This time, expect 'fighting Maroons to win more games
The wide open race for supremacy that everyone’s talking about heading to UAAP Season 76? Well, not every team is actually mentioned in the same vein as the more established ones, the possible contenders.
UP, which has sadly languished in the cellar and undergone massive personnel departure, seems to take the role of the underdog, the spoiler, the one with nothing to lose and everything to gain.
And hardly anyone is giving them a fighting chance in the anticipated free-for-all.
However, coach Ricky Dandan firmly believes the Maroons, rookie-laden they may be, has the fight in them and can make the fancied teams pay should they look past State U in UAAP Season 76.
The Maroons are right in the middle of a rebuilding stage, bringing in eight new faces to blend with five holdovers and three returnees to duke it out with the nearly intact, souped-up crew of the rest of the field.
“I don’t think anybody will disagree with me that we’re underdogs. However, in UP, we’ve taken an attitude that each and every game we play is against contenders and highly-rated teams. And that we’re looking at every team we play as a team we have to beat, a team we want to beat,” Dandan said.
“One thing’s for sure, the fighting is back with the Maroons. Half of the team is new; we’re probably the youngest team in the league and that keeps the UP community very excited,” he added.
Holdovers Chris Ball, Raul Soyud, and Henry Asilum get the mantle and join forces with former La Salle Archer Sam Marata and returnee Mikee Reyes in trying to put UP out of the doldrums.
Rookie Andre Paras, son of the legendary Maroon who led the school to its lone UAAP title in 1986, adds fresh legs alongside Andres Paul Desiderio and Kyles Lao, among others.
“I’m happy with our development, we’re ready,” said Dandan. “The rookies are coming along fine and they’ve learned their lessons from what we’ve gone through last summer.”
He expects all of his wards to contribute to the collective effort, instead of leaning on just one or two players to carry much of the burden.
The Maroons won only a single game in Season 75, a 63-48 drubbing of University of the East in the first round.
“We expect to win more games this year,” said Dandan.