves will be able to keep them in playoff contention.

Spotlight on: the Knicks point guards. With Baron Davis out for six to eight weeks, the point guard position, Mike D'Antoni's extension on the court and the engine that makes his run and gun system go, will fall on the shoulders of shooting guard in point guard's garb Toney Douglas, the zombie-like Mike Bibby who is far removed from his glorious Sacramento Kings days, and rookie sparkplug Iman Shumpert. It used to be that defense was the over-scrutinized aspect of this squad, but now, even their offense will be put under the microscope, especially if turnovers become a problem.

Pick: Boston +5

2:30pm ET: Miami Heat at Dallas Mavericks

Spotlight on: the Big Three's growth. After coming within two games of a championship trophy, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Lebron James spent the offseason working on their games. Bosh has extended his range, Wade worked on his durability and James finally, supposedly, added a post game to his arsenal. The excuse all of last season was that these three needed time to gel together and get their games in synch after being individual strs for so long. Now that more than a year has passed by, it's put up or shut up time for the NBA's super-villains.

Spotlight on: the Dallas defense. They say defense wins championships, and the Mavericks took that to heart a season ago, with Tyson Chandler dominating the paint, DeShawn Stevenson emulating a pitbull on the perimeter, and Shawn Marion filling in the gaps. Fast-forward to now, and both Chandler and Stevenson are gone, and Marion is a year older. The additions of Vince Carter and Lamar Odom make this squad harder to stop, but will they be able to stop anybody, let alone Wade and James?

Pick: Miami -4.5

5:00pm ET: Chicago Bulls at Los Angeles Lakers

Spotlight on: Richard Hamilton. The Bulls jettison Keith Bogans in favor of Rip Hamilton, former NBA champ with the Detroit Pistons, to finally fill in their hole at the two-guard spot, but it doesn't quite look like the most ideal fit. Yes, even at his advanced age, Hamilton is still extremely adept at running his defender through multiple screens, freeing him up for open mid-range shots, but the Bulls were looking for more triples, which he's good but not great at. Chicago might have been better off too with someone who could create his own shot in a pinch, to give them a safety valve when Rose is doubled, I'm sure the coaching staff would have wanted someone who is at the very least, an above average defender. That's three strikes against him, but will his scoring make up for all that?

Spotlight on: the non-Kobe Lakers. Could this be the worst supporting cast the Lakers have had since the days of Smush Parker and Kwame Brown? On the brink of being cast out as Los Angeles' premiere team, the Lakers braintrust are backing an aging Bryant up with holdovers Matt Barnes, Steve Blake, Luke Walton, Derek Fisher and Metta World Peace, while adding the whitebread trio of Jason Kapono, Josh McRoberts and Troy Murphy. Pau Gasol will need to work his way back from a mediocre playoffs run, while Andrew Bynum needs to be healthy, and get through a four-game suspension. There's hope that draftees Devin Ebanks and Darius Morris can give the team something, but it's hard to imagine them as game-changers.

Pick: Chicago -4

8:00pm ET: Orlando Magic at Oklahoma City Thunder

Spotlight on: Dwight Howard. In their two preseason games, Howard was a disinterested non-factor in their first match against Miami, before bouncing back in the second outing. While everyone in the Magic camp is saying D-12's trade demands aren't bothering the team, it's hard to imagine that it's not there in the back of everyone's mind, waiting for an extended losing streak to push it to the forefront. And if Howard continues to play lackadaisical, he was the only one keeping them alive versus Atlanta in the playoffs after all, that pie-in-the-sky losing streak might come sooner rather than later.

Spotlight on: the Russell Westbrook-Kevin Durant connection. The Thunder return basically intact from last season, and so too returns the interior drama about whether or not the team's best two players can co-exist. The two get another year to prove that they can get along, that Westbrook can continue to mature as a point guard and that Durant can improve on his shot selection and ability to get open. However, if the same issues from their playoff series versus the Mavericks persist, or heaven forbid, even get worse, I wouldn't be surprised if general manager Sam Presti bites the bullet and unloads his All-Star guard.

