The Final Score: Ateneo misses the UAAP Final Four. Now what?

I'm fine with it. I truly am.

Ateneo lost to UST, always a dangerous opponent in a knockout game. Ateneo also missed making the UAAP Final Four for the first time in the Facebook era. Wild concept, right? No Final Four means no Finals means no Championship. Gasp? It's all good. At this very moment, I may or may not be the only calm soul in the zany, mind-bending, head-shaking universe of basketball-loving Ateneo alumni. Because I'm fine. I truly am.

[Related: UST returns to Final Four, ends Ateneo's title defense]

I am, notoriously, a creature of context. Heading into this season, I believed that whatever happened to Ateneo would've been acceptable. Considering roster strength, player losses, coaching changes, and the natural improvement of other teams, I thought this was an anything-goes-season. Bahala na how far they go. What happens, happens. After all, they're coming off five straight championships. Seriously, what more can anyone want?

Hence, my own rational, albeit unscientific, forecast for the team was fourth place.

Almost, but not quite.

I don't celebrate when the Blue Eagles win. I don't pop a vein when they lose. When you write about sports for a living, and do it long enough, you learn to appreciate how other schools work just as hard to win games. You meet valiant players from other teams and hear all their stories. You find out about the good and bad, in everyone. No exemptions. In the final analysis, in the rotating wheel of weather-weather-lang-yan basketball luck, everyone deserves to win a UAAP trophy.

So Ateneo finally misses a turn.

Now what?

I wouldn't worry about them. They have all the support they need. Their program has been in place even before Facebook was born. They'll sort it out. They'll be fine. Besides, there are more than enough UAAP basketball titles to go around for everyone. I believe that mindset is called abundance mentality. I actually learned that from a Jesuit.

Ateneo's misstep will now give my Ateneo batchmates, if they're not too affected by the loss, more time to follow the four teams in contention. NU, La Salle, FEU and UST all have compelling story lines.

NU's last championship was in 1954. Not a typo. Nineteen freakin' Fifty Four. Way before cable television, the Internet, cellphones, Twitter, compact discs, cassette tapes. That was even before man set foot on the Moon. Whatever drought you feel your school might have, NU possibly trumps that by decades. Ray Parks and the Bulldogs can change NU's reputation forever.

La Salle has the size, support and streakiness to go all the way. They have been the best-performing team in the second round. That counts for a lot! Displaying a mixture of enigma and invincibility, their season has been a jambalaya of soul-squeezing collapses and heart-stopping comebacks. If the Archers make it to Game 3 of the Finals, and the series goes down to a last shot, who will take it? Jeron Teng? Almond Vosotros? Someone else? Definitely made-for-TV stuff.

Ah yes, FEU. The Fun Eastern University. Their fortunes swing just as wildly as Terrence Romeo's hair. I can't think of any other singular figure in the UAAP who attracts the same amount of acclaim and animosity as Romeo. Will he drop 40 points in the Final Four? Will he take 40 shots in trying to do so? Can Romeo lead FEU to the title like a swashbuckling MVP? Can't wait to find out.

Finally, UST - the sudden interlopers in the Final Four. They're the classic comeback kids. Go unearth your memories of Henry Ong. Go dig up what started this whole Go USTe, Go USTe, Go, Go, Go phenomenon. Jeric Teng is back. The Growling Tigers, once written off as road kill, are back in the hunt. If Pido Jarencio tells me that they're going to win it all, I might actually believe him.

So you see, I'm fine. Even if Ateneo's out for who-knows-how-long. Four other teams, meanwhile, deprived of the ultimate prize for the last five years, are out to win the championship. Ray Parks. Jeron Teng. Terrence Romeo. Jeric Teng. When you cover the UAAP long enough, regardless of your academic roots, you know they all deserve to win the title just as much as the ones who won it before.  - AMD, GMA News