The magic of UST coach Pido Jarencio

  University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers head coach Pido Jarencio presents to you game one of the 75th UAAP season's Finals.  Like many before it, the game was a hard-fought, tightly-contested affair between two well-matched teams. And like many before it, there were questionable calls by the officiating crew that worked the game.    This in itself is nothing new. Refereeing will always be subject to human errors, but for whatever reason, the officiating in the UAAP has always been particularly spotty. Despite bringing in people from different officiating organizations, fans of each school will always have something to complain about, and there will always be calls for PBA referees to take over, for international referees to take over.     For Coach Jarencio however, the game was not ordinary. The bad calls were not normal, not a result of human error, but something deeper. "Unfair naman sa amin, dahil UST lang kami ganun ang tawagan? Sana ayusin nila. "Kailangan ba mag-E-English ako para paburan ako? Ganun ba labanan dito? …Nasa Pilipinas tayo, dapat tayong mga Pilipino mahalin ng mga iyan." According to Jarencio, it is a battle of the haves and the have-nots, the American versus the Filipino, the elite versus the masses. It is a class war. It is a race war. It is skewed away from the Growling Tigers, unfairly.    And what's more, Jarencio has even gotten Ateneo head coach Norman Black to respond, with the American mentor saying, "I think he crossed the line on that one. He made it personal."  "I can understand the frustration after the loss, but don't make it like it's a 'He's American and I'm Filipino' thing. I think it's unprofessional and I think it's below the belt." What exactly is it that the wily Jarencio is hiding underneath his smoke and mirrors? What doesn't he want you to see? The answer is, his players. By making it about the referees and himself, very little notice has been given to the Growling Tigers that actually took to the court that Saturday.  While we debate whether or not Karim Abdul should have been whistled for his fifth foul, few talk about the fact that the presumptive runner-up for the MVP award took just seven shots and scored a mere nine points, while hauling down only six rebounds. Few have talked about fifth-year point guard Jeric Fortuna's poor shooting performance, making just a single field goal out of 11 attempts. Few have talked about main reserve Clark Bautista's equally poor shooting night, where he missed all five of his attempts, each coming from downtown.  Few have talked about how Aljon Mariano surrendered a career-best 30 points to the guy he was supposed to defend like in their round one encounter, Nico Salva. Few have talked about the absence of Melo Afuang due to dengue, and the fact that his sitting out the game resulted in a shortened rotation, just five bench points, and four out of Jarencio's starters playing a minimum of 33 minutes.   What does playing more minutes mean? It means more fatigue, which means more fouls, which ultimately resulted in their loss to Ateneo.  Oh, and those dastardly referees, can't forget them.   On Thursday, we will see the final part of Jarencio's magic. After making his players disappear in the aftermath of that game one loss, he will now have to make them reappear, stronger, rested, and better prepared, thanks to being kept out of the spotlight in the time between games.  Karim Abdul will reassert himself down low, taking on the much-taller Greg Slaughter single-handedly, on both ends of the court.  Jeric Teng and Mariano will not only score a lot of points, they'll defend their Ateneo counterparts as well.   Jeric Fortuna will show his experience by controlling the tempo and finding his open teammates.  The supporting cast will step up, and provide scoring while the starters log valuable rest on the bench.  There will be a game three, that is, if Jarencio's spell works the way he wants it to. The truth is though, no one, not even Jarencio himself possibly, knows how long he can keep the magic going. After seven seasons, he himself has hinted at hanging up the cape. Season 75 could in fact be, his final performance. The lights will dim anew, and the final act shall play out. The audience is still entranced, not knowing how this ends. How will Jarencio the magician exit? Will it be as an angry man, pulling levers behind a curtain, when the illusion fades? Or will it be as one of the greatest ever to stand on a stage, pulling out all the stops en route to a grand finale for UST? When the curtain falls, be it on Thursday or Saturday, we will all find out together. -- OMG/HS, GMA News