The top of the NCAA Season 98 standings just got a little more crowded after both #1 De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and #2 Lyceum of the Philippines University suffered upset losses to cellar-dwelling EAC and Mapua, respectively. The usual suspects like Letran and San Beda are breathing down their necks now after an unpredictable Week 5, so the Power Rankings see a bit of a shake-up as the second round heats up.
1 San Beda University Red Lions | Record: 6-3 (Week 5 record: 1-0) | Last week: 5th
San Beda has been flying under the radar for much of this season but they close their first round campaign with a convincing win over the Perpetual ALTAS and are now well-positioned to challenge for the top spots with a 6-3 record, only slightly behind Benilde’s 7-2.
JB Bahio stepped up with a 16-point, eight-rebound performance in Week 5, and he’s now in the Top-10 in both scoring (12.67 points per game) and rebounding (9.0 per game) for the season. He’s looking like that second star to pair with James Kwekuteye and the results can speak for itself, as Bahio and Kwekuteye lead the league in plus-minus, with a +104 and +103 in nine games played apiece.
They’re not quite #1 in the league, but it would be hard to argue that any other team had a better Week 5 ahead of what should be an interesting second round campaign.
2 Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights | Record: 6-3 (Week 5 record: 1-0) | Last week: 4th
Letran is in similar position as San Beda as they climbed to 6-3 after winning their only assignment this week. They had a tougher time than the Red Lions did, though, as they were put to the test by the EAC Generals before escaping, 72-68, thanks to heroics by Kurt Reyson and Brent Paraiso.
They have so many weapons this season, with four different players (Paraiso, Reyson, Fran Yu, and King Caralipio) averaging 11.89 points or better. And that doesn’t include their big man duo of Louie Sangalang and Pao Javillonar, who combine to average 17.33 points and 13.33 rebounds per game.
They’re just a step behind the league-leaders now, and that’s happened despite having to weather two-game suspensions to two different players. If the defending champs can keep their composure and have a complete unit the rest of the season, then they could give themselves a shot at defending their title.
3 De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Blazers | Record: 7-2 (Week 5 record: 0-1) | Last week: 1st
Benilde is still hanging tough on top of the standings, but a 0-1 week will knock down them the Week 5 Power Rankings at the very least. Even worse, the league-leading Blazers became the first team to surrender a win to the previously 0-9 EAC Generals, and that has to be concerning for head coach Charles Tiu, who expressed that he’ll be tightening up on his wards.
EAC, which is averaging a last-placed 63.4 points per game, put up a season-best 80 points on the Benilde defense on Sunday, and that’s something the Blazers are going to have to address. They continue to be the best offensive team in the NCAA this season, but that won’t mean a whole lot if they’re not going to be able to get stops when they need to.
It’s nowhere near the end of the world for Benilde, but the EAC upset will have to be a big wake-up call if they seriously want to contend for the title this season.
4 Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers | Record: 5-2 (Week 5 record: 0-0) | Last week: 2nd
Not too much to say about JRU as they weren’t able to play any games this week. But the upsets of both Benilde and LPU this week will be a positive for them in the standings, though the emergence of both San Beda and Letran will make for a much more difficult Final Four picture.
5 Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates | Record: 7-3 (Week 5 record: 1-1) | Last week: 3rd
LPU probably has an argument that they had a better week than Benilde (0-1) and JRU (0-0), since they at least picked up a win this week. But the Pirates are probably the ones who can hear those loud Letran and San Beda footsteps coming.
They did manage to pick up a win over Arellano and they did have a chance to pull off the victory against a recharged Mapua squad, so it wasn’t like this week was a disaster.
But that upset loss to the Cardinals, where the Pirates only scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, could hurt them in the long run. WIns have come tough for teams this season, and giving up a winnable one against a lower-ranked team could be one they'd like to have back near the end of the season.
6 San Sebastian College-Recoletos Golden Stags | Record: 3-5 (Week 5 record: 1-0) | Last week: 8th
San Sebastian will have to be pleased this week after snapping a four-game losing streak, and in convincing fashion, winning by 17 points.
They were able to do it with Romel Calahat finishing with only three points and failing to make a single field goal, scoring all of his points from the free throw line — and that’s a huge positive given how much he had to do for the team early in the season. Guys like Alex Desoyo, Raymart Escobido, and Rhinwill Yambing have stepped up of late, and a Stags team with more options will be a much a tougher opponent for the rest of the field.
7 Mapua University Cardinals | Record: 2-8 (Week 5 record: 1-0) | Last week: 9th
After closing the first round with their first win in nine games, Mapua promised a different Cardinals team in the second round. So far, they are living up to that promise after a big-time win over Lyceum, which was running second at the time.
The Season 97 finalists remain a dangerous team, and will give higher-placed teams lots of fits late in the season. Whether or not it’s too late for their Season 98 campaign, remains to be seen, but the Cardinals can only afford to take it one game at a time. And for now, it’s looking rosier than it has all season long after back-to-back wins.
8 Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals | Record: 1-9 (Week 5 record: 1-2) | Last week: 10th
It was a bit of a roller-coaster of a week for EAC as they closed the first round with a 0-9 record and announced that two key players in Ralph Robin and King Gurtiza were suspended for the rest of the season. On the other end of the spectrum, Nat Cosejo won the GMA NCAA All-Star Game MVP honors and the Generals were able to pull off a huge upset over league-leading Benilde to clinch its breakthrough victory.
It’s hard to tell if EAC has really turned a corner, although Cosejo’s recent play could give them hope that it has. It’ll have to wait until the next few games before we find out what this team is really made of. But for now, the Generals deserve to take a moment to celebrate this hard-earned win.
9 Arellano University Chiefs | Record: 4-5 (Week 5 record: 0-1) | Last week: 7th
Arellano will be disappointed to come away with a 0-1 record this week after falling just short of a huge comeback attempt against Lyceum, 82-80. That made it back-to-back losses and defeats in four of their last five games now.
The positive is that they were much more competitive in this one after a 35-point blowout loss to San Beda in their previous game. This effort against LPU, even if it came a little late in the contest, is what they’ll need more of if they hope to break out of this slump.
They still have a cushion that keeps them ahead of the likes of Mapua and EAC in the standings, but they need to be looking at the teams ahead of them, not behind them.
10 University of Perpetual Help System DALTA ALTAs | Record: 4-5 (Week 5 record: 0-1) | Last week: 6th
It wasn’t a great week for Perpetual after they lost by 19, 71-52, to San Beda in their lone assignment this week. Kim Aurin and Jielo Razon just didn’t have it this game, combining to shoot 4-for-27 from the field and 0-for-12 from three. It’s hard to overcome numbers like that from your best two players.
They’re not too far back from the contenders and there’s plenty of season left to play. But the ALTAs better make their move soon if they want to stay in what’s looking like a very tight Final Four race.
—JMB, GMA News
