A win will make it sweeter, but Mapúa head coach Randy Alcantara has fond memories to reminisce when he and the Cardinals take on Benilde tomorrow at the historic Rizal Memorial Coliseum– where the NCAA will once again hold games for the first time since 2005. 

Taking a trip down memory lane, Alcantara recalls the first time he stepped on the very floors of the iconic sports venue. He was in Mapúa’s secondary team at that time, a team B cager watching in the stands, waiting patiently for a callup to be elevated to the main squad.

“Pinakaunang punta ko sa Rizal Memorial, natatandaan ko Team B ako ng Mapúa noon, pinapanood ko yung Mapúa versus JRU (formerly JRC), sila Vergel Meneses my idol,” recalled the Cardinals’ head coach. 

Alcantara remembers vividly how the college hooper Randy wanted not only to be lined up with the big boys of Mapúa’s seniors team, but also to experience hooping at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum (now called the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex).

“Pinangarap ko talaga… pinagdasal ko na someday maglalaro din ako sa NCAA at sa Rizal Memorial na yan,” Alcantara said, recollecting how he wanted to play at the Malate, Manila-based coliseum that have hosted countless sports events of historic relevance.

“Nangyare naman, and thankful sa Panginoon kasi galing probinsya, magugulat ka talaga ganun karaming crowd [sa] Rizal Memorial… historic,” he added.

The bemedalled basketball coach would proceed to win championships with Mapúa both as a player in 1991, and as a head coach when he led the Cardinals to a 33-year-drought-ending championship during the NCAA’s centennial season just last year. 

While the headlines are on Mapúa and Benilde’s first and only elimination round showdown– and anticipated redo of last year’s finals– Alcantara bears a collegiate career nostalgia to remind him of what was and guide him in what will be.