MANILA, Philippines – After struggling through the first round, Emilio Aguinaldo College showed promise late in last year’s NCAA tournament.
The only problem was they peaked too little too late as their early setbacks cost them another losing year.
And that’s what its coach Gerry Esplana is looking to avoid this Season 89.
“We have to win games right away. Last year, we won just two games in the first round tapos maganda yung second round but it wasn’t enough for us to make the playoffs,” Esplana told INQUIRER.net.
EAC finished at the lower half of the standings last year but the team was just two games behind from the last Final Four slot. And had the Generals won two more games in the first round, it would’ve made the difference.
The race in this season’s Final Four is expected to be neck-and-neck with only defending champion San Beda and perhaps Arellano tagged as clear-cut favorites, but despite it, Esplana believes his team is capable of making it.
“We had a good run in the second round, we were able to win six straight and everybody’s expecting a better performance from us,” said Esplana, who will continue to bank on its foreign import Noube Happi, a six-foot-seven inside operator, and shooting guard Jan Jamon. “The pressure is on us. Before we’re contented with just a mere improvement but the EAC community is expecting us to have better improvement and our target is the Final Four.”
“We’re doing well, the stint in the Filoil was a big help for us. We were able to play against tough teams. We’re excited and I think we’re ready to play. Every school has the opportunity to make it into the Final Four, it’s just a matter of who wants it more.”
The Generals left themselves with little chance after their poor start. The good news is they get another crack at it with basically the same team from last year.