LAST year, Gani Stevens knew he could pick his spots with Quentin Millora-Brown at the head of the attack for the University of the Philippines frontline.
But now without QMB, the 6-foot-7 banger will be thrust into that spot as the Fighting Maroons' presence in the paint come UAAP Season 88.
And you bet, Stevens is embracing this bigger responsibility in Diliman.
"I know the role I have to take for this team for us to do well. And just for myself, I know how I want to play and the leaps and strides I want to make as a player. I want to make that next jump, that next leap," the 20-year-old Fil-Am said.
"Then also, I have to do that to benefit my team which is most important."
Stevens admitted that he caught himself frustrated at times in different parts of last season due to his lack of minutes or his performance once on the court.
But in those times of weakness, he just leaned on his peers knowing the bigger prize State U was out to get.
"I just got to be a team player because I can't be negative. That's only going to hurt me and hurt the team," he reflected. "I just had that mindset going in like I know I won't get the minutes as much, I won't get the playing time, but to win the championship, it's always worth it."
Holding down the Fighting Maroons' fort
Having learned a lot from his first year in maroon-and-green and also banging bodies with the likes of Millora-Brown and Francis Lopez in training, Stevens is primed to be a double-double threat for UP now in its title defense.
He already put on display his inside impact in the Playtime Cares Filoil EcoOil 18th Preseason Cup, putting up per game counts of 8.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.4 assists, as they claimed a historic third straight championship.
Couple Stevens' emergence with promising newcomer Francis Nnoruka and solid bigs Sean Alter and Mark Belmonte, and the Fighting Maroons are confident that a frontcourt that lost all of QMB, Lopez, Aldous Torculas, and Seven Gagate won't prove to be their Achilles heel.
"I just know where I got to be, how I got to play," he said. "Watching Q, watching some of the other bigs, and how the standard I need to hold myself, that's just kind of what I got from him. And I'm ready for it and that's the plan."
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