SAN BEDA’s title defense in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Season 102 men’s basketball tournament started off rocky in the offseason but that didn’t dampen coach Yuri Escueta’s belief in the Red Lions.
Following the tournament’s press conference at the Mall of Asia Arena on Monday, Escueta bared that the Red Lions faced multiple challenges after Season 101, including a hit in the defending champions’ lineup.
Still, Escueta is ‘satisfied’ with how the squad has been responding despite losing all of his starters from last year.
‘As a coach, I’m satisfied with our preparations, we’ve joined FilOil and Asiabasket and those are tournaments where we prepared ourselves,’ he said. ‘The offseason was quite challenging, and we had injuries, like starting point guard Nygel [Gonzales].’
Gonzales suffered an ACL injury during the offseason, Janti Miller switched ships from Mendiola to Taft with De La Salle and Bryan Sajonia, Joe Celzo and Yukien Andrada are all in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
On paper, San Beda is looking at a tough path toward back-to-back titles this season which opens on September 13 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Aside from their own roster woes, the NCAA’s landscape has changed dramatically over the past couple of months.
Lyceum of the Philippines University and Mapua University got some shots in their arms following the appointments of former PBA coaches Jamike Jarin and Chito Victolero.
There’s also the rejuvenated Letran Knights who will be bolstered by Titing Manalili, last year’s Rookie and Freshman of the Year awardee.
There will also be no shortage of dark horses for Season 102 with Jose Rizal University leading the pack under coach Nani Epondulan-the Heavy Bombers barely missed last year’s Final Four with a 6-7 card.
The NCAA Season 102 basketball games will air live and free on Cignal platforms via the ONE Sports Youtube Channel and the CignalPlay app.
Select games will also air on Mondays and Thursdays on the RPTV Channel. A dedicated channel to NCAA Content will also be launched in NCAA NXT channel 264 HD on Cignal prior to the opening.