Chrisangelo's Four Point Play: UAAP Edition

So thanks to bagyong Egay, classes are again suspended and for the nth time, I’m spared from our dreadful Mathematics exam. Oh well, that means, less school time and more time to write an article and that’s exactly what I’m doing right now.

Same formula for my four point play, I’m gonna be discussing four bandwidth-worthy UAAP topics in one single article. So here it goes.

Running on Tiger Power

Yes, the games earlier today was again rescheduled due to a miscalculated storm which should be hitting our lands right about… now. Oh well, I could care less, I watched the classic DLSU-UST game earlier, never fails to amuse me, the UST comeback was amazing (biased Thomasian here, lol) down by 10 with 53 seconds to go? What’s up with that?

Another noticeable thing about the Tigers is their unique set of wingmen, tall, lean with some pretty good range. The addition of Mirza (my former teammate in World Citi Colleges) to their once loaded wing spot is big. Mirza’s a guy who’s not afraid to shoot and commit mistakes, he will keep on shooting until he gets his rhythm. A perfect player to compliment the likes of Jervy Cruz, Dylan Ababou and Japs “I am worse than Paul Artadi’s freethrow percentage” Cuan.

Jervy’s the clear MVP this year. If he doesn’t win it, I’m going to write a “Boycott UAAP” article right here on hoops. He’s probably the most dominating collegiate bigman I’ve seen since the Enrico Villanueva days in Ateneo. Right now, he’s averaging 16.2 points per game, 16.9 rebounds a game and 1.8 blocks per game. He’s also coming from a 16-18-7(blocks) performance against La salle. (credit the stats to Ubelt.com, your number 1 source of collegiate basketball action behind hoops.blink.ph. Just kidding :D ) Maybe after the Prelims, I’ll write a “Why Jervy Cruz should be this year’s MVP” article.

Tams on parade

I admit, I was wrong… for now. In my UAAP primer, I stated that the Tams are gonna suck this year, well as of this moment they are not. Right now, they are in a three way tie with La Salle and UST for second place.That’s quite surprising, considering that they’re coming off a team disbandment.

Well I don’t want to Jinx them so I’m giving a counter argument to my premise up there. I don’t think they’re going to make it to the Final Four this year. Why? Two things, Ateneo and NU. Those two teams have more veterans in their line up and on their coaching staff. As for my final four? UE, DLSU, UST and NU. Yes, I just said NU.

Seeing Red, Feeling Maroon

The extremes of the 70th season of the UAAP, The UE Red Warriors and The UP Fighting maroons.

The UE Red Warriors are looking forward to sweeping the eliminations and get an automatic slot in the finals, while the UP Fighting Maroons are looking on the other end of the tunnel. They are still yet to win a game this season and judging from the way they got their asses pummeled against the second worst team in the league, their zero-fourteen nightmare is not impossible.

But don’t get me wrong, I’m not a big UP hater, actually, I love watching those guys play… individually. Personally, I think they have lots of talented young kids who can very well be the future of UAAP basketball, but right now, this isn’t just their time.

A look at the future

Want to look at the future of the UAAP? Sure, I’m going to rank the top 5 prospects of the UAAP three years from now.

5) Mike Gamboa - His speed and his bulk makes up for his lack of height. The former Ateneo blue eaglet will be the main orchestrator of the Maroons in the near future. Who knows? He could be the best point guard in the league at that time.

4) Eric Salamat - On only his second year, Eric Salamat has already turned into a go to guy for the Blue Eagles. He’s a guy who would perfectly fit on Coach Norman Black’s system, plays tough defense, runs and finishes the break perfectly. He’s a guy who can make shots for himself, he’s got excellent dribbling skills and has a knack of getting into the foul line.

3) Khasim Mirza - The tall, lean and quick tiger with a nice range is a future investment for Coach Pido Jarencio. He’s going to take the spotlight along side Jervy Cruz after sharing his minutes with Dylan Ababou, Francis Allera and Anthony Espiritu. A guy with a nice offensive R’epertoire, can shoot from the outside and crack the lanes for layups. Although he still needs to work on his frame for him to have a very successful UAAP career but nevertheless, I expect a great future for this young man.

2) Woody Co - Yes, he’s not that fast but he damn sure knows a way to crack into the basket. I envision last year’s rookie of the year to be one of the most dominating players at that time, he’s blessed with a nice frame and he damn sure knows how to use it.

1) Jervy Cruz - ‘Nuff said (If he’s still in the UAAP by that time).