Pick: Oklahoma City -8

10:30pm ET: Los Angeles Clippers at Golden State Warriors

Spotlight on: Blake Griffin's offensive repertoire. We all know Griffin can throw down some vicious dunks, and the addition of Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups will likely boost the frequency of those jams, but for the Clippers to take the next step, LA's new poster boy will need to be more than just someone who throws it down. We saw some flashes of that during the preseason, including extended range on his jump shot, and a few up and under moves. Consistency will need to be the key. If Griffin can mix it up enough, teams will be hard-pressed to stop him, and his fellow dunker, DeAndre Jordan, and that means the playoffs will come to "Lob City."

Spotlight on: the Warriors' defense. "Hand up, man down," is the philosophy Golden State's new head coach Mark Jackson constantly espouses, but the last time someone tried to make a run and gun team try to force a couple of stops, Terry Porter in Phoenix, it was a complete failure. The chances of it happening could have improved drastically had they signed Tyson Chandler or DeAndre Jordan in the off-season, but the team was forced to settle for Kwame Brown, definitely not the best portent. Toss in the fact that you still have the sub-par defender trio of David Lee, Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry in the starting line-up, and that raised hand might be more of surrender, than stoppage.

Pick: Los Angeles Clippers -5.5

5 Ways to Improve the PCCL

2011-12-23T10:30:00.000+08:00

1. Add provisions for suspending players
The PCCL likes to pride itself on values such as sportsmanship, camaraderie, and the like, but that does not always work out in practice, especially in this year's tournament. Between the San Sebastian-San Beda brawl that came right on the heels of the two schools' incident during a volleyball game at San Beda College, Calvin Abueva's intentional bump of a referee, and DLSU's Jovet Mendoza getting hit with two unsportsmanlike fouls within minutes of each other, there were plenty of times when the league ought to have cracked down on poor behavior, but couldn't because they had no rules about it.

2. Synch up the start times for all the member leagues
The reason why the PCCL only started in November? A lot of the provincial leagues were still unfolding while the NCAA and UAAP teams were sitting idle. Why not create a rule that will make all leagues have their opening tip no later than say the second week of July so that regional tourneys can begin on the last week of October, around the time the Unigames end? That also means teams, especially top-ranked ones, won't have the problem of weeks of downtime, which leads to rusty performances.

3. Synch up the schedule with the PBA Developmental League
While this is a pipedream, given that the two leagues are aired on different networks, there ideally should be more communication amongst the two groups, to prevent instances of players having to either choose which of their two teams to play for, or playing both games but arriving late to one of them. This victimized the Adamson Falcons the most this year, what with their squad forming the core of the PBA-DL Freego Jeans squad. Though Coach Leo Austria was able to get concessions from the PCCL to have their games begin half an hour earlier, he still had to send players off earlier to their PBA-DL game, leaving him with fewer options on the bench, not what you want when you're forced into overtime. Given how the PBA-DL isn't even aired live on TV, can't they be a bit more flexible with their schedule? Surely they can find a way to divide up the seven days in a week.

4. More viewing options
The PCCL has actually gotten better at this, as they managed to get some of the provincial games on the air, albeit on a delayed basis, but every hoops junkie's dream is of course, to have all of the games live. As an example, I'm sure lots of DLSU fans would have wanted the Metro Manila regional to have aired as those were the first few games of the Archers under Gee Abanilla's management. While TV time is understandably at a premium, why not livestream those games online, or have them up on their website on a same-day basis? Or at the very least, have the PCCL Facebook page put up live updates of what's going on in the games.

5. Better stats
As a stats junkie, I was disheartened that the Metro Manila regional had the stats being done by hand, with just points and fouls being identified (and even then, they got stuff wrong, such as in one of the La Salle games). While we eventually got computerized stats a week before the Final Four, a supposedly prestigious tournament like the PCCL ought to have computerized stats to pour over right at the get-go.

