WITH Letran’s early elimination and Benilde giving defending champion San Beda the boot, the historic NCAA Season 100 will mark the first time in 20 years that neither one of the two most successful schools in league history will be playing in the finals.
Instead, it will be the Blazers looking to end 24 years of futility against an equally hungry Mapua which hasn’t celebrated a title in 33 years in the finals of the centennial season starting this December 1 inside the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
READ: Mapua makes way back to finals after mowing down Lyceum
The change of scenery in the championship round is certainly a welcome sight, as the archrivals have long owned the biggest of stages and brightest of lights.
That being said, when both San Beda and Letran were absent from the main event, what was Philippine basketball like?
Long time coming
The last time there was no San Beda or Letran in the finals was back in 2004, or Season 80, where Philippine Christian University spearheaded by Gabby Espinas, Rob Sanz, and an 18-year-old Jayson Castro took down Perpetual bannered by Fritz Bauzon, Noy Javier, and Kiel Misa in two games to win the crown.
We would’ve even gone farther back had it not been for the Dolphins holding on in the overtime KO game of the semifinals, after Jonathan Aldave’s heroics allowed the Knights to steal a game from twice-to-beat PCU.
READ: Allen Liwag-led Benilde leaves no doubt in dethroning San Beda
The Red Lions, on the other hand, weren't the dynasty that we know today, but were nonetheless promising, as they made the Final Four as the fourth-seed under the guidance of a young yet already-brilliant coach named Nash Racela who would go on and taste collegiate success - albeit in a different league a decade later.
A legendary career’s worth of waiting
The wait for new protagonists in the NCAA finals has gone on for so long that one of the stars in that 2004 championship round has already gone through a legendary career until it happened again.
Castro, who wasn’t even the main man for the Dolphins during that time (though he was already included in that year’s Mythical Team), has already etched his name in Philippine basketball history with what he’s done in the PBA with TNT, and for the Philippines in the Gilas Pilipinas program.
After Season 80, Castro played two more years for PCU – earning two more Mythical Team selections before winning three PBL MVPS, as well as nine titles, three Finals MVPs, and five Best Player of the Conference awards in the PBA.
Even more, he starred in the country’s renaissance on the world basketball stage, became the best point guard in Asia, and went on to become “The Blur” fans know and love today.
That’s how long it’s been since the last time we’ve seen other schools competing for the championship which aren't San Beda or Letran.
Father Time
Speaking of individual greatness, that season saw Espinas become the NCAA's first-ever rookie MVP.
From there, the NCAA has since awarded three more rookie MVPs when Sam Ekwe debuted for the Red Lions (more on that later), Allwell Oraeme did it again for the Cardinals in 2015, and the Knights' Rhenz Abando got feted with the same award in 2022.
While Espinas didn’t have the legendary career Castro had, he nonetheless had a solid 13-year PBA tenure and he continues to take names in the MPBL to this day.
To top it all off, Espinas – the Rookie of the Year back then – now already has a kid playing in the UAAP high school boys tournament.
The coaches who will be leading the two teams were also in different situations, with Randy Alcantara just a few years removed from his days with Mapua himself, and then playing for the San Juan Knights in the now-defunct Metropolitan Basketeball Association.
And Benilde’s Charles Tiu? There’s a big chance he was still playing Passerelle ball for Xavier at that point in time.
Dynasties, controversial rule changes, global pandemic
Speaking of Ekwe, everything changed in the NCAA two years from his arrival.
The hulking giant from Nigeria would lead San Beda to the first of its three three-peats, (2006-2008) marking the start of the most dominant run for any school in any collegiate league.
The Red Lions would score a historic five-peat (2010-2014) and another three-peat (2016-2018) before proving they can also do it without foreign student-athletes (FSAs) by winning it all last year.
The Knights also built their own dynastic squad in that stretch, winning an unconventional three-peat through a global pandemic in Seasons 95, 97, and 98.
The wait was so long that the NCAA has seen the rise of FSAs, altering the manner of recruitment as well as the very fabric of how the collegiate game is played today, before pulling the plug on it all.
The 1 in 17-1
Since that fateful meeting between PCU and Perpetual in 2004, San Beda has hoisted the trophy 12 times, while Letran has claimed five crowns.
The only other team to win one in that stretch? Calvin Abueva and Jimbo Aquino-led San Sebastian.
Fifteen years ago, the Golden Stags took down the mighty REd Lions in a memorable finals showdown which saw the introduction of the fiery Abueva to the consciousness of mainstream fans.
And it was only fitting for San Sebastian to put a stop to San Beda’s consecutive championships, as without this win, Turo Valenzona's record of five straight NCAA titles with the Golden Stags would’ve been smashed with the way things were going for the Red Lions.
Had San Sebastian missed out in 2009, San Beda could’ve gone on and won nine straight championships – with its Ato Badolato-led high school program supplying local stars, while complimenting them with some of the best FSAs at that time from Ekwe all the way to Sudan Daniel to Ola Adeogun.
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