REMATCH, of course, is the biggest storyline in this upcoming UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball Finals duel between La Salle and the University of the Philippines.
The fierce rivals face off for the second consecutive season, with the Green Archers seeking a repeat, even as the Fighting Maroons try for redemption.
But there’s really more than meets the eye in this duel, with intertwined storylines peppered around protagonists.
Past history
Believe it or not, this will only be the third time in the Final Four era that these two teams face off post-eliminations.
The first was in Season 84 where UP, behind the brilliance of Carl Tamayo and Malick Diouf, stymied Justine Baltazar-led La Salle in the semifinals en route to its first crown since 1986.
Two seasons later, with a new coach in Topex Robinson calling the shots, the Green Archers earned vengeance and snared the championship in three games.
Robinson holds a personal 5-2 winning record against Goldwin Monteverde, the only coach to have a winning record against the decorated Fighting Maroons shot-caller.
Uncaged Bullpups
The most obvious, of course, is Kevin Quiambao taking on his high school coach and teammates.
Coming out of NU-Nazareth School, the soon-to-be crowned back-to-back Season MVP is bracing for round two against his ex-fellow Bullpups Gerry Abadiano, Terrence Fortea, Harold Alarcon, Reyland Torres, and Janjan Felicilda.
Together, they steered the Bullpups to back-to-back UAAP crowns in 2019 and 2020, as well as a pair of NBTC National titles under the guidance of Monteverde.
Of course, they’ve gone their separate ways upon high school graduation with KQ going by his lonesome to Taft while the others moved to Diliman.
Greener pastures
Teammates in high school, JD Cagulangan and Joshua David were together when they moved up from La Salle Green Hills to Taft for college.
The best friends even anchored the Greenies to the NCAA Season 93 juniors crown back in 2017.
But Cagulangan left for Diliman after just one season seeing minimal action, while David stayed put.
Since then, they’ve added respective seniors championships to their cupboards, but only one between Cagulangan and David will graduate as a two-time UAAP champion.
Youth potential
A testament to the prowess of these two basketball programs is the number of former Gilas Pilipinas Youth players they were able to recruit into their stable.
Fortea and Raven Gonzales (formerly Cortez) were together for coach Mike Oliver, as the Philippines won gold in the 2017 SEABA Under-16 Championship and placed fourth in the 2017 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship in Foshan, China.
Abadiano would soon join them for the 2018 FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Argentina, where the Kai Sotto-led Gilas Youth finished in 13th place.
Abadiano and Gonzales were also Gilas Youth teammates in the 2018 FIBA Under-18 Asian Championship in Thailand where the country ended up fourth, earning a ticket to the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup in Heraklion, Greece.
There, Quiambao and Fortea would join them as coach Sandy Arespacochaga guided the team to 14th place.
Rookies Jacob Bayla and Alex Konov were also teammates for coach Josh Reyes in the 2022 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship in Qatar where the Philippines ended up seventh.
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