JUST how kagulo is UAAP Season 88?
Well, this ongoing men's basketball tournament is as competitive as it has been in recent history, offering more twists and turns than Enchanted Kingdom' Space Shuttle.
With all due respect to league-leader National U, there seems to be no clear-cut favorite to run away with the crown – one in line with our projections of this race being a wide open one, all while bucking preseason form charts and setting us up for a wild and wooly finish.
Of course, NU remains at the top of the standings at 7-2, but only three games separate it from current sixth-placer Ateneo, which is holding a 4-5 win-loss record and in the midst of a five-game slump.
Host University of Santo Tomas has also found itself in a rut, going on a three-game losing skid to drop from second to end Round 1 to, all of a sudden, fifth at 5-4.
The primary culprit in the Growling Tigers' untimely slump? Well, none other than coach Nash Racela and his no-longer-surprising Falcons, owners of the same 5-4 record, but also holding the tiebreaker due to Adamson's elimination round sweep of the black-and-gold.
Lest we forget preseason favorites University of the Philippines, winners in six of its last seven at 6-3, and La Salle, all even with the defending champions thanks to a four-game win run, who have both gotten back into their groove. These two teams, after all, have dueled in the previous two finals.
Even the last two teams remain dangerous draws for those chasing playoff spots.
Far Eastern University, at 3-6, has been competitive all season long, and winless University of the East (0-9) has shown that it can be a tough cookie to break from time-to-time.
A decade of dominance
Curiously, the last time the league came this close to a photo finish was a decade ago in Season 78 back in 2015.
Though the top two teams that season – eventual finalists UST and FEU – created breathing room with their identical 11-3 slates, teams ranked third to sixth - in the order of Ateneo (9-5), NU (7-7), and La Salle and UE (6-8) - were all separated by just three games.
The then-Racela-coached Tamaraws were out for a redemption tour that year, with Mac Belo, RR Pogoy, and Mike Tolomia driven to avenge their bridesmaid finish a season prior.
Kevin Ferrer and Ed Daquioag had also taken the mantle in leading the Bong dela Cruz-mentored Growling Tigers, together with graduating center Karim Abdul.
Kiefer Ravena and Von Pessumal were also playing their swansong for the Blue Eagles, then coached by Bo Perasol, while the Bulldogs came to the season as defending champions, with shot-caller Eric Altamirano relying on Gelo Alolino, Jjay Alejandro, and Alfred Aroga.
La Salle, under the watch of Juno Sauler, still had Jeron Teng and Jason Perkins, while the Derrick Pumaren-coached Red Warriors made the most of their all-Filipino lineup led by Chris Javier and Clark Derige.
Those were just the ones who actively chased Final Four spots.
Yet just like this year, the last two teams at the bottom of the standings that season were no pushovers, too.
Jett Manuel and Paul Desiderio anchored then-tactician Rensy Bajar's Fighting Maroons’ strong start to the season where they won their first two, while the Mike Fermin-coached Soaring Falcons were happy to play the spoiler role late, leaning on Papi Sarr and Jerome Garcia, while earning victories over La Salle and UE to dent their playoff hopes.
Both UP and Adamson finished with decent 3-11 records that year.
Looking back, that was one of the most exciting tournaments in recent memory that even if the Tamaraws and the Growling Tigers had set the pace, it was truly anybody’s ball game.
Will that be the case again this season? Who's saying no to that, right?
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