DEFENDING champion San Beda is set for a tough title defense opener when it tackles College of St. Benilde to kick off the NCAA Season 102 men's basketball tournament on September 13 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Red Lions and the Blazers are bunched in Group A, this season's so-called 'Group of Death,' alongside preseason favorite JRU and two teams with new head coaches in Chito Victolero's Mapua and Jamike Jarin's Lyceum.
Letran and Perpetual will kick off Group B action immediately after to complete the opening day double-header. Completing that group is Emilio Aguinaldo College, Arellano University and San Sebastian.
READ: San Beda, Letran banner opposite brackets for NCAA Season 102
While San Beda is coming with the tag of defending champion, coach Yuri Esceuta knows this season will be far from easy especially with the departure of super scorer Janti Miller to La Salle, and the graduation of now PBA rookies Yukien Andrada, Season 101 Finals MVP Bryan Sajonia and big man Joe Celzo.
Making things worse is the preseason ACL injury to star guard Nygel Gonzales who proved to be one of the best point guards in all of college last season - providing two-way stability for the Red Lions backcourt.
Despite that, Escueta is up to the task.
"Iyong offseason namin medyo challenging," Escueta admitted. "Di pa nagsstart yung title defense namin, na-injure na kagad yung starting point guard ko (Gonzales). Good thing lang na na-address namin early 'yon kasi we had to play in the offseason without him."
"Everyone's very positive, me as a coach, I'm confident sa team ko but we know it's going to be a challenge because all the teams got stronger," he continued.
The opening ceremony, set on Sunday, is so far the only weekend game for the league. Gamedays will be on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
All games will aire live and free on the One Sports Youtube channel and the Cignal app while select games will also air on Mondays and Thursdays on the RPTV Channel.
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