Kobe Paras is now a Fighting Maroon. Photo from UP MBT (@upmbt) Twitter account
(Editor’s note: We are correcting this story to clarify that Paras can suit up for UP as early as Season 82).
After bouncing around three schools in the United States, much ballyhooed forward Kobe Paras is set to join University of the Philippines in the UAAP.
Paras seems to have found a home in UP after stints with University of California at Los Angeles, Creighton, and Cal State Northridge. He can suit up in UAAP Season 82.
In a statement from nowheretogobutUP, Paras praised the country’s premier state university not just for its athletic program but its status as a top educational institution in the country.
“The University of the Philippines is the most respected educational institution in the country,” said Paras, 20. “The attraction of UP is not just its basketball program, which just gets better every year, but the world-class education it is known for.”
Paras, who is part the national team program, first committed to UCLA after he graduated from Cathedral but wasn’t able to suit up for the Bruins after issued regarding his grades.
He then transferred to Creighton where he was able to play for one season, 2016-2017, after which he then again moved to Cal State Northridge to join head coach Reggie Theus.
Paras spent his first year with the Matadors as a red shirt in obedience to NCAA transfer rules but he would eventually leave after Theus got fired from the team.
He will be joined prize recruits Gilas teammate Ricci Rivero and former University of Perpetual Help standout Bright Akhuetie in Season 82.
“With the addition of Bright and Ricci, the team has gotten better,” said UP head coach Bo Perasol whose Fighting Maroons finished at fifth seed for Season 80 with a 6-8 record.
“That being said, talent is talent, and we are fortunate to have a talent like Kobe on board,” added Perasol. “Winning, as experience has shown us, takes more than talent. We have to get everyone on the same page and to play the right way, and that is what we’ll be working on in the months to come.”
Being a Maroon runs in the family with older brother Andrei and legendary father Benjie, a two-time PBA MVP, also donning the UP uniform.
“I am looking forward to the challenge of helping the Fighting Maroons a better basketball team, and the challenge of helping myself become a better student,” said Paras.