A wild week of upsets have ushered in a new order to open the NCAA’s 98th season, with last season’s Finals and Final Four teams stumbling in surprising fashion. Will this new crop of early contenders be able to keep it up or will the traditional powers recover as the league moves past an exciting Week 1?
1 De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Blazers (Week 1 record: 2-0)
Saint Benilde is the only team left unbeaten after opening week. And they did it in impressive fashion, too, notching a blowout win over LPU in their first game and leading by a huge margin in their other assignment though they took their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter and allowed San Sebastian to make it a ballgame.
Their standout performers from last year are still putting up numbers as Will Gozum (17.5 points per game, 8.0 rebounds per game, 1.5 assists per game and 2.5 blocks per game) is producing at MVP level and Robi Nayve (18 points and four threes in their opening game) is in good form. But add transferee Migs Oczon to their arsenal of big guns — the debuting Blazer is tied for #1 in the NCAA in scoring with 19 per game and his 3.5 assists puts him right on the cusp of the Top 10 as well.
With better depth and more experience under their belt, that has translated into the best offense in the league so far. Benilde’s 93.0 points per game leads the league by a good margin and they are ranked #1 in field goal percentage, assists, and fastbreak points and #2 in three-point percentage as well.
2 Arellano University Chiefs (Week 1 record: 3-1)
In Season 97, it took Arellano University eight games before they notched their third win. Here they are four games into Season 98, already at 3-1, and it’s hard to argue not putting them this high. Most notably, one of their wins came against two-time defending champion Letran, the Knights’ first loss since 2019.
The Chiefs are getting the job done mostly on the defensive end. They held their first three adversaries to 60 points and under and gave up only 69 to Letran in a game Arellano came up on top anyway. They’ve managed to keep opposing teams’ shooting percentages down – allowing only 32.1-percent from the field and 17.5-percent from three, both best in the league. Surprisingly, they’ve managed to do this without fouling much, as they give up the second fewest fouls per game this season.
And they’re doing this despite the exit of a guy of the caliber of Justin Arana. Axel Doromal has progressed as he averages 15.3 points per contest in Season 98 while Cade Flores has done an admirable job filling in for what was once Arana’s spot – averaging around 11.8 points and 11.8 rebounds in four games for the Chiefs. Sprinkle in contributions from guys like Shane Menina and Joshua Abastillas and it looks like Arellano has the ability to stay in the mix of things as the season goes on.
3 Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates (Week 1 record: 2-1)
LPU has made some waves early this season after scoring back-to-back upset wins over Mapua and San Beda to improve to 2-1. Their lone loss in Season 98 came to undefeated Benilde, so it’s hard to fault them too much for that.
Just like last season, the Pirates have been forcing turnovers and getting out on the break to great results. But unlike last year, when they coughed the ball up at around the same rate as their opponents, they’ve taken exceptional care of the ball in Season 98, averaging the fewest turnovers per game of any team in the NCAA.
And this has fueled an effective, unpredictable attack that saw the top two scorers in each of Lyceum’s games change, with JM Bravo and Enzo Navarro, Ato Barba and Mclaude Guadaña, and Gyle Montaño and Enoch Valdez all getting their chance to shine in the first three games. That bodes well for this surprising start for Lyceum.
4 San Sebastian College-Recoletos Golden Stags (Week 1 record: 2-1)
San Sebastian is quietly putting together a strong campaign with wins over Arellano and Mapua and a loss against unbeaten Benilde. Against the Blazers, they charged back late with a 32-19 fourth quarter to only lose by six points, which is a great sign for the Stags as well.
What hasn’t been quiet, though, is the individual performances of Romel Calahat, who has put up 19 points per game (tied for #1 in the NCAA) and 12.5 rebounds per game to league the lead in both categories. If he can keep going at this rate, he’ll be a great anchor for a Stags team that already holds a win over the 3-1 Chiefs despite playing that game without Calahat.
It’ll be up to guys like Ichie Altamirano and Kenneth VIllapando to make sure that Stags aren’t too reliant him, though, and that would make for a much more dangerous team as the season moves along.
5 Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights (Week 1 record: 1-1)
Fifth almost feels a little disrespectful to the two-time defending champs, but we’re only going by this week, and not their body of work from the past. And for this week, they’re at .500. Letran was nearly upset by the JRU Heavy Bombers in a game that they barely escaped in overtime. Then the Knights eventually did lose to the Chiefs, albeit in a game where they had a chance to tie it and force another overtime at the end, though their last-gasp attempt didn’t fall. Depending on the breaks of the game, they could just as easily be 2-0 as they could be 0-2, and that makes them extremely difficult to rank.
But on the plus side, they have gotten some stellar individual performances in the post-Abando and post-Ambohot era. Kurt Reyson exploded for a career-high 31 points in their opening game while Louie Sangalang had a dominant 19-point, 16-rebound outing in their second assignment. King Caralipio logged double-doubles in both and his averages of 15 points and 12 rebounds per game put him at 7th and 3rd in the league in those respective categories.
