Brand-new team bumps up Pido hopes

After consecutive forgettable finishes, coach Pido Jarencio, now in his second stint with University of Santo Tomas (UST), has jump-started the rebuild of the Growling Tigers.

The process began for the proud program with the overhauling of last season’s personnel which finished at the bottom of the standings with a 2-12 card.

Already without the services of Adama Faye, who left midway through Season 86, the 15-man roster was shrunk to just five, leaving plenty of space for the talents that Jarencio believes would return the roar that the Tigers have lost.

“Bottom line is we feel very positive [about the revamped lineup],” Jarencio told reporters on the sidelines of the UAAP Season 87 press conference on Wednesday in Quezon City.

UST will unveil two new guards fresh off serving their year of residency and expected to create more scoring opportunities for the Tigers: former Ateneo standout Forthsky Padrigao and former University of the East gunner Kyle Paranada.

“The good thing is that they are prime point guards. The two are elite point guards so they are a big addition to the team,” Jarencio said.

The new-look UST squad joined as many preseason tournaments as it could sign up for in the hopes of integrating the newcomers with the few holdovers led by top gunner Nic Cabañero.

“I gave the team a lot of exposure because we have like 10 or 11 new players so this is a new set of players so they needed that to build their chemistry and camaraderie,” Jarencio said.