PCCL 2011 - Finals Game 2: SSCR vs ADMU

2011-12-23T09:57:00.000+08:00

Three Up

After a nondescript offensive performance in the first Finals game (nine points on 4 of 11 shooting), Ian Sangalang took advantage of an Ateneo frontcourt rotation that saw Greg Slaughter play just 20 minutes, allowing him to pump in 19 points on 50 percent shooting, along with a perfect 5 for 5 stint at the line. This performance was basically what earned him the tournament MVP honors.
Jonathan Semira made a surprise reappearance for the Stags, after tearing one of his ACL's in their fourth regular season NCAA game. The bulky guard gave the short-handed Stags a big boost emotionally, but he also was a huge help on the court, with his one make of the game being a clutch triple that doused an Ateneo rally in the fourth quarter, keeping his team ahead.
Ateneo head coach Norman Black has quietly done a good job turning trigger-happy guards (Jai Reyes, Emman Monfort) into more than capable floor generals, and his latest project will be third-year player Juami Tiongson. While we will see that play out next season, the exciting part is that Tiongson may be an even better scorer than his two predecessors. In the third quarter, Tiongson singlehandedly kept his team in the game by dropping 11 points in five minutes, hitting 5 out of his 6 attempts, while also dishing out an assist in the process.

Three Down

The phrase "pick your poison" has often been used to describe Ateneo's offense, as no team can realistically defend Slaughter, Nico Salva and Kiefer Ravena all at the same time, but in this game, San Sebastian didn't have to pick anything. The big man played just 20 minutes for 10 points, while the UAAP Finals MVP and the UAAP Rookie of the Year combined to go 3 of 25 from the field for 12 points, missing seven triples in the process.
Once again, San Sebastian's zone defense stymied Ateneo, keeping in check what is supposed to be a prolific offense. The Eagles wound up attempting 31 triples against the zone, making just eight. For some perspective, Ateneo had never attempted more than 20 in the UAAP. Also, the main disadvantage of the zone is that it makes the defending team have to work harder to get defensive rebounds, but the Stags killed the Eagles on the glass, outworking them 54-33. On the offensive end, Ateneo got only 12 repossessions, versus the 18 of the NCAA runners-up.
After doing a reasonably good job of limiting their turnovers (in the Final Four game) and then limiting the amount of turnover points conceded (in the first Finals game), San Sebastian fell back to their old ways, making 22 errors, which led to 22 turnover points by the Eagles. Calvin Abueva of course, led the way with seven of those miscues.

Random Notes

San Sebastian became the first NCAA team in the PCCL's existence to win the national championship. In doing so, they prevented what could have been a banner year for the Eagles, as Ateneo had won the Fil-Oil Preseason tournament, the UAAP tournament, and the Unigames crown.
UAAP teams might want to look at how San Sebastian dominated Ateneo all year long. Combining the Fil-Oil and the PCCL, the Stags are 3-1 against the Eagles in 2011.

PCCL 2011: Finals - SSCR vs ADMU

PCCL 2011 - Finals Game 1: ADMU vs SSCR

2011-12-13T16:16:00.000+08:00

Three Up

UAAP Finals MVP Nico Salva scored four points in the first half, but made up for it with 14 in the second, 10 coming in the third quarter to help Blue Eagles seize and keep the lead. The fourth-year player not only drew defenders like Calvin Abueva and Michael Miranda, and still scored, on the flipside, he also had stretches where he had to guard those two guys, and even some stints versus Ian Sangalang. With the offense stuck in neutral against the zone of Baste, no Salva would have meant an easy ADMU loss.
After giving up nine unanswered at the start of the fourth quarter, the Ateneo defense managed to shut San Sebastian down when it mattered, allowing just a single point in the final 3:50 of the game. Sure it helped that Calvin Abueva threw himself out of the game with 1:04 left, but even before that incident, Oping Sumalinog seemed to have gotten the handle on "The Beast," resulting in the steal that led to Abueva's last foul.
Stags head coach Topex Robinson unveiled his latest defensive wrinkle to stop Ateneo: instructing his players to aggressively play for the steal out of their zone. The ploy worked, and the Eagles coughed the ball up a grand total of 26 times. They had 16 turnovers already by the first half, in the UAAP, Ateneo had six games where they finished with less than that number, which led to 13 of San Sebastian's 23 markers in the 20 minute span.

