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UAAP - August 2004
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POSTSCRIPT
King of
the sky. The Ateneo Blue Eagles smothered the Adamson Falcons yesterday, 83-63,
to surge ahead to solo first place in the UAAP. Not much to be said, cos the
Falcons were like lame ducks waiting to be thrashed by the Eagles. I guess all
those Adamson believers who had them at #3 at the start of the season are
licking their sorry asses right now. As for Ateneo--yeah, it's always about
Ateneo--they bounced back pretty well from their disheartening loss to archrival La Salle
last week. Burying the opponent by 20 is definitely a "pretty good" way to
rebound from a loss. Their next opponent is UP, which is on a 5-game winning
streak punctuated by that victory over FEU, on Thursday. I think that that victory
over FEU is indeed the punctuation of their remarkable run. I see them
succumbing to ADMU big time. You call
that commentary? I was really pissed off by the commentary in yesterday’s game.
Boom Gonzales is such an asshole whenever he says 15th parallel.
Man, you don’t call that 15th parallel, you call that free throw
line, charity stripe, 4.5 meter line, anything but 15th parallel.
What the fuck’s wrong with you?! He thinks he’s so great but all he actually
has is a good voice—his diction sucks, much more his verb tenses. And guess who
the fuck did the game with him? It was your uncle Ferdinand’s grandson, TJ
Manotoc. I mean, fuck the guy, I so fuckin’ hate him. He’s nothing more than a
metrosexual faggot. He’s not even supposed to do UAAP games. He gives fuckin’
monikers to players like he’s some kind of a sports demigod or something. He
called Dorian Pena D-Pen. What the fuck? And he called Jobe Job-N yesterday.
What the shit’s wrong with this guy? He even asked Boom to use that moniker for
the rest of the tournament. I bet the shithead calls himself T-Man. He should
just leave the moniker giving to the sports commentary icons, like Quinito and
Sev. What the fuck’s wrong with basketball commentators nowadays? Hans
Montenegro was doing PBA games and I don’t even think he knows how to play
basketball. Vito Lazatin covered the NBA Finals and he doesn’t even know what
he’s saying. I’ve already taken a shot at Boom and TJ. Fuck, twas Chino
Trinidad who started this new breed of shitheads/sportscasters. He thinks he
knows all and couldn’t even call the game impartially; he gives opinions that aren’t
even humble opinions at that. Shithead. Blow out! Ateneo bounced back from its first setback of the season by thrashing UST, 77-62. Not much drama cos the game was already decided by the 2nd quarter. In any case, it was a great way to bounce back from a loss. I was afraid that the team' would go on a losing skid, but it was good that they didn't. The blow out win was also a message to other teams that Ateneo is still #1, and that one loss won't derail them from utterly dominating the season. A great tune-up for the La Salle game next Sunday.
The Future. Ateneo rookie Japeth Aguilar got some minutes against UST. And he did not disappoint. The kid exploded to the rim on his first touch, barely missing a dunk that got the crowd off their seats. He did get to slam one home on the next opportunity, and baby was it pretty! On the defensive end, he was swatting shots like ping-pong balls. If you though KG Canaleta and Arwind Santos were great shotblockers, I tell you, they're nowhere near Japeth.
The Last Ateneo-La Salle? The most celebrated rivalry in Philippine college basketball is set on Sunday, August 22. It could potentially be the last meeting between the two this season--and my stay in Ateneo. I'd really love to watch the game in Araneta, but chances are I can't. In any case, the forthcoming meeting will be a different one from the July 11 game. Larry Fonacier carried the team all the way back from 17 points down in the 3rd quarter en route to a 75-72 win. This time however, there will be no Larry. Another big difference from the opener: La Salle was touted as one of the top 2 teams in the offseason while Ateneo was ranked lowly at #4.Now: Ateneo is #1 at 8-1, and La Salle is struggling in a three-way tie for 3rd at 4-4. The only way for another Ateneo-La Salle game to take place if La Salle would wound up in 4th and face Ateneo in the Final Four. Another scenario is if Ateneo would slip to #2 and La Salle ends up at #3. As it stands now, ADMU will play either UST, Adamson, or UE in the Final Four, while DLSU will match up against FEU. From what I saw last Saturday, FEU blowing away DLSU, I doubt that another Ateneo-La Salle Finals--or even FInal Four--is in the works.
