CHICAGO - Whether Game Three of the UAAP Season 88 Finals this coming Wednesday ends up in victory or defeat, a certain sadness will cloud the La Salle basketball community.
And that's because, after five distinguished years as a student-athlete, the collegiate career of Michael Phillips comes to a close on December 17, 2025.
READ Finals newcomer Noy Remogat out to leave mark in do-or-die Game 3
While endings are an inherent part of life, predetermined dates are hardest to bear in the sense that it eliminates all hope while emphasizing the inevitability of loss.
It's like dying, we will all get there somehow, but do you really want to know exactly when?
SEE YA LATER, ALLIGATOR.
Only fate and the randomness of 40 minutes' worth of rivalry basketball will determine whether "Motor Mike" will have a sad send-off or a jubilant dismount.
Regardless, there will be lots of tears. The cry me a green river variety.
In an era where boatloads of monies from boosters of rich schools have turned star players into transferee mercenaries, Mike shunned temptation to become a poster child for Green Archer loyalty.
While at Taft, Phillips endured a global pandemic and a seismic coaching change that ushered in the Topex Robinson regime. Already a champion once, in Season 86, he wants to exit with a second ring.
The fighting Maroons are doing their best to deny Motor Mike. They held him to 15 points on a combined 3-of-10 shooting in Games One and Two, neutralizing him by defending La Salle's motion offense impeccably well.
UP's bigs, Gani Stevens and Sean Alter, have also done a fabulous job in preventing Phillips from feasting on second-chance points.
But at 6-foot-8 and 235 pounds, Mike is still a force in the middle, grabbing 23 rebounds to help La Salle control the boards 90-80 heading into Wednesday's rubber match.
MIGHTY MIKE.
The 23-year old defensive anchor will wake up on Thursday morning officially unattached to a team for the first time in a while.
But not for long.
Per multiple sources, the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards and the Abra Weavers of the MPBL are both pursuing Phillips, with one ballclub offering as much as P400,000 a month.
After impressing at the World University Basketball Series in Tokyo where he scored 30 points last August, Mike also has an offer as a world import in the Japan B.League, a gig that pays a minimum of US $10,000 a month.
Phillips's camp called these options "a good problem to have." At some point, his future will be discussed when he comes home to the US and the family will make a decision based on what's best for Mike," his camp told me.
For now, though, Motor Mike is revving up for Game Three, determined to leave everything on the floor.
Just as we've all imagined it to be.
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