BY ANDREI BARRANTES
BIG plans are being put into motion for Kieffer Alas.
It was a bittersweet run for the UAAP Season 87 juniors basketball tournament Most Valuable Player as La Salle-Zobel finished just outside of the Final Four with a 6-8 record, falling short of his goal of reaching the playoffs for the first time in his high school career.
But he can take solace in the fact that they competed, evident with their strong finish in the tournament.
“Okay naman, at least we ended with a bang kahit hindi kami nakapag final four. We ended on a winning streak naman, tapos God blessed me with this award nanaman,” Alas said after averaging 20 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 4.9 assists in the tournament.
The grind doesn’t stop for Alas though as he already has his offseason plans in place, starting with the Smart-NBTC 2025 All-Star Game where he captains Team Hustle opposite Perpetual’s LeBron Jhames Daep for Team Heart on April 5.
READ: Kieffer Alas ends UAAP Season 87 out of Final Four - but as presumptive MVP
And after that, Alas is headed to Australia with an undisclosed NBL team for a month-long training camp.
While he’s already one of the most promising young stars in the country today, he knows that he still has a lot to work on particularly on his conditioning.
“First off, yung stamina ko, because, siyempre, everyone there halos ka-height ko lang or ka-strength ko, so that’s gonna be a good improvement for me. My stamina and strength,” he said.
With still another season of basketball in high school to play, Alas saw those two facets of the game as key for sustaining his play.
“Nung season namin most of the teams were trying to have special defensive schemes, so syempre nakakapagod, so dapat masanay na din ako.”
Kieffer's NCAA dreams
But the overseas plans don’t stop there for Zobel’s prized guard.
Though no final decision has been made yet, there’s a possibility that Alas won’t return for La Salle next season.
“Not yet. Let's see. Wait for the announcement,” he said when asked for his next plans.
According to Alas, the big-picture for him is to test his arsenal in the United States and play for a school in the NCAA Division 1 to be exact, something he sees as his first option now though he’s considering every possibility for now in the offseason.
“I mean that’s my big dream eh, to play college sa States, so that’s the goal for now. First, to play college sa US, D1 [NCAA], and hopefully I get to play pro ball abroad,” he said.
“Pero as of now, yung mind ko is on yung senior year ko muna.”
And should the opportunity present itself, Alas has made it clear that he will go all-in, saying:
“I just wanna take the risk, so my first option is to go overseas. So if there’s a chance, I’m gonna take it, 100 percent.”
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