7-0 boy! The Ateneo Blue Eagles completed their first round sweep of the 67th UAAP season with a thrilling 67-64 victory over defending champions FEU. Once again, LA Tenorio played the hero's role, cramps and all, sinking the game-winning three with 24 ticks left, giving the Eagles the decisive 65-62 lead. Chris Tiu then made 2 free throws following an FEU basket to finalize the count. LA for MVP? With his second game-winner in three games, LA has cemented his status as one of the UAAP's finest clutch performers--and in the process has separated himself from the merely good collegiate players. In addition, he has put up consistent numbers through the entire season, averaging 12 points, 5.6 assists, 5.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals in a league-leading 31.1 minutes per game. If I were to pick the mid-season MVP, I'd definitely say Tenorio. But, based on numbers alone, it seems that the popular choice would be FEU's Arwind Santos, solely because he fills the stats sheet with points, boards, and blocks. Well, that's the dilemma of being a point guard, all the bringing-up-the-ball and setting-up-plays count for nothing. Remember when Jason Kidd lost out to TD in the 2003 NBA season? Or when Mike Cortez was edged by Rico Villanueva in the 2002 UAAP? (Though I think both were justified.) Well, maybe this is the year when a point guard would finally take home the MVP trophy--and bring the championship along with it. All the way, baby! What happened to all those pre-season predictions saying that a FEU-DLSU finals was imminent. Last time I checked, DLSU was beaten by lowly UE, and are in a three-way log jam for 3rd with UST and UE at 4-3, with Adamson only a game back. And as of this writing, Ateneo just whipped the pre-season favorites FEU, burying them by as much as 16 points, before Sandy (Arespacochaga) decided that it was time to let the boys play--t'was Bajjie time (I wonder why nobody's calling him by his real name--Joy; and why does "Bajjie time" have to last for 2 full quarters?). In any case, at 7-0, Ateneo is the only team that is mathematically capable of sweeping the entire season (damn, obviously so!). I just hope they won't lose the motivation they got from losing Larry, cos there's still long ways to go in the season. But who cares? We're gonna worry about that when we have to. Right now, all signs point to one direction--the championship, baby! Yeah, baby! We're gonna go all the way! Right on the money. So far, so good. My pre-season predictions are looking good, really good. Except for one very welcome miscue: I said AdMU would be #2, but they're 7-0--yeah!--and comfortably atop the leaderboard... UST beat Adamson last Saturday, just as I said they would--sticking another one up Menor-baby’s ass! I reckoned that UST will edge AdU for a Final Four slot. After the game, I still do... As much as I dislike La Salle, I think they're gonna hold on to a Final Four berth--after all, they did beat FEU and gave Ateneo a scare... UE? I don't even wanna talk about them. Let's just say they got lucky against Adamson and La Salle. Fact is, they were blown away by AdMU and FEU--and that's what really matters... Wait, what the hell am I talking about, anyway? The Final Four? There might not even be a Final Four. For all I know, Ateneo could finish the season undefeated. That way I'll gladly--in fact, even ecstatically--admit that I wasn't right on the mojos. Unbeatable! The Ateneo Blue Eagles pulled off an improbable come from behind win on Saturday to beat the Adamson Falcons, 58-55, and stay undefeated in the 2004 UAAP season. Playing their first game without ace Larry Fonacier, AdMU overcame a 20-point deficit in the first half to win their 5th game in 5 tries, moving one win shy of tying the school record for the best start set by the 1988 team that eventually won the championship.
One for the ages. In what I consider as one of the best wins in Loyola history--emotionally-charged due to Larry's injury--Ateneo once again stomped their utter dominance of the young 67th UAAP season. They beat Adamson, La Salle's tormentor 2 weeks ago, sending a message that they are the team to beat--not DLSU, not AdU, maybe not even FEU (we'll see on Sunday). The win kept Adamson winless against Ateneo for 7 years, somewhat telling Adamson that they were already lucky to snap a losing skid against La Salle, they shouldn't expect themselves to be as lucky against Ateneo. Ateneo looked lost in the first half as they were eaten alive by Adamson, trailing by double-digits through most of the first half. Like the game against La Salle in the season opener, it seemed that the game was already lost at lemon time (I dunno why the hell they call it "lemon time"). But as I've already said before, Ateneo is Ateneo. The AdMU de facto Big Three of LA Tenorio, Magnum Membrere, and JC Intal led the charge as the Eagles played a masterful second half, as they erupted for 30 points while limiting the Falcons to a measly 5 points in the 3rd and 6 points in the 4th (I think they held Adamson scoreless thru 12 minutes or so). Intal scored all his 13 points in the 2nd half, and gave Ateneo their first lead of the game with an emphatic dunk midway in the final quarter. Damn, twas really good to watch your team come back like that--yeah, I was really euphoric for much of the 2nd half.
The Shot. With the score tied at 55 apiece, JC stole the ball from Mark Abadia--probably thinking he was Michael Jordan--with 28 seconds left. As the Eagles ran the clock to 4 seconds, LA Tenorio went to his trademark step-back three and.. Butter!! Game over!! Straight to the heart of the Falcons! Straight to Larry's TV set--yeah, as LA said afterwards, "this one's for Larry!" Straight up my ego, cos I always said Adamson would never beat Ateneo! And I almost forgot, straight up Dominic Menor's ass! What ever happened to your stupid predictions? It's all down the drain, boy! You're not as good as me, kiddo, not even half the man I am.
Close games. The weekend featured a handful of down-the-wire games, as FEU edged NU in overtime, with Arwind Santos and Rey Mendoza trading baskets in the extra period; UST sneaked past UE in a lucky shot by Pribhdas; and DLSU came from behind to beat UP. In fact, all 4 games last weekend was decided by 3 points or less. The best, the Ateneo-Adamson game, was the one decided with the widest margin.
Poor officiating. I'm really pissed off with this season's officiating. The referees are too whistle-happy. They call too much touch fouls, blocking/charging, and technicals. I mean, they should really let the players play. Some charging/blocking calls are better off as no-calls, like what they do in the big leagues--the semi-circle indicates a no-call for charges. The foul called against NU in the final seconds of their game against FEU was just blatant bullcrap--I mean, the guy barely touched the opponent. I know that Asoro was stupid enough to attempt a foul, but it didn't connect, so why call it? The sad thing is, it doesn't only occur in endgames, but through the entire 40 minutes--in Filipino parlance, "nana yung mga tawag." Also, the rule of awarding two free throws for technical infractions is totally uncalled for. I mean, a technical foul is already counted as a personal, ain't that disadvantage enough? There are plenty of flaws regarding UAAP officiating. They should really clean up and get their acts together, cos watching the games with that kind of officiating is both frustrating and boring. Hey mister, where'd you put all those great UAAP articles?
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