2009 UAAP: UAAP Selection

With the UAAP season nearing the end of its regular season schedule, Ateneo, FEU, and UE are emerging as the early entries into the Final Four, with UST and DLSU competing for the final slot while trying to hold off upstarts UP and Adamson. But with the Ateneo-Lasalle games over, and the only big game left being the Ateneo-FEU game, there is not much excitement over the remaining games, save for the possibility of an upset being pulled off by one of the lesser teams.

Not having a game to focus on, I decided to try my luck at forming a UAAP selection. This would be a team that would be formed to compete, so I considered not just how good the players performed this year, but how they form part of the overall makeup of the team. This is what I came up with.

CENTER: Rabeh Al Husseini & Aldrich Ramos. This gives you a classic offense-defense tandem, with Al Husseini being your primary scorer and Ramos your defensive anchor.

POWER FORWARD: Nonoy Baclao & Elmer Espiritu. Both of these players provide solid defense and shotblocking. Both players also give them added versatility, with Baclao functioning as the team's third center behind Rabeh and Ramos, while Espiritu having the ability to play some minutes at small forward if they go with a big lineup.

SMALL FORWARD: Dylan Ababou, Khasim Mirza, & Martin Reyes. While Ababou played at the power forward spot for UST, his natural position is at the small forward spot. Both he and Mirza can also slide over to the power forward spot if the team wants to go with a smaller but faster lineup. Even though he may not be considered among the top 12 players of the UAAP, I included Martin Reyes because the team lacks outside shooting. He will serve as the 12th man but used in specialty situations or whenever the team needs better shooting.

OFF GUARD: Paul Lee & JR Cawaling. Lee is one of the best athletes in the league, and his ability to create shots for teammates exceeds most of the league's point guards. His athleticism allows him to be a good defender. Cawaling brings height and outside shooting to the backcourt. He also plays good defense and can slide over to small forward when necessary.

POINT GUARD: Andy Barroca, RR Garcia & Lester Alvarez. Barroca played mostly at the off guard spot to create room for Garcia. They will still see minutes together, as Barroca is the most likely of the point guards to swing over to the shooting guard spot. Alvarez gives the team additional quickness and ability to push the ball and penetrate.

Please note, however, that this team is not intended to be composed of the 12 best players in the UAAP. Composition was based on the team being able to compete. Personal biases that were factored in were defense and having the flexibility of multiple combinations.

2009 UAAP: Ateneo-LaSalle 2

One week after a nail-biting finish in Game 1 of the 2009 version of the Ateneo-LaSalle rivalry, Ateneo decided it did not want to go through the same suspense and finished off LaSalle as early as the first quarter. They started off 8-0, ended the first quarter leading 17-11, and were up by 17 points at the half.

Game 1 featured LaSalle at its best and Ateneo nearly at its worst (not worse than their showing against UP of course), while the situation was reversed in Game 2, resulting in Ateneo's blowout victory.

GAME SUMMARY: No disrespect to DLSU but this game was a true indicator of the talent disparity of the 2 teams. In Game 1, DLSU's coaching staff outcoached their Ateneo counterparts to effectively minimize the talent gap. In this game, however, DLSU allowed Ateneo to play to its strengths, resulting in the relatively easy victory. DLSU's best chance to win would have been to shake things up and force Ateneo away from its usual game. They did this in Game 1, but failed to do so in Game 2.

Ateneo Highlights: Defense: Ateneo's defense was on track from the start of the game. Even Al Husseini played uncharacteristically aggressive defense, blocking shots and showing up and challenging shots in the paint. Long starting in place of Buenafe gives the team better speed and improves the overall defensive makeup of the team. They were also able to sustain their defensive intensity for practically the entire game and did not allow DLSU to mount any significant runs. Even when their offense struggled in the 3rd quarter, DLSU was not able to mount a serious challenge because their defense held up. Even when DLSU was able to force turnovers, the ADMU defense prevented these from being turned into points.

Al Husseini Focused: Rabeh asserted himself inside. Initially he still played soft against Adrada, becoming tentative when the DLSU rookie came into the game. After Black took him out, he came back focused and just played his game. Given his stature in the league, he should not be afraid to get blocked and just keep attacking the defense. After being stymied by the different looks he was getting defensively, he finally appears to be focused and has had monster games the last 2 times out, with 30 points against UE and 26 against DLSU.