And with guys like Fran Yu and Brent Paraiso contributing here and there, there’s clearly talent on this squad. It’ll be up to the Knights to find a way to put it all together more consistently and they could easily bounce right back up the rankings to a place to where they’re more accustomed to.
6 University of Perpetual Help System DALTA Altas (Week 1 record: 1-1)
In their first two games, Perpetual has given up only 60 points and 61 points to JRU and Arellano in a steadfast defensive effort. Unfortunately, the Altas find themselves at 1-1 because of their offense, which has varied between their assignments.
In their first game, they scored 84 points in a balanced effort led by Joey Barcuma, Jielo Razon, and Mark Denver Omega. In the next, they need a hard carry job from veteran Kim Aurin, who accounted for 27 of Perpetual’s 59 points in a game where none of the other Altas reached double figures in scoring.
It might be an oversimplification of things, but a balanced attack is probably better for the Altas, and they do have the weapons to make it more unpredictable. For much of Season 97, Aurin, Razon, and Jef Egan were Perpetual’s ‘Big Three’ and the emergence of Barcuma and Omega should give them the depth to again challenge for a Final Four spot.
7 Mapua University Cardinals (Week 1 record: 1-2)
It’s hasn’t been an ideal start for the Cardinals, especially coming off a Finals run in NCAA Season 97. After a big win over San Beda to open the season, Mapua has suffered back-to-back losses to LPU and San Sebastian. Availability may be a factor here as they had to play their latest game without Bryan Lacap, before Paolo Hernandez and Arvin Gamboa suffered injuries in the game as well.
But benefit of the doubt for the undermanned Cardinals aside, they just haven’t shot the ball well this season. Mapua is dead last in field goal percentage at just 34.9-percent. And they certainly aren’t getting anything easy as they’re last place in points in the paint and fastbreak points as well.
Mapua’s defense has been solid, but they need to find a way to put that ball in the basket more consistently if they want to make a similar run in Season 98. If their game against San Beda is any indicator, they should be fine. But they’ll need to start getting results regardless of who’s available if they want to establish themselves as real title contenders.
8 Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers (Week 1 record: 1-2)
JRU really shouldn’t be ranked as low as this given how their Week 1 went, but that’s just how tight things have been with a chaotic, unpredictable opening week. Sure, the Heavy Bombers stumbled early in a 24-point loss to Perpetual. But pushing the defending champs to overtime in a four-point contest and a 23-point rout of EAC should count for more.
They’re clearly a better team than last season, where they had to rely so much on Jason Celis and JL Delos Santos. Both guys are back this year but have the returning Agem Miranda, John Amores, and Ry Dela Rosa as well as rookie William Sy helping fill out the squad. Miranda is in the Top 10 in scoring and Top 5 in assists while Sy just had a breakout performance with 20 points in their most recent game.
But despite some good signs and moral victories, they still only have one win on the board, and they’ll have to prove more if they want to move up these rankings.
9 San Beda University Red Lions (Week 1 record: 1-2)
San Beda is in pretty unfamiliar territory after two losses in three games to start the season. Their offense struggled heavily in a 55-point showing against Mapua to open the season, but they’ve been trending upward since then, at least on that particular end of the floor.
The Red Lions knocked down 16 and 14 three-pointers on close to 45-percent shooting from three in the last two games, led by James Kwekuteye who’s been hitting three per game on 42.9-percent. That has energized their offense as they put up 85 and 81 points in the two games since. Kwekuteye has been great in general, logging 15 points per game, along with 4.67 rebounds, and 4.0 assists. And he’s managed to be a huge positive in minutes he’s spent on the floor. He was a +10 in an eight-point loss to the Pirates, +3 in an 11-point defeat to the Cardinals, and a massive +31 in a blowout win over the Generals.
It’s hard to make a case to put them higher for this week. Among the other 1-2 teams, Mapua holds a win over them and JRU was pretty impressive in giving Letran a scare. There’s plenty of things to like, and also plenty to improve on for San Beda. But more importantly, there’s more than enough time to turn things around this early in the season.
10 Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals (Week 1 record: 0-3)
This probably wasn’t the way the NCAA Season 98 hosts had planned on starting the season. On paper, EAC looked to be competitive with a lineup composed of holdovers like Ralph Robin, Allen Liwag, JP Maguliano, and King Gurtiza.
But Robin, who was one of the deadliest shooters in Season 97, has seen his scoring drop (from 14.1 per game to 8.7) as well as his three-point percentage (from 40.7-percent to 26.7-percent) in an early season slump. Maguliano, who averaged close to a double-double last season, hasn’t made as big of an impact as of yet. And while Liwag’s rebounding and assist numbers are up, but he’s scoring about the same number of points in similar efficiency as last time, despite playing more minutes.
Most concerning is their ability to stay in games. Their five-point opening game loss to Arellano can be forgiven but back-to-back blowout losses by 29 points and 23 points to San Beda and JRU should be cause for alarm. It’s too early to jump to any kind of panic, of course, but this is something that EAC needs to address quickly if they want to stay in the race in Season 98.
—JMB, GMA News