Three Down

Calvin Abueva giveth, and Calvin Abueva taketh away. After missing most of the first half due to what seemed like an early case of cramps, Abueva returned for 11 in 13 second-half minutes, taking over the scoring duties for the Stags. As good as he was though, Abueva also turned the ball over 10 times, four in the final quarter, and none more costly than the one Sumalinog came up with, leading to the ref whistling the NCAA MVP for his fifth. Then on the way off the court, Abueva intentionally bumped that same referee, leading to a technical foul that was charged to his head coach, and free throws that sealed things for Ateneo.
How effective was San Sebastian's zone? The Eagles could barely get the ball into the post and Greg Slaughter's hands at times, forcing them to rely on lower percentage shots. Coupled with the arm-bar antics of Michael Miranda and Anthony Del Rio (yes, Anthony Del Rio managed to successfully guard Slaughter several times), and the big man was held to just seven points on 3 of 10 shooting.
Ateneo had an off-day for them at the foul line, shooting just 13 of 20 from the stripe, including missing a few that could have closed the Stags out earlier, but luckily for them, San Sebastian was even worse, with a 5 for 13 clip. They had managed better than 50 percent in the entire NCAA tournament.

Random Notes

As previously mentioned, Ateneo is no stranger to winning two in a row for a PCCL title. They did that against FEU and Adamson in the last two years.
Luckily for Abueva, the PCCL has no provisions for suspending players (something they ought to look into for next year), so he'll be able to make up for his antics on Thursday.

PCCL 2011: Finals - ADMU vs SSCR

PCCL 2011 - Battle for Third: SBC vs UC

2011-12-13T15:44:00.001+08:00

Three Up

With Garvo Lanete out the entire PCCL with a shoulder injury, it's been Rome Dela Rosa taking charge of the scoring, show a preview of the next NCAA season. He closed out his team's four-game stint with a 21 point, seven rebound performance, contributing to his strong tournament averages: 34.25 minutes, 18.25 points on 55.36 percent shooting, 4.75 rebounds, 3.25 assists, 0.5 steals and just 0.75 turnovers. While odds are he won't ever have to log that much playing time come Season 88, but it will be much easier for him to score, with Ola Adeogun attracting so much attention and Julius Armon helping to get him the ball.
San Beda head coach Frankie Lim calls it "San Beda basketball," and what that is is run and gun, up and down the court fast attack. In their losses to Ateneo and San Sebastian, the Red Lions normed just 7.5 fastbreak points and 12.5 turnover points. It's the complete opposite of how they thrashed University of Cebu. The Webmasters conceded 21.5 fastbreak points and 22.5 turnover points in their two losses to the NCAA champs, providing rival coaches plenty of "What not to do" footage for next year.
We finally got a glimpse of the Junemar Fajardo that was the subject of so much hype. Not the gimpy, injury struck version that played versus Ateneo, but the real deal. Fajardo went off for 24 points and 24 rebounds, while blocking three shots and looking dominant the whole afternoon. Sadly, his efforts were for naught as he was unable to get support from his teammates.

Three Down

After getting a game-best 25 points, aided by 7 of 12 outside shooting versus San Sebastian, Edward Pao registered no points in this game, missing all six of his shots, five coming from downtown. What made it so head-scratching was the fact that despite his inability to connect from anywhere on the field, Pao still played 39 minutes, and it's not as if his defense was solid (see what Rome Dela Rosa put up, above).
The number one thing for UC head coach Roel Gomez to work on when they get back to Cebu? Getting back on defense in transition. The Webmasters were scorched by the running game of the Manila teams, giving up on average, 20.75 fastbreak points and 19.25 turnover points (off an average of 15.75 turnovers). With Fajardo graduating, that means they'll have an even harder time getting offensive rebounds, which means more opportunities for teams to run on them.
Maybe I just overestimate Dave Marcelo, but with the lack of minutes, I would have expected him to get a ton more touches in the low post. Instead, the NCAA Finals MVP managed just 25.25 minutes, 5.5 points on 37.5 percent shooting, though he did norm three assists per game. Defensively, he was solid: 6.75 rebounds, 2.75 blocks, but being the smallest center of the four teams clearly prevented him from establishing himself down low.

