LETRAN kicks off its campaign in Group B of the NCAA Season 101 men’s basketball tournament, as it tackles young and promising Jose Rizal University in the main game of the Friday double-header at the Playtime Filoil Centre in San Juan.
Tip-off is at 2:30 p.m., as the Knights look to live up to their preseason hype and spoil the debut of new Heavy Bombers head coach Nani Epondulan.
With the new format this tournament, every win counts – especially in the so-called ‘Group of Death,’ with these two teams grouped with favorites San Beda and St. Benilde, as well as always-dangerous Emilio Aguinaldo College.
READ: Championship or bust in Letran Knights' second crusade under Ricardo
The Red Lions already got a leg-up, beating the Blazers in the opener to take early leadership of Group B.
“The idea is you’re trying to improve your team, game by game, hanggang makuha mo yung right peak,” Letran coach Allen Ricardo said.
“Ang ganda rin ng format e. Lahat naman ng teams, especially sa Letran, ang gusto natin mangyari is to be in the top two to have an advantage. Again, sa ganda ng format, we’ll figure it out as it goes.”
The Knights will certainly be favored in this match-up with an intact core and several new faces joining the crusade led by the brilliant Titing Manalili and the PBA-bound Jun Roque and Mark Omega.
Epondulan, on the other hand, will be leaning on a young core led by former NCAA juniors standouts Sanlea Penaverde and Sean Salvador.
Altas, Stags clash in opener
In the opener, Perpetual and San Sebastian eye good starts to their respective campaigns in Group A action.
While viewed by many as the ‘easier’ group, that notion might was dispelled right away when Lyceum pushed defending champion Mapua in the opener, with the Cardinals squeaking past the Pirates in double-overtime, 90-89.
Altas coach Olsen Racela knows that this current format puts them in a favorable position to get an advantage come the quarterfinals, and that’s why this game against a fellow team on the rebuild like the Golden Stags is so important.
“It seems that this format gives everyone a fair chance of making it to the next round and even winning a championship,” he said.
“Every game is going to be important lalo na sa ganitong klaseng format, so we’ll try to get as many wins as possible.”
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