Letran head coach Jeff Napa. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Letran’s rookie coach Jeff Napa is pretty modest about his expectations of the Knights this coming NCAA season.
A Final Four will be the immediate goal and a title repeat comes next.
“Of course, all the coaches want to win a championship but for us, we’re thinking of just surviving the long elimination round and make it to the Final Four,” said Napa, who took over predecessor Aldin Ayo early this year when the latter left to coach La Salle in the UAAP.
“And then we’ll see what happens there,” he added.
Napa will be hard pressed to duplicate Letran’s fairy tale run last season when the Knights, who were not
given a chance to even make it to the Final Four, went on to defy the odds and beat everyone including the heavily favored San Beda Lions in three games in the finals to win the crown.
It will be a harder road for the Knights this year considering they have a new mentor and they lost Kevin Racal and Mark Cruz, their battle-scarred leaders who are now in the pros.
It was evident in the pre-season when Letran failed to even make it to the playoff round of the Filoil Flying V Premier Cup early this month.
Without Racal and Cruz, Rey Nambatac and McJour Luib will have to assume the mantle of responsibility of leading the team back to the finals and get a chance to win a second straight title.
Bong Quinto, Jomari Sollano, Felix Apreku, Jerrick Balanza and John Calvo will have to play bigger roles.
Despite it, Napa and the Knights found an ally in their former coach.
“I have strong faith in Letran. We did it last year, why can’t we do it now,” said Ayo right after he steered La Salle to the Filoil crown.