Lina, Tigers’ key rebuilding piece, also finds way to Diliman

Photo from UP

The University of the Philippines’ (UP) frenzied recruiting ways bagged another big name from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) program with former Tiger Cubs star Bismarck Lina welcomed in Diliman.

“He is a young man with a great fighting attitude and potential,” Fighting Maroons coach Bo Perasol told the Inquirer in a short exchange on Monday. “He is going to be part of the Season 84 team.”

That statement has made Lina’s transfer official, which only means that UST continues to be mired in even deeper waters following the exposure of the controversial Sorsogon training “bubble” of resigned coach Aldin Ayo that wrecked the very promising program he also painstakingly built.

CJ Cansino also transferred to UP, which exposed the Capuy camp. Rhenz Abando and two others followed suit and joined NCAA power Letran, before Mark Nonoy, last season’s Rookie of the Year, professed loyalty to Ayo and left for La Salle.

Lina would have been a building block for whoever would take over at Santo Tomas, but the 6-foot-5 forward obviously has other plans.

At UP, Lina joins Carl Tamayo and Gerry Abadiano, whom he played with for Gilas Pilipinas Youth in the Fiba U-19 World Cup in Heraklion, Greece, last year.

UST’s violation of quarantine protocols remains under review by government agencies, namely the Department of Justice and Department of the Interior and Local Government upon the recommendation of the Commission on Higher Education.

Ayo, meanwhile, has been banned indefinitely by the UAAP and is appealing that decision.