(Photo Credit: SPIN.ph) I remember receiving a phone call last year around May, with a source telling me that Will Gozum was included in San Beda's line-up for Adidas Uprising. Obviously, I was surprised at what I had just heard. It wasn't because Gozum was likely going to be a Red Cub come the NCAA season. I put down that phone call astonished because of the very fact that the former Batang Gilas standout was going to transfer out of the UP Junior Maroons. The very concept of transferring schools is something that is frowned upon in the basketball community. Carlo Pamintuan wrote this terrific piece on Soc Rivera a few years back, detailing what Rivera had to go through after countless transfers to schools. Not only did the public look at Rivera with judging eyes, but his overall performance as a player suffered as well. You don't just become a player who is given raised eyebrows by fans when you decide to transfer. A player puts himself in the risk of losing ...

(Photo Credit: @dbuzzketball) Getting to see the NCAA Juniors Basketball Tournament get going just felt right. It's been a while ever since High School basketball was talked about in the country, so just seeing the top Juniors teams slug it out was refreshing. It just felt right. There was a buzz in the air which surrounded the Letran gym as San Beda and San Sebastian opened Juniors basketball action for this season. By all accounts, High School basketball was back. Fans expected usual High School basketball action. Fast-paced action between two young teams trying their best to run their respective systems. Once play started, that's exactly what we go. Action was incredibly fast. But we also saw some of the warts of High School basketball. The players playing are kids. For this go around, we saw some first game jitters get into players. When you look at the stat sheet, it's easy to let out a groan once you look at the percentage. Basketball was far from efficient...

(Photo Credit: SLAM Philippines) Basic Information Name: Carlo Abadeza Age: 20 School/Team: Arellano Braves Years of eligibility left: 0 (Graduating)  Committed to: San Beda Red Lions Height: 6'4" Position: Power Forward/Center Projected Position: Combo Forward Quick Hits Strengths: - Skillset and height have a good match well with each other for the college game - Offensively skilled already - Has range for a big his size - Post defense is elite - Has a ton of experience Weaknesses: - Slow foot speed makes the transition to becoming a small forward difficult - Has weight issues - Needs to tighten his handle for penetration to be better - Lack of speed is an issue Going up and down is nothing new for future San Beda Red Lion Carlo Abadeza. Back then, he was just a player in the Passarelle leagues with the La Salle Greenhills, Eventually, he made it to the NCAA roster, and consequently, the Batang Gilas U16 team that made it to the FIBA World Champions...

(Photo Credit: SLAM Philippines) Basic Information Name: Guilmer Dela Torre Age: 19 School/Team: Arellano Braves Years of eligibility left: 0 (Graduating)  Committed to: Arellano Chiefs  Height: 5'8" Position: Combo Guard Projected Position: Point Guard  Quick Hits Strengths: - Speed is fit for the college game - Has range - Is skillful - Already a capable two-way player - Hard worker Weaknesses: - Size limits his upside - More of a points guard rather than a point guard at this stage of his career - Shooting form needs work, current one may not work well against bigger, faster defenders - Needs to be a better leader No doubt about it, Guilmer Dela Torre has cemented his status as one of the top High School prospects in recent memory. Multiple Mythical Five accolades, practically a lock in the High School All-Star games which SLAM and the NBTC hold. He was able to do all of that with a fiery offensive game, with incredible range. There's no doubt...

(Photo Credit: SLAM Philippines) Basic Information Name: Troy Mallillin Age: 18 School/Team: LSGH Greenies Years of eligibility left: 0 (Graduating)  Committed to: None (Choosing between UST, NU, Ateneo) Height: 6'3" Position: Combo Forward Projected Position: Small Forward/Shooting Guard/Point Forward Quick Hits Strengths: - Strong, college-ready body - Athleticism is off the charts - Speed is already fit for his ideal position - Versatile thanks to blend of size, athleticism, and skill - Very high upside Weaknesses: - Relatively raw - Has to work on his jump shot - Handle needs improving but is workable - Effort on defense is inconsistent Troy is best known as the NCAA MVP, but receiving the title of MVP is a tricky thing. Just because you were the MVP in the High School division doesn't mean that you'll be able to replicate those feats on the collegiate level. Former NCAA Juniors MVP Prince Rivero is undersized compared to other college big...

Scores for August 15, 2016: Mapua (8-2) def. JRU (2-8) 81-79 Arellano (9-1) def. EAC (0-10) 90-64 San Beda (9-1) def. San Sebastian (1-9) 111-55 LSGH (7-3) def. Perpetual (4-6) 95-80 Is the MVP awardee a lock at this point? (Photo Credit: The Manansala) The NCAA has long been home to some of the very best in High School Basketball. From players like Arvin Tolentino, Andrei Caracut, Javee Mocon, JBoy Gob, Mark Cruz and Ricci Rivero, the NCAA has proven as training ground for the future of Pinoy Hoops. How do those five players relate with each other though? They don't have a MVP award.

