AROUND THE LEAGUE
By Sid Ventura

Now that Ateneo has wrapped up its double back-to-back feat in the seniors and juniors division and Adamson has regained the women’s crown, let’s take a look again at the top 5 stories of UAAP basketball in Season 72.

5. Oh Romeo, my Romeo. On August 18, 2009, FEU-FERN’s Terrence Romeo singlehandedly outscored the entire UPIS team, 83-55, to lead the Baby Tams to a 49-point win. The flashy guard set a record of sorts by scoring all of his team’s 33 points in the third period. (Seriously, he really did that.) Later, he said he could have scored more if he hadn’t fouled out with around three minutes left. The 5’10” Romeo would go on to bag juniors MVP honors with insane averages of 36.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 3.6 steals per outing. Despite his superhuman efforts, the Baby Tams could only finish fourth. The big question now is: where will this kid end up next year? What I heard was…

4. Twice to beat? Big deal. The Final Four in both the seniors and juniors divisions this season was a third seed’s dream and a second seed’s nightmare. In the juniors division, the defending champion Ateneo Blue Eaglets found themselves in unfamiliar territory, finishing third after the elims and staring at a twice-to-beat hurdle against a UST Tiger Cubs team that owned them in the elimination rounds, where they inflicted two of the Eaglets’ four losses. No sweat for the defending champs. They upset UST in two games to move on to the finals. In the men’s division, the system without a system of the UE Red Warriors was good enough to beat FEU, which was fast transforming from Team Tamaraw to Team Turmoil following the sacking of ace guard Andy Barroca. The two victories over FEU put an end to UE’s history of Final Four Futility, where, prior to this season, they had posted an atrocious 1-15 record in the post season. The Eaglets’ and Warriors’ championship trips would provide different results, though.

3. Double back-to-back. Prior to Season 71, Ateneo’s juniors and seniors teams had never won it all in the same season since the school joined the UAAP in 1978. Now they’ve done it two years in a row. For sure, the men’s team was the prohibitive favorite to repeat, but the high school team finished the double-round elimination in third place, and had to knock off the Tiger Cubs in two straight games. The question now is if both teams are up for a double three-peat. The men’s team has never won three in a row in the UAAP (although they accomplished the trick in the NCAA in the 50s). The junior’s team won four straight from 1983 to 1986, but will face an uphill battle next season with 10 players leaving.

2. We’re No. 6! Franz bids adieu. It had to end sooner or later. The DLSU Green Archers, they of the proud winning tradition, successful basketball program, and Final Four winning streak, struggled all season long and finished with a 5-9 record, their worst since their maiden 1986 UAAP season where they won only four games. That 5-9 mark was better only than perennial doormats UP and NU. In other words, sixth place. To be fair, Franz Pumaren was saddled with a pretty young and (compared to his previous teams) weak line-up. For DLSU fans so used to winning, though, going 1-6 in the second round was like going through electric shock therapy. And speaking of Coach Franz, he ends 11 years as head coach of La Salle – the longest among current coaches. His farewell tour begins with the PCC qualifiers in Naga from November 12 to 14, where the Archers hope to qualify for the Sweet Sixteen and successfully defend their PCCL crown.

1. Barroca Barred. It seems FEU just has to have some sort of controversy every year. In 2006, team manager Anton Montinola disbanded the team after they failed to qualify for the Final Four. In 2007, forward AJ Gerilla was kicked off the team after only three games, the official reason being the usual “conduct detrimental to the team”. And last year, forward Mac Baracael was shot in the back just outside the Tamaraws’ practice facility for reasons we can only speculate on. To this day, the case remains unresolved and the shooter never identified. Comes now Season 72, when team management decides to kick out ace point guard Andy Mark Barroca just days before the opening of the Final Four. Again, speculation was rife on the real reasons, but the official reason again was related to team chemistry. I wonder what will happen next year.