Five more teams make NCAA Season 93 debut
DAY Three of Season 93 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) happens today with five more teams making their men’s basketball debut.
Slated at the San Juan Arena, the curtain- raiser at 12 noon will see the University of Perpetual Help Altas taking on the College of St. Benilde Blazers followed by the tiff between the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers and Lyceum of the Philippines Pirates at 2 p. m. Capping seniors play for the day is the tussle of Colegio de San Juan Letran Knights against Mapua University Cardinals at 4 p.m.
Beginning a new NCAA year sans key stalwart of seasons past Bright Akhuetie, Perpetual Help is expected to bank on a veteran crew.
Finished with an 11-7 record and was on track to upend eventual champion San Beda College in the Final Four in Season 92, Perpetual Help saw its program absorb a huge blow when Akhuetie decided to leave the school in the offseason and join the University of the Philippines over at the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).
With Akhuetie gone, Perpetual Help is turning to its other Nigerian player, Prince Eze, to lead the charge and possibly duplicate their Final Four finish last season or even better it.
To help Eze, the Altas made sure to keep its core of players, which includes AJ Coronel, Gab Dagangon, JG Ylagan, Keith Pido, Flash Gordon Sadiwa and Jack Hao, intact.
These were the same players, along with Akhuetie then, that helped the Altas be a top-half staple team in the standings last year.
Despite the struggles they are expecting to encounter along the way this season, the Altas made it known they are determined to overcome them by taking it a step at a time.
The College of St. Benilde, for its part, is out to improve on the showing it had last year where they finished with a measly 1-17 record.
New coach TY Tang said that for Season 93 it is all about repositioning themselves and taking on a new mindset towards being competitive anew.
“Ending up with a 1-17 record, everybody has to step up. Everybody has to collaborate. To change the environment, we have to start from us,” Mr. Tang, a former UAAP and Philippine Basketball Association player, said.
“We want to be competitive immediately, in the sense that we want our opponents to know that when they face us it won’t be an automatic win. We hope also that we can reach the Final Four,” the CSB coach added.
In the second game, JRU, which narrowly missed the Final Four last season, looks to begin its bounceback campaign with a win over Lyceum, which many consider as the dark horse in the ongoing tournament.
Explosive guard Teytey Teodoro is expected to lead the Vergel Meneses- coached Heavy Bombers anew with help from guys like Ervin Gorospe and Gio Lasquety.
Over at Lyceum, the Pirates made solid waves in the preseason which they hope to build on in Season 93.
“It has always been our vision to have a winning culture in Lyceum. We’re not yet there but we are on our way. We welcome the challenge as a dark horse and we will control what we can control and let’s see where it leads us,” said Lyceum coach Topex Robinson, whose team has not finished better than sixth place since joining the league in 2011.
For Letran, meanwhile, it said it hopes to perform better this time around after failing in its title-retention bid last year that saw it fail to make it to the semifinals altogether.
Rey Nambatac is back as the leader of the Knights, which nearly saw its Season 93 put in jeopardy after key cogs JP Calvo and Bong Quinto thought of bolting the team in the lead- up to the tournament. The two players had a change of heart and are back with the Murallabased team.
Letran looks to win its opener against Mapua, which lost on opening day last Saturday, 91-82, to the Arellano Chiefs.