(Photo Credit: Janine Torre, The GUIDON) Against the JRU Heavy Bombers, Troy Mallillin finally made his much awaited debut as a Blue Eagle. Just seeing him in uniform was already enough for fans of the Blue Eagles to go wild. Seeing a NCAA Juniors MVP wear an Ateneo jersey feels weird, for any fan. Seeing a former La Salle Greenhills player wear the blue and white? It's like an Ateneo High School boy wearing a La Salle jersey. Oh.. wait... Obviously, any Atenean is brimming with excitement right now after managing to secure (or is it really secure?) the services of the former NCAA Juniors MVP. But what else are the other implications of Troy Mallillin taking his talents to Katipunan? Let's break it down: In the short term Right now, don't expect Troy to get a lot of minutes. As mentioned before , Ateneo is filled with a number of forwards in Mike Nieto, Vince Tolentino and Raffy Verano. Shaun Ildefonso is no longer in that fray of forwards after taking his talen...

The Ateneo Blue Eagles managed to escape against the De La Salle Green Archers, 80-78, with the entire team managing to chip in enough for the team. Saving the day for the Blue Eagles was Thirdy Ravena, who hit a three-pointer late in the game to give the Blue Eagles the lead for good against La Salle. For analysis on that, check out this breakdown on that play by the Blue Eagles. Otherwise, here are some photos from yesterday's action between the Blue Eagles and the Green Archers:

It was a tight game all throughout between the Blue Eagles and the Green Archers, and with Ateneo facing a one point lead with 18 seconds remaining, the Blue Eagles needed a shot. This has been the issue of Ateneo ever since a certain Phenom left the Blue Eagles after a great five-year run. They could not find a guy to go to in the clutch. This time around, someone was able to step up to give the Blue Eagles the victory against their archrivals. It was none other than Thirdy Ravena, who received a ton of flak from fans after a poor performance in last year's Finals series against the Green Archers. Sure, this is just the preseason, but seeing him make such a big shot in a hotly contested game should give him and the Blue Eagle faithful a ton of confidence as we slowly come closer to the UAAP season. It's easy to give Thirdy lots of credit for that shot, but someone who deserves as much credit for making that happen is Tyler Tio, the former Golden Stallion who...

(Photo Credit: Filoil Flying V Sports) I first watched the NU Bulldogs of 2012 durig the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup. They were up against the Ateneo Blue Eagles. It was a clash that a number of people were highly anticipating considering the amount of talent which both teams have. At the end of it all, it was the talent of the Bulldogs which reigned supreme, as they thoroughly crushed the Blue Eagles during that very same meeting. 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...

(Photo Credit: Filoil Flying V Sports) When you talk about NCAA teams in the Filoil Flying V Preseason Tournament, the Lyceum Pirates and the JRU Heavy Bombers are the ones who have stood out thus far. The Heavy Bombers have shown that they're a team worth keeping an eye on after their opening day upset victory against the heavily favored De La Salle Green Archers. Ever since that victory, they've performed admirably led by their big gun in Teytey Teodoro.  The Pirates have started to receive comparisons to the Letran Knights team that surprised everyone during NCAA Season 92 thanks to their unorthodox press, and their high-octane attack. They've been extremely tough to stop, and a big reason for that is none other than the Baby Beast himself CJ Perez.  As both teams continue to make noise, all of a sudden, a loud roar is heard. The Heavy Bombers and the Pirates stand still. San Beda emerges and tells both teams as if they're Madison Montgomery from Amer...

(Photo Credit: Filoil Flying V Sports) Coming into the 2017 Collegiate Basketball season, most people expected the game plan against La Salle to be simple: Swarm Ben Mbala with defenders down low, and force other Green Archers to kill you from outside. Theoretically, it made sense. La Salle's three-point shooting is sub-par after all. At the same time, La Salle no longer has a guy who they could just dump the ball to if Ben's being swarmed with defenders like a Jeron Teng. In short, the search for that elusive second option! Sadly, there's no one who's shown consistency to be that other guy beside Big Ben. Aljun Melecio and Ricci Rivero have shown good things, but only in spurts. Andrei Caracut isn't getting much minutes because of his woes defensively. Leonard Santillian remains an unproven option. So if Big Ben fails, where does La Salle go to? Well, guess what? La Salle's found a solution to this problem of theirs! The solution is well... to keep ...

The UP Fighting Maroons managed to eke out a solid victory against the CSB Blazers in the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup led by Paul Desiderio's 22 points and 10 rebounds. For more on last week's Filoil action, check out the Morning Rundown .  Otherwise, here are some photos from yesterday's action between the Fighting Maroons and the Blazers. All photos courtesy of Mico Ongkeko. Give him a follow here !