The season starts in a couple of days, and teams are surely preparing hard for the grand chase to the Championship. The parity for the league this year is practically unheard of, with nearly every team being contenders not only for a Final Four spot, but also for the championship.
For my preview and predictions for each team, I will predict the team's standing (meaning the place that they will be in), and the different developments that I expect to see from the team as the season rolls on. I will also list down the key players for the team's run to the Final Four, and the players who we should watch out for developmental wise (rookies and bench players fall under this category).
We'll be analyzing the seemingly confusing De La Salle Green Archers.
Most people recognize him as a baby face, but he is far more than that. He shined as a top scorer in the juniors NCAA while playing for LSGH. In college though, he hasn't exactly been that much of a super scorer. Despite that though, he has been an incredibly productive player. Expect him to see more minutes with LA Revilla still coming off an injury, and after playing well during the preseason.
We'll be analyzing the seemingly confusing De La Salle Green Archers.
De La Salle Green Archers
Season 75 Record: 9 - 5
Head Coach: Juno Sauler
Lingering Question: Can they get out of this SMC Coaching Rigodon?
Preseason analysis:
Let's just say that the preseason of La Salle was a dream turned into a nightmare heading into the UAAP season. From being sure fire finals contenders, all of a sudden they are faced with uncertainty heading into the season. La Salle went unbeaten for the first few games in the Filoil tournament, and they looked poised to contend for the upcoming UAAP season. They lost to UE after a couple of games though, but it was no cause of concern. Then all of a sudden, things started to go wrong. A certain Phenom burned the Archers for 31 points despite the Phenom's team being down to only 10 men. Then, La Salle relinquished a 10 point lead against a certain Lion during the fourth quarter of their quarterfinals match up. Things got worse when they got stuck in the SMC Coaching Rigodon. All of a sudden, they are down to three big men, after one of their big men got an ACL, and another left the team.
Season 76 Predictions:
As I said, La Salle's story for this year is slowly turning to a dream turned nightmare. They are still one of the deepest and biggest teams in the league despite the losses of Papot Paredes and Yutien Andrada. They still have three giants in Norbert Torres, Arnold Van Opstal and Jason Perkins (he may be small in terms of height, but he is strong). Expect La Salle to dominate the glass most of the time since they can parade a front line with a combination of Torres and Perkins. The front court of La Salle seems set, but the back court, well, not so much.
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| Jeron Teng will have to diversify his offensive repertoire if he wants to succeed this season. (credits to ph.sports.yahoo.com) |
The scoring for the back court will be a bit of a problem. LA Revilla will always be there, he may have a more difficult time slashing because of the bigger big men in the league today. The rest of the back court isn't too promising also. Luigi De La Paz can be streaky, plus he's coming off an injury. Thomas Torres and Oda Tampus aren't exactly super scorers. Bolick well, he hasn't done too well. Gab Reyes is quite inconsistent. Jeron Teng, well, we can say that he's already checked (just watch the Ateneo game, plus his numbers have dipped).
The pressure is definitely on them. As a core, this is their first time to be faced with this much pressure. They won't respond to it as well as people would expect them too, so I predict this season to be a disappointing, at least by how people hype them up, season for them.'
Key players:
Of course, Jeron Teng will be the focal point of La Salle's offense despite his early struggles. Manning the front court for the Green Archers are Norbert Torres, Jason Perkins and Arnold Van Opstal. Leading the charge for La Salle's back court are Almond Vosotros and LA Revilla, while helping their cause will be Oda Tampus.
Players to watch out for:
I won't include Kib Montalbo in this list just yet just because I project him to end up in the bench for the mean time. Babes Bolick is promising, but he'll be getting limited minutes for now. One player we should watch out for is sophomore Thomas Torres.
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| Thomas Torres will look to slowly move up the ranks as a point guard. (credits to pinoyexchange.com) |
Most people recognize him as a baby face, but he is far more than that. He shined as a top scorer in the juniors NCAA while playing for LSGH. In college though, he hasn't exactly been that much of a super scorer. Despite that though, he has been an incredibly productive player. Expect him to see more minutes with LA Revilla still coming off an injury, and after playing well during the preseason.
Another player we should watch out for is Gab Reyes. He is a high flying sophomore out of the De La Salle Zobel program. He didn't get much minutes last year, but during the preseason he proved his worth as a reliable spark off the bench. He will definitely be of good help for La Salle, especially when Jeron Teng starts to come out cold.
Place by the end of the season: 4th (Final Four)
Despite all my fears though, I still expect them to reach the Final Four. That will still be a disappointment because most people expected them to be a surefire Finals contender. As of this moment though, there is still uncertainty regarding their status as a Final Four contender. Jeron Teng will have a sophomore slump, and his lack of offensive moves (especially a jump shot). LA Revilla will try to will this team, but it may not end up as enough. The pressure on them is insane, and they will falter because of that.
The next team that will be analyzed are the NU Bulldogs.
The next team that will be analyzed are the NU Bulldogs.
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