UE, NU emerge as early favorites to win UAAP – coaches

If there's one thing the UAAP coaches agree on heading into Season 76, it's this, that the fight for the throne is a wide open race.

"It will be an exciting season. Any team can beat any team," said Adamson Falcons head coach Leo Austria, at the league press conference, Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena. Adamson University is hosting the tournament this year.

"I'm excited and nervous because I have a chance to win a championship, but any team can beat our team. A lot of teams have emerged as contenders," noted Austria, saying that chief among them are the National University Bulldogs and the University of the East Red Warriors, the finalists of the recently concluded FilOil Cup.

"NU are designed to win a championship. But we will never know [until we play] who is the best team in the UAAP."

The Bulldogs and the Warriors were also touted by all the other coaches as favorites to win the men's basketball tournament. But for their part, UE's coach Boysie Zamar said the praises don't mean anything to him yet.

"For us to be included as a contender, we're flattered, but we should never be contented. Everybody can do it [this year]," said Zamar. "You have to come back to reality. The UAAP is just about to begin this coming Saturday."

Coach Eric Altamirano deflected the praise but said he was grateful for being tagged as a team to beat. "Like I told the boys, I think we have to embrace it. If there's a year we can do it, it's this year," he said.

"I'm humble since we're tagged as a team to beat but we haven't been to the [UAAP] finals yet. I hope that tag can translate into wins, pero hindi. We still have to prove ourselves."

Altamirano, meanwhile, specifically called out the UST Growling Tigers as one of the more silent but deadly teams. "Kapag preseason tahimik lang yan," he said, addressing their head coach Pido Jarencio. "Pero sa season nakikita mo yung pagka-Tiger niyan."

The usually boisterous Tigers mentor himself said little, but promised that his team, after coming off a PCCL championship and a UAAP Finals appearance, shouldn't be ignored. "Box office kami this coming season. UST, una sa takilya," he said.

Ateneo remains a contender

Austria also cautioned that amidst the new forces emerging, the league's five-time defending champions remain a force to reckon with. "We cannot discount Ateneo. They're very dangerous. Even without their big men, they're hard to beat.

"Ateneo is a tough team to beat. We saw them play in the preseason and we expect them to play their winning ways," chimed in Altamirano. "Maybe they lack some depth this season but you expect all their players to play their best."

Ateneo head coach Bo Perasol countered that Austria's Falcons were going to turn heads as well. "I agree with Coach Leo [that NU and UE are contenders], but he's trying to underplay his chances," jibed the former PBA head coach of the Powerade Tigers. "But he's right; every team has the chance to contend this season."

Perasol said that he's okay with his team being tagged as an underdog, even if it's something that he says the Ateneo community hasn't experienced in a while. "I don't know if mahihigitan ko pa yung naging accomplishments ng pinalitan ko na coach. But what I can bring to the table is make my team right now understand that despite the odds, they can still win.

"As far as the wellness of my team is concerned, if we can be 100 percent healthy this season I think we can defend the crown with this team," he said.

Wait and see

Like Zamar and Alamirano, other coaches were more conservative with their assessments of themselves despite drawing praise.

"It's going to be hard to say who the best teams are going to be. Maybe we can make an assessment after the first round," said La Salle's new head coach Juno Sauler. He added that in the three weeks since he took over the reins from Gee Abanilla, his team has had to practice twice a day to implement his adjustments.

Fellow rookie head coach Nash Racela of the FEU Tamaraws also said that for now, his goals for his team were more modest. "Sa end namin we're just happy with our development," he said. "Importante lang we're taking the right steps in the right direction. We'll take it a game at a time, and we'll see what happens.

"I'm happy we're not ranked in the top two or three. It releases all the pressure, actually," said Racela, noting that performances in practice won't accurately gauge game-time performance.

"It remains to be seen," he said of the Tamaraws' play and what he brings to the table as their new mentor. "Siguro it's better na rin yung game namin yung magpapakita."

It went unsaid that expectations were not high for the UP Fighting Maroons, but head coach Ricky Dandan promised to keep things competitive on their end.

"I don't think anybody will disagree with me when I say we're the underdogs," he said. "But we've taken the attitude that every game we play will be against highly rated teams. And we look at every team as teams we need to beat and we want to beat.

"I think you call will agree with me that the fighting is back in the Maroons," he added. "Half of our team is new, and that's what keeps the UP community excited."

Tighter league monitoring

New commissioner Chito Loyzaga told the press that there would be no new changes with league rules. He revealed however that he has been lobbying for innovations to the UAAP board, particularly for tools to help his technical committee.

"What we're trying to do now, which I'm recommending to the board, is to have additional cameras for the use of the technical group to monitor unsportsmanlike behavior of the players, coaching staff and officials," he said. "It'll also be an opportunity to monitor the performance of the referees so we can make the necessary adjustments.

"It's nothing radical, but just to perhaps extend some assistance to the commissioner and his technical staff."

UAAP season 76 officially opens on Saturday, June 29, at 12pm at the Mall of Asia Arena. - AMD, GMA News