THE NCAA Season 101 men’s basketball tournament may look like a wide-open race from the outside looking in, but all the coaches agree on one thing – this is still Mapua’s title to lose.
Opposing coaches believe that the title will still go through the reigning champion even after shock departures in the offseason saw the Cardinals lose core players Chris Hubilla and Lawrence Mangubat to JRU.
“Siyempre hindi papayag ang Mapua na makuha sa kanila yan,” Arellano coach Chico Manabat said.
“I think Mapua pa rin. Championship experience, Clint Escamis is an MVP iba pa rin yung na-gain nilang experience from last season,” new JRU coach and former Mapua assistant Nani Epondulan added.
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St. Benilde’s Charles Tiu, who missed out on his first NCAA title last year against the Cardinals, knows better than to look past this squad even after an inconsistent preseason where they missed out on the Filoil Ecooil Preseason Cup playoffs despite the addition of new players Cyrus Nitura, Cyril Gonzales, Joe Gulapa and Drex Delos Reyes.
“The team to beat obviously is Mapua. Petiks lang sila sa preseason, pero pagdating ng season bigla silang nag-iiba,” Tiu said while keeping his eyes on other teams, particularly Letran and San Beda for beefing up their rosters.
Perpetual coach Olsen Racela acknowledged that a lot of teams got better this year, the Altas included, with the eligibility of Patrick Sleat and LA Casinilo to their squad.
“If I have to choose one team, it’s still Mapua. Sabi nga ni coach Yuri [Escueta], nagpalakas lahat, pero nagpalakas din ang defending champion sa recruits nila. Mapua will still be the team to beat,” he said.
Mapua coach Randy Alcantara, as expected, brushed aside the favorites tag.
“Sa 'kin talaga lahat naman malakas this season, lahat pwede mag-champion this season,” Alcantara said. “Siguro nagiging humble lang itong mga fellow coaches.”
New format, new hope
While they are all in agreement with the title favorite, these coaches are pretty optimistic of their chances with the grouping and the play-in phase.
Because of the extended playoff phase, all these teams have to do is to aim for a solid position in the elimination phase and take it from there.
The top two teams of each group will get a twice-to-beat advantage in the crossover quarterfinal phase, while there will be no more twice-to-win disadvantage for the teams in the semis as it will be a best-of-three.
“The beauty of the new format gives everyone the chance to be able to have a crack at winning a championship this season,” San Beda coach Yuri Escueta said.
In this format, even the lowest ranked teams in each group will have a chance to advance ‘til the very end as the bottom two teams from each group will be meeting in the play-in.
“Ever since di pa nakakapasok ang EAC sa Final Four. I’m just hoping that with this new format, baka ito na ang chance namin,” EAC head coach Jerson Cabiltes said
“Talaga namang malalakas ang each team, unfortunately for us yung mga title favorites we’re gonna face them twice in the elimination,” Cabiltes added, pointing to groupmates Letran, St. Benilde and San Beda. “Siguro, we're just gonna have to prepare double time to beat them.”
For Racela and Manabat – two coaches who missed out on the playoffs last year, they’re gonna be making the most out of this opportunity.
“Siguro sa amin sa baba, yung consistency naman, andito naman kami para agawin sa kanila yun,” Manabat said.
“Katulad nga ng sinabi ni coach Jerson and coach Chico, susubok na lang kami,” Racela added.
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