NCAA: Yuri Escueta embraces next challenge for San Beda

San Beda coach Yuri Escueta during a game against St. Benilde in the NCAA Season 101 men’s basketball tournament. –NCAA PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—San Beda coach Yuri Escueta has steered the Red Lions to a championship in the post-Jacob Cortez era.

Before he can even pat his shoulder for that, though, the young tactician now turns his focus to flourishing in the post-Yukien Andrada era.

“If we have to develop another player like Jacob, we’ll try to. If we have to develop another player like Yuki, hopefully we do, too,” Escueta told the Inquirer. “We have guys coming up from Team B. We have guys who can really step up off the bench. We’ll go back to the drawing board and keep working.”

“Pagpahingahin mo muna ako,” he added in jest.

Escueta found success in his second year as a San Beda coach when the Red Lions won the Season 99 title in 2023.

San Beda Red Lions after winning the NCAA Season 101 men’s basketball title, sweeping rivals Letran Knights in the Finals.– CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

In the spotlight of that title run was Cortez, who jumped ship to Taft to win a title for La Salle in the UAAP.

The need for a new star for the Red Lions arose. Enter Andrada.

While it was hard for Andrada to take the mantle as the San Beda star in Season 100 after they got bounced out of the Final Four at the expense of College of St. Benilde, he came into his own in his final year in Mendiola.

Andrada was front, back and center of San Beda’s sweep of Letran to claim the Season 101 crown. But with his last year of eligibility spent, he has moved on to the PBA with the Magnolia Hotshots.

Now comes the sense of urgency for Escueta to breed the reigning NCAA champion’s next top star with the “attitude of gratitude.”

“I just want to instill in my team to have that attitude of gratitude. Whoever’s here, they’ll be ready to fight,” Escueta said.

“We can’t whine with the landscape of college basketball now. I even supported the players who left us before because I know they made tough decisions too.”