The NCAA has long been home to some of the very best in High School basketball, and one way of gauging who is best fit for collegiate sports is the named Mythical Five of the NCAA Juniors Basketball tournament. For this blog post, we'll be naming five players who will make up of the MVP Race/Mythical Five. This year's batch of players is amongst the deepest in recent memory. Since that's the case, naming five players to make up the Mythical Five is a tough task in itself. It's always been a tough task before, but the sheer depth of talent and production this season has been close to unprecedented. College ready players are seemingly all over this time around. Here are some of the notable players who missed the cut: Sherwin Concepcion, Malayan Red Robins Evan Nelle, San Beda Red Cubs Carlo Abadeza, Arellano Braves Jasper Salenga, Malayan Red Robins Joel Cagulangan, LSGH Greenies Makki Santos, LPU Juniors Pirates With that, here's my top 5 players for the ...

We're just living in Troy Mallilin's world at this point. (Photo Credit: Josh Albelda, ABS-CBN Sports)  Current Standing Arellano Braves           8-1 San Beda Red Cubs     8-1 Malayan Red Robins   7-2 LSGH Greenies           6-3 Lyceum Junior Pirates 5-4 Letran Squires             4-5 UPHSD Altalettes       4-5 JRU Light Bombers    2-7 SSC-R Staglets           1-8 EAC Brigadiers          0-9 Top in Stats after Round One: Troy Mallilin, LSGH 21.8 PPG Aaron Fermin, Arellano 11.1 RPG Joel Cagulangan, LSGH 4.7 APG Joel Cagulangan, LSGH, 3.6 SPG Aaron Fermin, Arellano, 2.0 BPG 

(Photo Credit: SLAM Philippines) It was the 4th quarter of the SLAM Rising Stars all-star game, and Team Punks found themselves in quite a hole. All of a sudden, Evan Nelle of the San Beda Red Cubs opted to show up and shot two threes from Steph Curry range to give Team Punks the lead. One of my colleagues proceeded to say, "Iba talaga yung Nelle pag dating ng 4th quarter." It was like watching Clark Kent take off his suit and tie so that he can show off his uniform and cape. Nelle showed off his skills as if he went into full on Super Saiyan mode because he saw Krillin get killed by Frieza. The message was clear. The 4th quarter was Evan Nelle's show, and we were about to see more of this come NCAA Season 92. Fast-forward to August, and what we see is an Evan Nelle in tears, after their loss against the Arellano Braves. "Hard to move on, grabe," mentioned Nelle when I asked him how he was coping with the loss against Arellano. Moving from a lo...

The Red Cubs are suddenly missing this feeling of victory after their loss against Arellano. (Photo Credit: Spin.ph) Play a game of word association, and some of the words that you may associate with the San Beda Red Cubs are: Fearless. Dominant. Words that evoke a certain feeling of leadership from a squad that has won the last 7 championships in the NCAA. All of a sudden, what we get is a team that is: Downtrodden. At a loss of words. Recently, the San Beda Red Lions suffered their first loss in the regular season after 26 assignments, losing to the Arellano Braves 93-90. "Hindi nga mawala yung iyak ko eh," mentioned team captain Sam Abu Hijleh. Even while talking to Sam just over a Twitter Direct Message, you could immediately sense the feeling of heft when it came to discussing why they lost. San Beda had all of the opportunities to win the game. The fans knew it. Sam himself knew it. "We had all the opportunities to win the game. Pero pinakaw...

Scores for August 8, 2016: Arellano (8-0) def. San Beda (7-1), 93-90 Lyceum (4-4) def. Perpetual (4-4), 117-93 San Sebastian (1-7) def. EAC (0-8) 87-71 New kings of the jungle? Remember the name: Guilmer Dela Torre. (Photo Credit: Richard Esguerra)  It was bound to end at some point. But you can't deny that the way it ended was beautiful to watch. Arellano and San Beda engaged in an incredibly memorable tiff, as Arellano stood tall and ended San Beda's unbeaten run, with a 93-90 win against the Red Cubs. This was Beda's first regular season loss after 25 straight elimination round wins, while this was Arellano's second win against the Red Cubs in two years. It was a close affair the whole game, with the first and second quarters both ending in deadlocks. With Evan Nelle starting off ice cold in the game, it looked like the stage was set for him to turn on the jets come the second half. Instead, that wasn't the case as another guard was the one w...