Unable to join the party, four teams look forward to next season

MANILA, Philippines—With four teams gearing up to fight nail and tooth in the coming weeks—all for the glory of the coveted UAAP men’s basketball championship—University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, National University and University of the East find themselves with ample time to assess their disappointing season 73 stints.   Final Four? Welcome to the bottom four.   For starters, there’s the UP Fighting Maroons. A year that began with overflowing optimism ran smack into political machinations that produced the inevitable: A heartbreaking winless season salvaged by the indomitable spirit and unmatched grace of its conquering Pep Squad.   The Maroons never got anything going after limoing off the gates in a curshing defeat to the La Salle Green Archers on opening day. UP replicated its winless 2007 season, despite strong showings in pre-UAAP tournaments and a much ballyhooed US training.   Head coach Aboy Castro, who drew up a blueprint that made this season Final Four time was sacked early into the Maroons’ campaign. PBA champion coach Boyet Fernandez took over, but even he failed to lift the team’s morale—and its performance.   “Our adjustments came too late,” said Fernandez, who offered a courtesy resignation to the UP management Monday last week to give them free rein on choosing the new head coach for next season.   “The materials were there but we didn’t come to play all season long,” said graduating skipper Woody Co, who incurred a high ankle injury halfway through the season.   As if to make things worse, fellow veteran Mark Lopez ended his season early after a torn ACL/MCL.   Prized rookie Mike Silungan simply wasn’t enough to lift the Maroons, who had depth to contend with the other squads. Worse, when the Maroons were ready to break out of their slump, they failed to get key breaks in close games.   They threw a won game away against UST in overtime. They lost two close matches against NU.   “We lacked mental toughness. We couldn’t sustain the lead up to the end,” said Six-foot-7 center Magi Sison, who also played out his final season.   Now, the Maroons hope that hitting rock bottom will mean that there’s nowhere else to go but, well, UP.   “We have to get better as team, not just individually. We’re going to work on a lot of team effort,” Silungan said.   “This 0-14 will not happen again.”   Also experiencing a surprise dip in form was University of the East, which went from making Ateneo work hard for its championship last year to supplying victories—for other squads.   Quite simply, the Warriors were no longer the same fearesome tribe they used to be.   After losing three main men who propelled the Warriors to a good run—Elmer Espiritu, Pari Llagas and Val Acuna, they found themselves with a roster that had too many holes.   And two few guys to plug them.   Even with the return of marksman James Martinez and the meteoric rise of leader Paul Lee, the Warriors hardly made a Final Four run and was the last team outside of UP to log a victory.   “The urgency came late. Our worst enemy was ourselves,” said head coach Lawrence Chongson, who relied heavily on Lee, who averaged 14.4 markers per game, and the graduating Martinez, who provided 12.9 points an outing.   UE missed a Final Four stint for the first time in nine long seasons. They wound up at sixth place with a 6-8 record, but Chongson said they succeeded in at least bowing out with “a bang.”   “When you battle UE, It’s not going to be a walk in the park,” said Chongson of his squad, who toppled title hopefuls after the other, including the Blue Eagles, 62-60, in the second round.   “Hopefully, we won’t miss the bus ever again,” he said.   UE’s fellow traditional heavyweight University of Santo Tomas wasn’t given any chance at all by pundits to survive the season. And for a while, the Tigers looked like they would defy preseason expectations.   The Tigers were an early surprise in the league as they took advantage of their mystery—UST did not play in any preseason tournament—and shot their way to as high as third place late in the first round.   But once their ability to shoot from beyond the arc was scouted, the mystery ended and teams finally figured the Tigers out.   “When I said that our ranking was at the bottom during the press conference, I wasn’t kidding,” said head coach Pido Jarencio.   “I just squeezed what I could,” he added.   When the juice ran dry and the perimeter defended, the Tigers found themselves battling double-digits deficits, experiencing meltdowns and bowing to better equipped teams.   “We really came up short, ” said sophomore Jeric Teng, who led a young squad composed mostly of second year players that wound up at seventh  with a record of 4-10.   “Most of us are still really young,” he added.   Co-sophomore Jeric Fortuna and sharpshooter Clark Bautista, who led the league in three-point shots made, were among the bright spots for the Tigers, along with hardworking forward Chris Camus.   With the school’s celebration of its 400th in the works, Jarencio said he has cooked something up for the Tigers next season.   “Some of the players I recruited are really made for 2011,” said Jarencio, who will unveil a six-foot-six Cameroonian to help the paper-thin front line of the squad.   Jarencio, who won’t be losing any of his players to graduation, also plans a major shake up in the line up, with 6 to 7 players to spend time in Team B.   “If nothing happens (to UST) next year, I will exit the team,” he concluded.   The NU Bulldogs are also looking to make a bang next year and they seem to be headed in that direction as far as recruitment is concerned.   The Bulldgos are assured of Ray Parks, son of legendary PBA import Bobby Parks, donning an NU jersey. Plans are in the works to recruit Ateneo hotshot Keifer Ravena and UST gunner Kevin Ferrer—two of the top prospects for 2011.   Even minus the three stars, NU finished  a respectable fifth place with a 7-7 record.   Newcomer Emmanuel Mbe was a big part of that success, along with the team’s veterans.   “I still think that we should have made it to the Final Four,” said head coach Eric Gonzales.   The Bulldogs, though, are losing four key players, Kokoy Hermosisima, Melvin Baloran, Jewel Ponferrada and Jerome Tungul, further heightening the importance of recruitment and putting pressure on Mbe to step up.   “This is going to be the time to step up,” Mbe said, who actually finished close second in the MVP race this season with a double-double average of 13.4 points and 11.7 rebounds.   “It’s a bright future for NU. The management is really exhausting everything to be at the top,” said Gonzales.   “This is just a warm-up,” Gonzales said of this season.   With still a long break before the next season kicks off, all the four teams will have the chance to regroup, recuperate from the pain of the loss and work harder to improve and achieve what they have not been able to achieve.   Final four? Maybe next year.