think rainbows

Time for another very biased post! Which just means, time to talk about UST and the Tigers according to Dindin! :))

UAAP season's starting on Saturday, and UST's UAAP campaign also starts on Saturday! But before all that, I would like to share my thoughts on how I think and I wish UST would fare this season. Not just in basketball, but in volleyball and cheerdance as well.

All in all, I would like UST to do really well this season. Not just bag another General Championship at the end of the season but to be able to do it with flying colors. Meaning, that our athletes perform really well for this 75th season of the UAAP. Other schools have been wanting to win that General Championship too, and this year's host school NU would surely be at the top of UST's to-watch-out-for list when it comes to the General Championship this year.

As I've mentioned, this Saturday, UST would also be starting their UAAP basketball campaign as they will be facing the FEU Tamaraws in the second game of the opening day double-header. First game would be the host school, the NU Bulldogs, against the UE Red Warriors. Now comes the basketball talk. =D

Coming into this season, we are all aware of Ateneo's quest for a 5-peat, NU's dominance in the Filoil Preseason tournament, Jeron Teng's skills and Lasalle's obvious improvement, and many other improvements from other teams which makes this coming basketball season an exciting one. A lot of previews and forecasts have been published and even coaches have their own picks. Ateneo's still a favorite, NU's now a team to be reckoned with, FEU could still make the finals, Adamson and UST could be dark horses, UE and UP can't wait to let everyone see their improvements, and the courtside reporters are all females, just an FYI. Of course we won't know for sure what's gonna happen yet unless it all starts.

Now for my thoughts about UST. First and foremost, Chris Camus is gone, and although he's just one guy, he's still a big loss. He's athletic, energetic, a great defensive and offensive player, and you can see in him that he's always motivated to win. I hope it's not something that would cost UST their wins. Fortunately though, two key players are coming back: Aljon Mariano and Clark Bautista. Aljon has been performing really well during the preaseason, so that's a good sign for UST. As for Clark, I hope he has improved during the time he wasn't with the team. There are times that I don't like Clark's decision-making inside the court, so I hope he would just leave that to Jeric Fortuna, and sink all of the three-pointers that he makes. Speaking of the Fort, he had a really good run with Blackwater during the PBA D-League. I'm hoping that the maturity he got there would be put to good use during UAAP games.

I'm a bit worried about Jeric Teng though. He's not that much of a scorer in some games so I'm thinking it's either he's just really been playing hard defense, or he's giving others the chance to score? Whatever it is, I hope he still is the Jeric Teng that I know come the start of the UAAP season; then just a better version of it. I haven't seen him that much during games anyway, so, benefit of the doubt. And same goes for everyone, I really hope that the rookies help out a lot(especially the tall one!), and that the carry-overs have improved their game. I know Kim Lo would be someone to watch out too because of the improvement he made during the second round of eliminations last season. I know for a fact that Abdul is still a monster but he just needs to be careful of his fouls. For Kevin Ferrer, it's his time to shine. No more rookie jitters.

I just hope everyone in the team have enough drive and inspiration to go for a Finals stint this season. It's not always going to be Fortuna, Teng, Abdul, Ferrer, Bautista, or Mariano. They should be able to learn from the energy Chris Camus brings during games, the leadership that the graduating Fortuna would bring, and that basketball is a team sport. If one's in trouble, then everyone's in trouble. If one succeeds then everyone must succeed. Never say die attitude should always stay.

One more thing, I hope Pido has a lot more tricks left in him. He has to think of ways, together with his players, on how they will deal with favorites like Ateneo, NU, and DLSU. As well as other teams in Adamson, FEU, UE, and UP. I hope the expectations that people are saying won't be much of a pressure for them. They've been used to being not mentioned that much so I know this is something new. I hope they take it as a challenge and do good with it because I know that they can do better than what they think they could do. I hope the exhibition game they had together with champion coach Aric del Rosario and most of the 2006 champion team members has given them enough inspiration to strive harder and reach for the top. It's time for this year's batch to do it, and that time is UAAP Season 75. Good luck Tigers!!!

P.S.
This is how I think the rankings would be:
Ateneo,NU: 1/2
DLSU,FEU,UST: 3/4/5
Adamson: 6
UP: 7
UE: 8

But I wish that at the end of the elimination rounds, UST would end up in the Final Four and would eventually go to the Finals. Then, possibly, win the Championship again after 6 years? =D