One more day till the UAAP's 74th season opens. Alot of college basketball fans are already squirming in their seats. Mostly, they are fans of the Hail Mary Squad, the 6th Man of the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles.
I cannot blame them for their excitement. Who would not be when you have arguably the best High School prospect since Mike Gamboa and Bacon Austria played for the Ateneo High School Blue Eaglets in Kiefer Ravena? Not only that, there was also that coup of prying a legitimate 7-foot center from the University of Visayas Lancers, Greg Slaughter. And we have not talked about the hold overs, and the comebacking players. Or for that matter, other rookie standouts like Gwynne Capacio and Von Pessumal just yet.
Not since the Eagles paraded the group of Enrico Villanueva, Wesley Gonzales, Larry Fonacier, Paolo Bugia, Magnum Membrere, LA Tenorio (albeit Bugia and Membrere were injured in that epic Finals run of '02) has the Blue and White seen a strong team down to the 12th man (or 15). On paper, I'll be handing Ateneo their fourth consecutive UAAP title (and perhaps, another PCCL title in the offing, but let's not get ahead of ourselves) with no question at all. The only thing comes close to this powerhouse line up is that of the squad from Taft. Only the Archers seem to have the weapons to match up with the height and heft (Papot Paredes, Ponso Gotladera, Arnold Van Opstal, Norbert Torres, Tayshaun Andrada, Jovet Mendoza, Maui Villanueva), range (Joseph Marata, Jarelan "Oda" Tampus, Almond Vosotros, Simon Atkins) and depth of this Blue Eagle team. They may be a bit green, literally, but they will give a fight. Still, Ateneo would stamp it's class in the end much like during the past Rabeh Al-Hussaini era wherein they pretty much steamrolled through everyone.
Coming back for the Eagles in their last tour of duty are Kirk Long, Bacon Austria, Emman Monfort, and Tonino Gonzaga. They'll be joined by returnees Nico Salva, who will once more carry the scoring cudgels albeit with help now, JP Erram, Justin Chua, Magic Tiongson, Jeric Estrada, Frank Golla and the comebacking Oping Sumalinog, who should finally be able to show the potential he has been holding back. Now, that's a pretty crack group of returnees considering pretty much everyone in the UAAP do not have that much of a champion's pedigree compared to these old Eagles. Adamson comes close, but their nerves do not. FEU maybe but we all know how that turned out. This experienced bunch already know how to handle themselves and how that will change will be an angle we will be looking forward to.
Not to be outdone by a solid core of returnees, Ateneo outdid it's own finest recruiting class (that of Buenafe, Salva and Chua). Hands down, this will be Ateneo's best, and it will be remembered as so. When everyone kept spotting Greg Slaughter in Ateneo's games, everyone's heads were whirling already with possibilities, after all, it is not very hard to spot a 7-foot-tall guy in the stands. What they were thinking probably were along the lines of: "If, and it is a big IF, Ateneo was really able to pry Slaughter from the UV Lancers, all hell will break loose next year." Well, that was pretty much what I thinking, and guess what, they did get ol' Greg!
Now, the question will be, is he really that good to be really watched closely by everyone? By and large, will he just be an incarnation of EJ Feihl, all height and no game? Or will he be the Rabeh of '08 and '09, a beast who trundled up and down the hardcourt? Or will he be better, even surpass the monstrous presences down low of Blue Eagle lore which have the likes of Enrico Villanueva, Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Nonoy Baclao, Danny Francisco, Eric Reyes, Joy Carpio, "Rajah of Rebound" Rabat? Those questions I'm pretty sure would dog the Fil-German behemoth throughout the 74th Season of the UAAP.
And then, we have the main kicker of Ateneo's recruiting class: Kiefer "The Phenom" Ravena. There is no one, I repeat with emphasis, NO ONE better than Ravena right now as an incoming rookie. I can already hear growls, yelps, and snorts from everywhere already, from Morayta to Taft, Recto to UST. Sure, the other schools may have Ray Parks or Kevin Ferrer or a Chris Javier or Ponso Gotladera, but fact of the matter is, aside from Ray Parks who originally signed a letter of intent to the US NCAA's Georgia Tech, no one was recruited as heavily as Ravena.
It was like the Ryan Buenafe situation all over again, where an uber prodigy is chased around town by NCAA and UAAP schools, only this time, the prodigy is right in the Blue Eagle's backyard. Anyone who has seen Kiefer Ravena play all shake their heads at the end of the game. Try as the opposing defense might, there. Is. No. Way. To. Stop. Him. He might have a bad shooting afternoon, but he does not win games by scoring point alone. He can beat a grown man off the dribble (calling Calvin Abueva), pull up with ease, dance around three defenders and spot Paolo Pe and Paolo Romero and Von Pessumal lurking around and out-battle bigs for critical boards. And before I forget to mention, the young gunslinger is a proven winner, and can, and will hit the big shots whenever called upon.
Now, that may seem as if the Blue Eagles are a toploaded offensive team. I beg to digress. Not only do they have the ample (heck, it is overloaded) firepower to crush opposing teams to the ground, they still are the best defensive team amongst college teams I've seen. No one is as demanding as Coach Norman Black when it comes to defense. One wrong switch is all it takes for a player in Blue and White to get yanked off the hardcourt and be glued to the bench. As much as outscoring your aspect is the main point of the game, it is defense that wins championships (yeah it is old and way out of date, but this still holds true. Dallas won a ring with defense, did they not?). And nobody played defense better than Norman Black's crack squad.
With the addition of Greg Slaughter to man the middle, a position which did not get clear cut guy for the team last year, it will be harder on the opponents to score in Ateneo's paint. Not only will Slaughter be a potential offensive beast as the last true big man of Ateneo, Rabeh Al-Hussaini, was, he is also projected to be as good, or even better, as Noy Baclao was in locking down big men. With those long arms, he'd be a more effective weak side helper than japeth Aguilar was. He'll be aided by Ateneo's starting power forward last year, Frank Golla, who surprisingly lead the team in rebounds per game despite being tabbed as a soft four.
The guards up to the small forward spots should be amply filled with crack defenders. No one in the league or in the nation was better than Kirk Long at on-the-ball defense. He took on every opposing teams' leading scorer and gave them fits. A team's main man who plays the 1-3 positions would be having nightmares prior to a game against Ateneo because of him. Emman Monfort can handle guards bigger than himself but not built like a rock like the Pocket Rocket is. Bacon will contribute more with his defense giving Nico Salva a breather from scoring the points AND defending the other team's best 3.
If Ateneo is able to answer questions pertaining to Slaughter's play, the chemistry of the other go-to-guys with Kiefer Ravena, the board work of the big men, and if they are able to play consistent defense, there is no way no one would chalk up another Championship run for the Eagles.
Signing out,
Courtside Spotter
