No dejavu of ’06 for UST, Ateneo; ‘Toughest finals’ ahead, says Trillo

MANILA, Philippines—Just because Pido Jarencio insists that this season’s UST squad is nothing like what he had in 2006, doesn’t mean he’s not going to yield the same ending.

Ateneo, meanwhile, is making sure this season ends up nothing like that—because they are seeking a different ending from that of six years ago.

For Jarencio, he owes his first title in the collegiate ranks mostly to destiny—a magical run by UST from a 2-4 first-round start to the finish line against Ateneo.

This season was all about intricate preparation—bringing the Tigers to exactly where Jarencio wanted the Tigers to be at this time of the year.

“The players we want to be in the line-up are here. The game plans, the preparations are all coming out, and Karim Abdul improved tremendously,” said Jarencio.

“This 2012 squad is very different from the 2006 squad,” added Jarencio Tuesday, in the weekly PSA forum at Shakey’s Malate in Manila.

This time, Jarencio will bank on guard Jeric Fortuna and forward Melo Afuang—both are playing their finaly year—to fight for a graceful exit.

“We have always made the final four in the past years, but no finals appearance. Maybe this is the year,” said Jarencio. “My graduating players don’t want to exit without winning a championship.”

But though Jarencio doesn’t have Jojo Duncil, Japs Cuan or Dylan Ababou to run the floor, he still does have a pretty dependable core.

And even Ateneo, whose first dent in their record this season came from UST, knows that.

“They’re a team that has a lot of weapons, so expect the championship (series) to really be a toss-up,” said Ateneo team manager Paolo Trillo, who spoke in behalf of head coach Norman Black.

The Blue Eagles, though, definitely do not lack options when it comes to weaponry—having stars like Kiefer Ravena and Ryan Buenafe and role players like Juami Tiongson at their disposal.

But Black knows better than just to leave the fate of his squad to just one or two players—he has a formula that has earned him four straight titles.

“We always pride ourselves in being a team. It’ll be a team effort we want to win a fifth championship,” said Trillo.

While Ateneo has always been a pre-season favorite and UST may have been left out in the predictions a few times, it wasn’t a surprise that these were the two teams left.

“From the start, we really respected UST as a contender,” said Trillo. “Coach Norman singled them out in the pre-season, we knew it’s UST we were going to face if we reached the finals.”

“This will be the most difficult finals series we’ll play,” Trillo added.

“Ateneo is strong because they work as a team, offensively and defensively,” said Jarencio. “We’re finding solutions.”