The UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball tournament officially enters the Final Four on Wednesday, and here’s what to expect as the postseason begins.
Final Four returnees University of Santo Tomas, La Salle and defending champion University of the Philippines headline the field behind top-seeded National U, which secured the No. 1 spot after a breakthrough run in Season 88.
The Season 88 men’s basketball Final Four tips off Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. when La Salle and NU open the round. UP and UST follow at 4:30 p.m.
From the get-go, the Bulldogs already cemented themselves as the title favorites for this year’s UAAP race. In fact, they were the first team to clinch both a playoff berth and a twice-to-beat advantage with an 11-3 record.
UP, the defending kings of the UAAP, however, had lagged compared to NU, but the Fighting Maroons’ championship experience almost left no doubt that they would reach the Final Four.
They finished with a 10-4 card-also sufficient for the last twice-to-beat incentive.
The UST Growling Tigers, meanwhile, had a rocky elimination round. After starting the season at 5-1, coach Pido Jarencio and company went on a four-game losing slide.
Still, UST’s hot start gave them the cushion they needed, ending the eliminations with an 8-6 record.
La Salle probably had the hardest trip to the Final Four.
The Green Archers, at one point in the tail end of the season, were caught in a logjam for the final playoff spot with Ateneo and Far Eastern University.
So when La Salle took on its rival in the last day of eliminations, the Archers made sure not to leave any stones unturned, booting out the Blue Eagles and the Tamaraws at the same time to end up with an 8-6 card.
Surprise pairing: No 1. NU vs No. 4 La Salle
Things are quite different for the Green Archers this season.
Entering the Final Four may be a usual sight for them, sure, but being on the lower end of it with a twice-to-beat disadvantage? Now that’s not a sight La Salle usually sees.
On the other end of the match-up is the best team in Season 88: the NU Bulldogs.
NU coach Jeff Napa has successfully unleashed the talents of his roster, whether it be from the starting lineup or the reserves list.
In fact, the Bulldogs are 2-0 against the Green Archers, taking an 82-78 win in the first round and a 75-67 victory in the next.
In both those outings, one name proved to be pivotal for NU and no, it wasn’t Jake Figueroa or Steve Nash Enriquez. It was Paul Francisco, one of the Bulldogs’ main gunners, who flourished whenever NU took on La Salle.
He scored 14 in their second round win against the Season 87 finalist and 13 in the first meeting.
Figueroa will still be a marked man come the playoffs. After all, he averaged 13.93 points, 7.21 rebounds, 3.93 assists and 2.14 steals per game in the elimination round.
Meanwhile, Mike Phillips is the obvious answer to the question of who La Salle will rely on after averaging a double-double of 12.79 points and 14.93 rebounds per game.
However, another vital piece to the puzzle is Jacob Cortez, who is no stranger to facing a twice-to-win predicament before he moved to La Salle.
‘We’re excited to go against NU. All I can say is we’ll take it one game at a time. I’ve been there before when I had to beat a team twice,’ he said, pertaining to his last stint with San Beda in NCAA Season 99 where they had to beat Lyceum twice in the semis.
The former Red Lion standout normed a team-high 14.21 points per game and as the leading playmaker for coach Topex Robinson, he will be someone to look out for.
Same, same, but different: That’s how the other bracket of the Final Four looks with UP and UST going at it again for the second straight year.
Lke last year, UST has to take on a UP squad equipped with a twice-to-beat advantage.
UST, though, opened its Season 88 campaign with an 87-67 rout of the Fighting Maroons. It was a new sight for the Tigers, who weren’t able to win one game against UP last year.
Nic Cabañero and company, however, fumbled a close one in their next meeting with UP in the second round of eliminations, 89-88.
Cabañero and Forthsky Padrigao are both in their final years for UST, and they don’t want to commit the same mistakes they made last year.
‘We’re just embracing the pressure and controlling what we can control. We’re focused on the games one at a time,’ Cabañero told the Inquirer.
The sniper out of España will attract UP’s defense after averaging one of the highest points per game in the league with 16.79. Alongside him, of course, is gritty playmaker Padrigao, who on average dished out 5.15 assists in 14 games.
There’s also Collins Akowe, UST’s newest resident foreign student-athlete, who averaged 16.43 points and 14.5 rebounds a night-a tough cover for UP’s Francis Nnoruka, who posted 12.57 points and 9.07 boards a game.
Nnoruka will be backed by UP’s vets, namely Harold Alarcon and Gerry Abadiano, who wreaked havoc for the Maroons in their elimination round games.
The Maroons will also be enjoying the services of former UE standouts Rey Remogat and Gani Stevens for the first time in a playoff setting.