DLSU Highlights: Uhhhmmm...PJ Barua?: It is hard to find anything noteworthy in DLSU's game today. They were taken out of the game early and were not able to get back. The possible opportunity here is that PJ Barua shot well, at least compared to how he's been playing all year. The easy shots he got in this game might allow him to break out of his shooting slump.

DLSU Lowlight: I just had to make special mention of Bader Malabes. He has had his moments contributing to the DLSU program in previous years, but has always come up short in Ateneo-DLSU games. He has been having a horrible year this season, and this game just might have been his worst one this year. He took bad shots, missed even good shots horribly, piled up turnovers instead of assists, and was a hole on defense. DLSU might be better off taking their chances with Marata and bench Malabes.

Final Say: DLSU failed to come up with any game-changing strategy for game 2. Perhaps they had one, but the players were not able to execute it. Consequently, it boiled down to a player's game, with Ateneo's superior talent in this year's lineup just being too much for DLSU to match up with. They were unable to stop Ateneo's offense, and were also not able to attack the defense the way they did most of game 1.

2009 UAAP: Ateneo-LaSalle 2 Preview

In a surprising scheduling move by the UAAP, the second Ateneo-LaSalle matchup will take place only a week after the first one. That means that the two teams have only a week to revisit their strategies and game plans and make the necessary adjustments. Making things more challenging is that both Ateneo and LaSalle also have games on Thursday against separate opponents. Ateneo faces UE, while LaSalle takes on Adamson. Assuming both teams prepare for their Thursday opponents first, that leaves 3 days for the blue and green to plan against each other.

DLSU KEYS TO VICTORY:
> Interior Defense. After a hot start, Al Husseini was more or less contained for the balance of the game until his injury in the 4th quarter. DLSU though will have to defend the interior, not just Rabeh. After the injury, the interior defense suddenly disappeared, giving up offensive rebounds and inside points to Baclao and Salva.
> Offensive Tempo: DLSU's offensive success was due to their pushing the tempo, specially in the first half. They cannot afford to let Ateneo's defense set up, specially with their shooters being erratic. DLSU will have to push the pace and keep attacking before Ateneo's defense can set up. Otherwise, they will have to hope that their three point shooters will get hot. Unlike last year, DLSU has no deadeye shooter this year, with Marata being the only candidate. The rest - Malabes, Barua, Bagatsing, Mangahas are wildly inconsistent.
> Go-to Guy: DLSU has not had a clear go-to guy all season. Someone needs to step up. Webb, despite all the points he scored, is not a go-to guy because his points come from motion and lose ball recoveries. Mangahas was their best bet for a crunch time go to guy this year, but so far he has been a bust in that role.

ATENEO KEYS TO VICTORY:
> Defense: So far this year it has been Ateneo's defense that has been their greatest weapon. In the games against Adamson and NU, they were able to offset poor offensive games with good defense. Even in last Sunday's game, things started going Ateneo's way when their defense was finally able to dig in, and this eventually allowed them to dictate the tempo. Rabeh's injury was a blessing in disguise as far as this was concerned, as the tandem of Baclao and Salva gave them enough speed to defend against the smaller but quicker DLSU lineup. Early in the game, Ateneo's "big" lineup with Al Husseini, Baclao, and Buenafe proved too slow against DLSU's smaller but faster lineup. Ateneo played its best with Baclao, Salva, Austria, Salamat and Monfort/Reyes, which not coincidentally featured more speed and defense than their starting five.
> Attack Inside: Ateneo was unable to utilize its size advantage during last Sunday's game. DLSU successfully turned the mismatch at center into an advantage by playing against Al Husseini's lack of speed. Rabeh has the strength to manhandle the DLSU big men inside the paint in battling for position. He should be aggressive in getting good position and sealing his man as well as fighting for the offensive boards. This holds true for the other Ateneo big men. While they don't have Al Husseini's offensive game, they can be just as aggressive getting good position for the offensive boards against a relatively small DLSU team. Even if they are not able to score often early, this type of game will eventually wear down DLSU's limited interior strength.

