Graduation-hit Archers still deadly
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:25:00 07/04/2008
MANILA, Philippines--It's always easy to pick the defending champion as the season's top seed.
But that isn't the case for the De La Salle Green Archers, who have been surprisingly rated as low as fourth by a couple of opposing teams.
Coach Franz Pumaren, though, knows exactly the reason behind the mercurial pre-season rankings.
"If you lose your top point guard in TY Tang and if you lose your clutch shooter in Cholo Villanueva, it's probably debatable," said Pumaren of his Archers' back-to-back title chances.
"We lost key personnel and also quality big men. I've seen a lot of areas we still need to work on. We're working on it, and hopefully, we'll be ready."
Yet even other squads agree that few teams can rebound from adversity like the Archers. Just last season, no one expected them to capture the crown a year after serving a one-year suspension from the league.
And the Archers pulled off the impressive feat by mowing down the erstwhile unbeaten University of the East in the best-of-three championship series.
"The competition will be tougher since we have well-balanced teams," said Pumaren.
There's no question that the Archers still remain loaded with the return of streaky shooter JV Casio along with lanky big man Rico Maierhofer and the recruitment of a bumper crop of rookies.
But Pumaren opted to be cautious with Casio and several other support cast coming off various injuries sustained during the summer.
"Injured players are limited to certain activities, so hopefully, everyone will recover in time this season," said Pumaren, who will also welcome back PJ Walsham, James Mangahas, Peejay Barua, Simon Atkins and Bader Malabes.
Former La Salle Zobel standout Joshua Webb, grandson of former pro Freddie Webb, leads the freshman class that includes Manoj Kumar Chandumal, the reigning MVP in the Filipino Indian Basketball League; Jovet Mendoza of the National U Bullpups and LA Revilla of the San Beda Cubs, former Team B player Hyram Bagatsing and Japan-trained Maui Villanueva.
Jasmine W. Payo
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