Head Coach: Vergel Meneses
Last season: 12-6 (Final Four)
Key losses: Philip Paniamogan, Michael Mabulac, Jaycee Asuncion
Key returnees: Tey Teodoro, Dave Sanchez, Abdulwahab Abdulrazak
Key additions: Paolo Pontejos, Abdel Poutouochi, Darius Estrella
Returning to the Final Four last season, Jose Rizal University believed that it had its best chance of ending the over four decades of title drought in the men’s basketball.
For coach Vergel Meneses believes that there’s no reason for his wards to set the bar any lower for this NCAA season 91.
“With this lineup, we need to aim high,” he said. “Last year, everybody counted us out but we made it to the Final Four. We surprised everybody. Now, there’s no reason for us not to be in the Final Four.”
Losing old reliables in Philip Paniamogan and Michael Mabulac, Meneses is still confident with the experience his crew got from last year.
“Tey Teodoro’s improvement has been great. Jordan (Dela Paz) and Gio (Lasquety) are still there. Dave (Sanchez) is playing very well and he is understanding and accepting his role and that’s the reason why he has adjusted well to our system. And there are new guys coming in who can fill the roles left by the guys who left,” he said.
JRU will get a big boost with the return of Paolo Pontejos, the entry of Cameroonian big man Abdel Pouotouochi, and the ascent of juniors MVP Darius Estrella to the senior team.
Paolo Pontejos. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
“They went to the Final Four last season so that’s our goal. This team is aiming for the championship and I think it’s possible,” said Pontejos.
With that being said, experts believe the Heavy Bombers will leave a mark this year.
However, Meneses is wary of his team getting overconfident.
“I’m not afraid of our opponents. I’m more afraid for my boys because I don’t know when will I see their aggressiveness. They have to be consistent because we know that if we work hard on defense, we’ll get positive results,” he said.
“As Rizalians, we’ll take it one game at a time. We don’t want to get pressured, just play our usual game, and we’ll see what will happen.” CFC
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