Last Sunday, DLSU's speed successfully negated Ateneo's size advantage, forcing the Blue Eagles to adjust and play with a smaller, faster lineup to matchup defensively. In the end it was still Ateneo's big men, Baclao and Salva, who asserted their advantage on the boards, and teamed up with Salamat for the end game punch. This Sunday, will Ateneo be able to assert its inside strength early, and force DLSU in turn to play with a bigger albeit slower lineup just to match up? We shall see...

2009 UAAP: Ateneo - LaSalle 1

The NBA offseason has slowed down with most of the big name signees off the market. The economic situation in the US has likewise made it quite boring in terms of trades and other player movements. That said, let me shift attention first to our local UAAP league, which is heating up with the first Ateneo-LaSalle showdown of the season.

Game Summary: Hats off to the DLSU coaching staff. They outdid their Ateneo counterparts, particularly in the first half and even up to midway through the 4th quarter. Then talent and experience caught up, allowing Ateneo to hit clutch baskets and make key defensive stops. DLSU won off the court, ADMU won on it.

DLSU Highlights: Tall Point Guards. Coach Franz has turned the weakness at point guard into an advantage. Without a true quality playmaker, Franz has resorted to mismatches playing swingmen Bader Malabes and Hyram Bagatsing at the point, and taking advantage of their size to post up the smaller defenders. While it has not worked particularly well for Malabes (who continues to be an Ateneo asset in a DLSU uniform), Bagatsing successfully parlayed the mismatch into opportunistic points not just in today's game but even in against UST.

Speed. DLSU also took advantage of their smaller lineup, utilizing speed as an advantage to offset Ateneo's size advantage. This was particularly true in the first half as the smaller line up of La Salle proved too fast for Ateneo's defense, resulting in numerous uncontested baskets particularly by Webb.

Center Rotation. Without a clear cut starting center, and facing the reigning MVP in Rabeh Al Husseini, DLSU employed different looks on defense. Starter Ferdinand was the more traditional center, using his body to bang Al Husseini. Rookie Andrade meanwhile, who was the most successful, offset the size and strength of Al Husseini with his agility, athleticism, and long arms to both block shots and steal the ball from Rabeh. He was the most successful, albeit his effectiveness tailed off late in the 4th. Mendoza on the other hand attacked Rabeh on offense, scoring off putbacks and driving moves from outside.

Ateneo Highlights: Composure. This game was won by the players on the court. Clutch plays by Baclao, Salva, and Salamat were the keys to the victory in the endgame and overtime. Jai Reyes and Bacon Austria were also noteworthy.

Offensive Rebounds. Nearing the end of regulation and in overtime, Ateneo big men Baclao and Salva asserted themselves on the boards with key tip ins and follow ups. Ironically, the frontline of Baclao and Salva did more damage than when Baclao was with Rabeh. Austria also bears mention being in the mix for a couple of key offensive boards.

Defense. Ultimately defense won the game for Ateneo. The absence or ineffectiveness of their defense was actually what gave LaSalle the lead. But after giving up 40 points in the first half, LaSalle only scored 10 in the 3rd and only had 11 in the fourth before the back to back threes by Bringas and Bagatsing in the last 24 seconds. Salamat and Baclao were the key to the Ateneo defense particularly during the 4th quarter comeback.

Joshua Webb. Yes, I mean Webb the DLSU player. Early in the game, he was the reason for the DLSU lead. Unfortunately, his weakness - intelligence - came out in the end. First were a couple of layups that he blew because he was showboating. But most critical was perhaps the scuffle that he started by kicking Austria. As the commentators mentioned, that may have been the turning point of the game. Instead of taking the foul and DLSU having possession (or even free throws if Ateneo was in penalty), the scuffle resulted in 2 free throws for Ateneo PLUS ball possession. I personally think Webb has the physical skills and athleticism to be DLSU's star player, but his inability to play smart (or bluntly, the fact that he is a stupid player in terms of basketball IQ) has held him back.

Final Say: For Ateneo, this is a game that individual players could be proud of, namely Baclao, Salamat, and Salva. As a team, however, they had no business being taken to overtime by DLSU. For DLSU, this was a great game for them as a team. As an individual though, Webb could have made this the game of his life. It probably still might be, but more of the worst game of his life rather than the best.