St. Benilde’s Yankee Haruna. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Head coach: Gabby Velasco
Last season: 5-13 (8th place)
Key holdovers: Fons Saavedra, JJ Domingo, Christian Fajarito
Key losses: Jonathan Grey, Travis Jonson
Key additions: Yankie Haruna, Clement Leutcheu
Coach Gabby Velasco is hoping a taller line up could translate to something bigger this coming NCAA Season 92.
“Mayroon na kaming ceiling ngayon at medyo lumaki ang team ko,” he said amid the addition of athletic forward Yankie Haruna and Senegalese big man Clement Leutcheu.
But the fact remains that Velasco will be parading a young team of sophomores and rookies for another season.
“Our problem pa rin is inexperience. We’re still young at marami kaming sophomores together with the rookies na papasok,” he said.
Fons Saavedra will now take the lead for the Blazers crew with bigger expectations from banger Christian Fajarito and slasher JJ Domingo, who both had promising runs in the preseason.
Velasco is also hopeful that the change of philosophy on the defensive end will allow St. Benilde to shock a number of favored teams this season.
“We tried to change some philosophy sa defense namin. We tried to focus more on our half court defense. We will still run every time, every possession, but our focus now with our bigs is we’ll look to score more on the inside,” he said.
“We look at this season as an opportunity for us to learn, to do our best, and hopefully, gain success in the process.”