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| (Photo Credit: Filoil Flying V Sports) |
I remember feeling incredibly scared for the rest of the UAAP after that very same meeting between Ateneo and NU. An Ateneo team that featured Greg Slaughter, Nico Salva and Kiefer Ravena received quite the beating against Bobby Ray Parks and crew. It was difficult to imagine such a thing from happening. So much emotions were swirling inside my head.
Fast forward to a couple of months later and Ateneo and NU once again faced off, this time in the Mall of Asia Arena. A blowout was the result of this game, except this time, it was the Blue Eagles doing the beating to the Bulldogs. NU failed to even make it to the Final Four that very same year, despite running over competition during its Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup run.
Yesterday, the UP Fighting Maroons managed to eke out quite the victory against the FEU Tamaraws, coming back during the fourth quarter just in time to take the game away from the Tamaraws. Understandably, the UP faithful were overjoyed at what happened, some even mentioning that it was a statement victory by the Fighting Maroons.
Hold up for a second. It's not the right time just yet to use the s word. Statement. It's far too strong of a word for a win in the preseason, against a team that didn't even give its best players heavy minutes.
If anything, the win by UP should serve as a step in the right direction. Now the Fighting Maroons can somehow say, "Cool! We can somehow perform in the clutch." But, don't be surprised if they take a slight pause to also tell themselves, "It's just the preseason. There's so much more work to do."
That's the thing with the preseason. It's not meant to be the final product by any means. The point of the preseason is to give teams the chance to work things out and to experiment with particular plays, line-ups or what else for the sake of the real challenge: the regular season for a team's respective league.
Celebrate, sure. But remember: the preseason isn't the target. It's a stepping stone to reaching that summit which teams aim for come the regular season.
Let's head on to the rundown.
Hump day scores:
JRU Light Bombers def. UE Junior Warriors 78-73
SSC-R Golden Stags def. Arellano Chiefs 71-65
Letran Knights def. UST Growling Tigers 89-81 (OT)
Adamson Soaring Falcons def. Flying V Thunder 94-67
UP Fighting Maroons def. FEU Tamaraws 71-68
The Rundown
1. JRU managed to eke out a win against a UE team that's not expected to win any games in the UAAP season. Little reason to be excited for JRU faithful here.
2. San Sebastian looks very good. There were some hesitations early on with regards to their performance, but here they are now with five straight wins. They could very well be dark horse contenders come the NCAA season.
3. A Rey Nambatac-less Letran Knights still managed to win against UST. If you're Letran, you should be feeling very happy. If you're a UST fan.. well... here's a piece with everything that I feel about your team.
4. If you're an Adamson fan, you should be feeling very excited at how they've been performing thus far. They managed to thoroughly crush a Flying V Thunder team that's supposed to be a PBA D-League team. Sure, Flying V didn't have Jeron, but this is a big step in the right direction for Adamson.
5. UP looks like quite the deep team. We've been joking about how this team will be Desiderio-centric come the UAAP season, but guys like Jun Manzo, Ibrahim Quattara and the Gomez de Liano brothers can provide ample support for Paul.
6. There's plenty of reason to believe that FEU's holding things back for the preseason. The most minutes played by a Tamaraw in this game was just 24, and they're best player for the past two games in Arvin Tolentino has received limited minutes. Be extremely wary of this FEU team.
7. Speaking of Arvin Tolentino, it has been a joy to watch Born to Score do his thing. Here's a little #Throwback piece on him over at Humblebola.
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