Random Notes

~~This is the best finish for the Red Lions in the history of the PCCL.~~ (They made the Finals versus UE in 2006) History has not been kind to San Beda in the tournament, as injuries and graduation have often hit them the hardest, preventing them from flashing the depth that makes them so potent in the NCAA. Last season they were upset by La Salle in the Elite Eight, playing without their main point guard Borgie Hermida.
UC held constant at fourth place, which is where they finished last year. They were dropped by Ateneo in the Final Four as well, and then lost to La Salle in the battle for third.

PCCL 2011: Third Place - SBC vs UC

PCCL 2011 - ADMU vs SBC

2011-12-09T21:16:00.000+08:00

Three Up

After a fourth quarter that produced just a single point, the trio of Greg Slaughter, Nico Salva and Kiefer Ravena made sure that this time, their lead was not going away, dropping 16 of their team's final 21 points. Ravena, the Rookie of the Year in the UAAP, led the charge, scoring eight points in eight minutes, including a sick, mid-air put-back of a Greg Slaughter miss that started a 6-0 blast to finally put San Beda away.
Ateneo's big men sometimes forget to play up to their size, but they didn't in this game, scarfing up the caroms like they were going out of style, 37 to 21, 13 to 7 on the offensive glass, for a 14 to 4 advantage in second-chance points. Slaughter and Salva, the starting frontcourt, hauled down eight each, while guards like Tonino Gonzaga and Kirk Long got four a piece, plus an additional five courtesy of reserve big Justin Chua.
Sticking Tonino Gonzaga on the primary ball-handler was a stroke of genius by head coach Norman Black, as the shut-down defender harassed the likes of Anjo Caram and Baser Amer to no end. On several possessions, the Red Lions would only get into their set plays with 12 or 10 seconds left on the clock. Resulting in a 24-second violation or rushed shots. Towards the latter part of the game, San Beda was forced to resort to leaving two ball-handlers on the court, just to work around Zags.

Three Down

San Beda's big men were once again held in check by their larger counterparts. Kyle Pascual was 3 for 5 from the field for six points, along with four boards and two assists, while Dave Marcelo had the unenviable task of trying to guard Greg Slaughter, though on the other end, scored seven, to go with three boards and three dimes. With the offense centered on the San Beda shooters getting free for open looks, it's no wonder the big men vanished from time to time.
With the Eagles shooting 0 for 5 from beyond the arc, it's surprising the Red Lions didn't opt to try a zone defense, which is what threw Ateneo off against San Sebastian. Since the first Final Four match against UC, the outside shooting of Ateneo has been sorely lacking (5/23 combined in those two games against NCAA teams).
The more I see of the Gonzaga/Ravena backcourt, the more I like it. Many assumed that we'd have either Juami Tiongson or Nico Elorde at the point with Ravena at the two-spot, and while we haven't seen Elorde yet, Tiongson has been horrible this entire PCCL. He simply hasn't fully grasped the offense yet it seems, forcing Black to go with either Austria or Long at the point guard spot in crunchtime.

Random Notes

When Ateneo plays San Sebastian on Monday, they'll have to beat the Stags twice, if they win on December 12, they'll need one more victory on the 14th to be the PCCL Champs. This isn't the first time they've needed two straight to clinch the crown however. Back in the last two years, when the Finals was a best of three affair, Ateneo dropped the first game of series versus FEU (2009) and Adamson (2010), before bouncing back to raise the trophy.

