INQUIRER Sports

FIVE DAYS BEFORE playing a defining match in the UAAP men?s basketball tournament, Far Eastern University is confronting a question it has different?and sometimes no?answers to.

Where is superstar guard Mark Barroca?

The heady playmaker had been absent from the Tamaraws? practices since Tuesday, fueling speculations that he has been dropped from the team just days before FEU battles the University of the East Warriors at the start of the Final Four phase of the country?s most prestigious collegiate hoop tournament.

Acting on those speculations, a tip from a source and reports that top FEU officials had convened a meeting to discuss the status of one of its players, the Inquirer dropped by the FEU practice session Wednesday morning and confirmed the absence of the Smart Gilas national team standout.

When questioned, team personnel cited various reasons for the absence of the ace guard?who scored eight points, all in the first quarter, in Saturday?s game where FEU blew an 18-point lead and lost to defending champion Ateneo, 74-73, in their battle for the No. 1 ranking in the eliminations.

Team captain JR Cawaling said Barroca, who leads the Tamaraws in scoring with 12.7 points a game, had a flu. A team staff member, however, said that Barroca sustained an unspecified injury.

Further raising eyebrows is the fact that FEU coach Glenn Capacio admitted he?s unaware of Barroca?s whereabouts.

Athletic director Mark Molina said UAAP president and FEU team manager Anton Montinola will issue a statement to answer the Inquirer questions at the ?proper time.?

FEU was also in the spotlight last year when one of its top players, Mac Baracael, was shot by an unidentified gunman on his way to the players? quarters. Baracael survived the shooting.

?Di ko alam kung ano ang nangyari (I don?t know what happened),? said Capacio. ?Siguro baka may pinuntahan (He may have gone somewhere).?

Reports (not in the Inquirer) earlier said that FEU officials met Tuesday noon regarding the status of an unnamed player. Late Tuesday evening, the Inquirer received a tip that Barroca had been booted out of the team dormitory inside the campus.

Cawaling, though, said Barroca had only been quarantined.

?He?s in the chapel,? said Cawaling in Filipino. ?He was moved there so he won?t spread the flu. He didn?t practice yesterday.?

The 5-foot-10 Barroca also averages 5.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.6 steals as one of the top FEU players.

Yesterday, though, Cawaling talked like the team will try to make do without Barroca in the Final Four.

?We can still do it even without Mark,? said Cawaling ?We trust each other. Everyone?s capable of playing in the semifinals.?

The Tamaraws, who finished second in the eliminations at 11-3 to claim the twice-to-beat semifinal advantage, will battle the Warriors at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum.