CHICAGO -- The UAAP Season 87 title fell in good hands on Sunday when UP outlasted defending champion La Salle in a superbly entertaining three-game series.
But the Finals MVP trophy, a share of it at least, should have gone to Quentin Millora-Brown instead of being awarded solely to JD Cagulangan.
According to our tireless SPIN.ph colleague John Mark Garcia, the Finals MVP is picked by the winning coach, which in this case is Goldwin Monteverde.
READ Gilas? PBA? Quentin Millora-Brown plans to stay put, explore options
Given their coach-player history that has spanned years and several battles together, Monteverde's choice was predictable considering that the feisty guard averaged 13.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.6 steals against the Green Archers.
But if output and efficiency were strictly the only allegiances to behold in selecting a Finals MVP, Millora-Brown would have merited tremendous consideration.
Not only did QMB carry UP in Game One, he sealed the deal with two pressure-packed free throws in the final 11 seconds of Game Three. And he wasn't chopped liver in Game Two, either.
QMB DELIVERED BIG-TIME.
In three Finals games, QMB averaged a robust 14 points, 9 rebounds, 2.3 assists and one steal.
Unlike JD, who shot 14-of-50 from the field (28 percent) and 4-of-21 from three (19 percent) QMB was super efficient, hitting 16 of 25 shots (64 percent) while doing all the dirty work that required floor burns.
But like love and grief, there are no specific rules or templates to navigate when anointing a Finals MVP. Just as judges tend to do when crowning a Miss Universe or judging the best adobo, the subjective nature of contests prevails.
The things that JD brought to the team - his leadership, fearlessness, and scary roar of a warrior - made him the sensible choice as Finals MVP.
Which is not to say QMB doesn't possess any of those traits.
In the end, JD has been with the team way longer, and it was he whom the Fighting Maroons leaned on when things got real dicey in the crucible of a championship series.
So yeah, coach Monteverde was right to name JD as his Finals MVP. But picking QMB wouldn't have been wrong, either.
KQ TO KBL.
After so many denials, including a few terse ones that casually dropped "fake news," what I first reported last September that Kevin Quiambao was leaving for Korea was real news, after all.
KQ himself confirmed that today with a post on Instagram.
While I'm not here for vindication, I just want to remind our readers that I don't post on X or write anything in this space until it has been verified and corroborated multiple times.
I could have chosen to withhold that fact to prevent any "distraction" but in the news business, it would have been malpractice if I sat on it.
This Wednesday, I am told, Quiambao will fly to Korea to begin a professional journey that he hopes will take him to the NBA.
Make us proud, Kevin.
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