PCCL 2011: ADMU vs SBC

PCCL 2011 - UC vs SSCR

2011-12-08T20:12:00.000+08:00

Three Up

It took three games, but the 6'10" Junemar Fajardo finally blocked a shot. That's right, Fajardo had not registered a swat in his first two games against Ateneo and San Beda, but was able to record three today, along with 20 points and 12 rebounds. More importantly, Fajardo didn't have to be the main cog of the UC offense, which made it tougher for the Stags to defend the Webmasters as a whole.
The Webmasters are pretty reliant on their three-point shot going in. In their first game against Ateneo, they were only 8 of 29 from downtown, a stat that increased to 11 of 30 versus San Beda. Versus San Sebastian, they attempted a whopping 41 triples, converting on 16 of them. Their outside shooting was highlighted by the duo of Edward Pao and Mohammad Robinson, who combined for 45 points, shooting 13 of 26 from outside the arc.
Point guard Brian Heruela has continued to impress, threatening to post a triple-double in each game. His combination of speed, heft, and shooting ability, lead to averages of 11.33 points, 9.33 rebounds, 7.67 assists and 1.33 steals, and he's been probably the team's most consistent player.

Three Down

Once again height did not exactly lead automatically to more rebounds, as the Stags managed to out-do the Webmasters on the boards despite the loss. They tallied 46 rebounds, 16 on the offensive end, versus the production of the Webmasters, 35 rebounds, 9 offensive.
After a record 10-low turnovers versus the Blue Eagles, San Sebastian went back to their old ways, making 23 miscues, closer to their 21.33 mistakes per game in the NCAA.
Save for a 28-point second quarter, the Stags were a mess on offense. They made just 16 of their 49 field goal attempts in the first, third and fourth quarters, scoring less than 20 points each time. They also managed just 16 free throws in that time, making only half.

PCCL 2011: UC vs SSCR

PCCL 2011 - SBC vs UC

2011-12-08T11:12:00.001+08:00

Three Up

A day after getting held to a mere two transition points, San Beda exploded for 27 in this game versus the University of Cebu, trampling them into the ground. That was important because the Webmasters were in a zone defense for most of the game, which they couldn't set up when they were lagging behind the run and gun Red Lions.
As the game went on (and the minutes piled on for the Webmasters on the short end of their tight rotation), the UC zone began to loose its effectiveness, as the NCAA champs adjusted and began to find the gaps where they could hit outside shots. After the team went 3 for 14 in the first half, they rebounded by hitting 9 of their 18 outside shots in the last twenty minutes.
After an abbreviated performance versus Ateneo in the previous day, Junemar Fajardo logged 38 minutes and produced a 24-point, 14-rebound assist, as the Red Lions were powerless to stop the big guy down low (save for a few stray blocks, that is). Despite not having the same lift and explosiveness he possessed in the CESAFI tournament, Fajardo showed some nice footwork, although he could have used a few more touches late in the game.

Three Down

San Beda's big men turned in a sub-par game, with Kyle Pascual and Dave Marcelo combining for six points and 12 rebounds. A combination of the zone and the intimidating Fajardo definitely played a role in the game, but you would have liked them to try to assert themselves down low, possibly by attacking Fajardo's defense and getting him into foul trouble.
Despite having the size advantage thanks to Fajardo (who played 38 minutes), UC oftentimes settled for the long-ball, attempting 30 triples and making just 11 of them. While Fajardo got 20 attempts, he only had one look at the foul line the entire game which says a lot about the aggressiveness of this UC squad.
Playing a depleted San Beda team, the University of Cebu opted against showing their depth by playing point guard Brian Heruela 40 minutes, and Fajardo and Edward Pao 38 minutes each. Ultimately, you could say the fatigue got to them, especially the outside shooters, as the Webmasters' percentage from outside fell from 9 of 20 in the previous three quarters, to just 2 of 10 in crunchtime.

Random Notes

The win over UC keeps San Beda alive, while eliminating the CESAFI champs from the Finals. If San Beda can upset Ateneo on Friday, it will forge an all-NCAA PCCL Finals, which would result in the first NCAA National Champion.

PCCL 2011: SBC vs UC