MANILA, Philippines—Kenneth Tuffin has been in the Final Four all four years of his collegiate career with Far Eastern University but that doesn’t mean he takes things for granted.
The sweet shooting forward said every Final Four holds a special tier within the Tamaraws’ collective heart and he believes that this team is in a position to create one more indelible memory.
“We have a great opportunity to do something special, so we’re just going to continue to train out and prepare well,” said Tuffin Friday at FEU Diliman.
Tuffin was still a high school student at St. Patrick’s College Upper Hutt in New Zealand when the Tamaraws beat University of Santo Tomas for the 2015 title and he wants nothing more than to get his own and also send senior teammate Wendell Comboy a proper send off.
“I’m very motivated to win the championship but I’m more motivated more for the seniors because this is their last chance. I have one more year next year,” said Tuffin.
“Everyone counted us out and before the year I think only one analyst put us in the Final Four bracket.”
To get to the title, however, FEU has to beat University of Santo Tomas, the team it defeated in 2015, in the stepladder match then win twice against University of the Philippines in the semifinals and another two games against defending champion Ateneo.
FEU already has some ground against UST when it split the season series 1-1 but the Tamaraws own the second round victory and that’s something, Tuffin said, the team would build upon heading into the knockout game.
“We’re going to take what we learned in the both games and we’re on a good run right now and we have a lot of momentum heading into the Final Four,” said Tuffin whose Tamaraws ended their 8-6 elimination round with a three-game winning streak.
“Confidence is high and so is the morale of the team so it’s something we’re going to build on.”