MANILA, Philippines--Dumping the losing mentality seems the most immediate task for College of St. Benilde Blazers rookie coach Gie Abanilla, whose team underwent perhaps the most number of changes this season.

The Blazers, champions in 2000, are coming off back-to-back last-place finishes with their 2007 campaign the worst in team history.

After beating Mapua in the opener, the Blazers dropped 11 straight games. Along the way, the Blazers were rocked by the arrest of star guard Paolo Orbeta for betting on his games.

"We want to break that mindset of losing," said Abanilla, who will have former La Salle players Mon Jose and Richard del Rosario as assistants in the bench. "If we surpass that stage, the improvement will come easy."

To regain their fighting mood, the Blazers will have to draw the best from their nine rookies, namely MC Abolucion from Iloilo, Chuck Dalanon, Christian de la Paz, Robbie Mañalac, Andrei Martinez, Dustin Posadas, Karl Stephen Santos, Aaron Umlas and Alexander Patrick Wong.

Junior forward Jacob Manlapaz will skipper the team this season with Ilie Johnston, Jeff Morial, Archie David and Garri Sevilla expected to join him in the starting unit.

Among the notable dropouts were Martin and Dave Urra and Christian Cabatu.

Abanilla expects his team to compensate its lack of size by playing tough defense, which the Blazers have shown in their victories over Letran and San Sebastian during the pre-season.

"What's good is that the physical and mental toughness of the team is developing so the skill level also improves. Slowly but surely, we are molding players as a team," Abanilla said.