Archers top UAAP faves

ONE COACH described best how La Salle may just be a cut above the eight-team field in this season’s UAAP men’s basketball tournament.

“It’s a two group thing—La Salle and the rest,” said National University mentor Eric Altamirano.

While many teams reel from the graduation of their star players, the Green Archers still boast a solid core bannered by Jeron Teng and top-notch recruits led by Cameroonian Ben Mbala.

But instead of dismissing the team-to-beat tag, new La Salle coach Aldin Ayo embraced it.

“Wherever you go, there’s pressure,” said Ayo, who is targeting another title romp a year after his surprise run with Letran in the NCAA.

“Pressure is inevitable. Every time you get pressured, it opens up opportunities if you handle it well. Pressure also motivates us.”

Also bracing for a new challenge, Far Eastern University coach Nash Racela takes no offense even if his defending champion Tamaraws have been perceived as less threatening.

“We have a very different team this year,” said Racela, who lost to graduation last year’s champion core of Mac Belo, Mike Tolomia and Roger Pogoy. “We’ll just try our best to be competitive this year.”

Coaches also picked Adamson, Ateneo and University of the East as darkhorse teams during the UAAP media conference yesterday at Novotel Manila.

“Hopefully we can compete,” said new Adamson coach Franz Pumaren, who steered La Salle to championships in 1998 to 2001 and in 2007. “I just hope we erase the idea that just by competing or almost winning we’re happy.”

The league unfolds with an opening ceremony this Saturday on the campus of Season 79 host University of Santo Tomas.

Action gets going the next day with University of the Philippines and Adamson battling at 2 p.m. and UST taking on Ateneo at 4 p.m. at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“The improvements have been good, the players were able to adopt to my system,” said new UST coach Boy Sablan, who will go up against Ateneo coach and national team mentor Tab Baldwin on opening day.

“What we have in mind is how we can make a change in our position [as cellar-dwellers],” said UP mentor Bo Perasol, who returned to his alma mater after a three-year stint with Ateneo. “For us to do that, we have to overhaul our mindset.”