NATIONAL University couldn’t have picked a better opportunity to shoot for what seemed improbable after the first round: A share of the top spot with Far Eastern University.
The streaking Bulldogs shoot for an eighth victory at 4 p.m., and they will be doing so in a 4 p.m. match against a depleted University of the East, which will be without suspended key stars Charles Mammie and Lord Casajeros.
NU’s rise, coupled by FEU’s 1-3 spiral in the second round, has made a tie at the top possible, something that seemed unthinkable when the Tamaraws finished the first round with a three-win buffer over its closest pursuers.
Adamson and University of the Philippines, both out of semifinal contention, tangle in the first game at 2 p.m.
UE appealed the suspensions but hit a wall when the UAAP technical committee yesterday upheld Mammie’s two-game ban and reduced Casajeros’ two-game suspension to just one.
Meanwhile, the UAAP will finally confront a legal challenge to a controversial rule it implemented this season as former juniors swimming MVP Mikee Bartolome, represented by her father Vic, filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the league from enforcing a two-year residency on high school athletes transferring to another member-school for college.
Bartolome included in the complaint University of Santo Tomas for refusing to release her to University of the Philippines.
The residency rule is best known for keeping FEU high hoop star Jerie Pingoy from suiting up with Ateneo this season.
In a statement, the UAAP said it “would be respecting the steps undertaken… and honor the orders of the court.”