Hate to be serious and all, but given that FEU just blew a do-or-die game, well, I guess I am allowed. (Moment of despair) Alright, I’m back. Let’s get things started with a somber…

Five years from now, it won’t be remembered that UE rode an eight-game winning streak (including three games over FEU) all the way into the finals. What will be, unfortunately, is Andy Barroca’s untimely banishment from the team. Sad but true and not at all indicative of the real problems that plagued us all year and reduced the team from a title contender to a final four pretender, it will be an asterisk the Warriors will loath. But that’s a probability they will eventually have to face as reality.

Before we discuss the game and beyond, let’s first stand up and salute our Tamaraws. It’s not an excuse but it’s worth saying that we were undermanned, and yet we gave them a fight. I’m standing right now—CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!—clapping (it’s hard to type and clap at the same time). Thanks, guys. Standing there at the parking lot waiting for you guys to come out from the dugout, I heard you guys apologize. I’ll repeat here what I was telling you guys last night: you don’t have anything to be sorry about and nothing to be ashamed of. Except for, err, let’s save that one for later.

For the first time this season, I saw some semblance of JR Cawaling’s promise. He can be a leader. Last night, he was their leader. He held the guys together. And so did Pipo. I saw him call over the guys into a huddle quite a few times as well. That’s something you wouldn’t expect from your rookie forward but from your pointguard—who are supposed to be leaders by default, given that they are court generals. (I have written some sentiments regarding my conversation with Pipo, check out my earlier post “An Open Letter to Pipo”.) RR—may the gods bless whoever will be guarding him next year—played his heart out yesterday.

Exorcised expectations

I had some expectations going into the game yesterday. These, I thought, would’ve given us the win and a trip to the finals. Here they are: Ramos gets his usual double-double; Sanga, on at least 40% shooting, scores around 10-12 points; at least 20 minutes of solid guard play from Manalo’s end coming off the bench; JR Cawaling lives up to the pre-season hype; and RR Garcia goes out of his mind for 25-30 points. Yep, the last one was a prayer. But this combination of things, I thought, would be the only way we could beat a UE team peaking at the right time.

Ramos was okay. Sanga seemed to be bothered by something—an injury, the pressure, the Dacer-Corbito case, the rising cost of LPGs, whatever—and it translated into a 2-point scoring game with a lousy field goal percentage. Manalo played around 10 minutes, sadly; Caluag—for CHRISSAKES!—stole most of the guard-off-the-bench position. JR Cawaling did the best he could in the first half, but disappeared in the second. And RR, well, stayed sane but did his best leading the team in the most important game of the season—AS A ROOKIE!

Translation: a six-point lost.

Gotta give it up, Glen

So let me get this off my chest. I am of no authority to speak on the matter, I understand. I had coached a high school basketball team in an interschool tournament, yeah, and I carry an all-time coaching record of 0-1. Obviously, to my mind, this doesn’t count. BUT I DO KNOW MY SHARE OF BASKETBALL. And, in my very humble opinion, Coach Glen Capacio has to go.

I respect the guy as a player. For me, he’s the Pinoy John Stockton (I know he played 2-guard NOT point like John Stockton). But I am talking about the all-around toughness and control of the game. He had a great outside touch, a decent perimeter game and was good for 8-12 points per outing. He also did the dirty work. I have him in my all-time PBA defensive team along with Johnny A, Chris Jackson, Rey Evangelista and Philip Cesar. (On a side note: who would you pit against this PBA defensive team? I feel a mylist thread coming soon.) Capacio will bump you, handcheck you and match your speed with good lateral movement. He helped Alvin Patrimonio’s career as well, funneling offensive players right into Defense Minister Jerry Codiñera, freeing the Captain to get those weakside defensive rebounds for that much needed statistic boost year in and year out.

I am pretty sure Coach Glen is a good guy. With a mustache like that? Come on! How can he not be? But as a coach? Well… this is where with which I have an issue.

I shall base this discussion ONLY on this season. I have to admit that I was not much into the league the past few years. But I know enough background coming into this year: the Blue Eagles are the defending champs, Eric Salamat is an ass (he should take this in a complimentary manner to get my goat like that, by the way), UE changed coaches, Franz Pumaren has lost some hairs on his mustache due to Rico Maierhoffer’s surprise PBA draft entry, Woody Co would still be wearing his mask, and that the Tamaraws would be led by a trio of national players. I was excited about it, but until I see them play—I told Ian—I won’t believe the hype. BECAUSE I still wanted to check how Capacio would do.

And check I did.

Failing first fives

I am keen on checking coaches’ rotations. And early on, I was bothered by Capacio’s seemingly random selection of starters. Yes, I admit that there may be things going on in practices that make him say: “you know what, Pipo didn’t benchpress 500 lbs in practice, I’ll move him to the bench next game”, or “Ecsimiano sure looks like a stud, I’ll put him with Andy in the starting backcourt next game.” It bothers me that Coach doesn’t stay with a fixed lineup for their starting five. As I have been saying all season long, he should’ve had a solid 8-9 player rotation—feelings be damned. Start Barroca, Garcia, Cawaling, Cervantes and Ramos. Have Jens cover guard duties, Sanga the swingman reliever and Pipo the big-man bomb blasting off the bench. And have Tanuan on standby, just in case. There’s your team. Your 2009 Champs. Would’ve been. Could’ve been. Should’ve been. Aw, it hurts.

(Moment of despair, again)

Here’s the part that hurts. Coach’s coaching inefficiency in rotating his guys was what gave the game away to UE. That and the Paul Lee-on-Reil hat trick Coach Lawrence Chongson pulled on him. (More on this later.) First of all, I gotta admit that I loved the starting lineup for that last game. It was as if my prayers—had I prayed—were answered upon seeing Sanga slide onto the shooting guard position—after all, it’s a “shooting” position, and what else does Sanga do? Though it may limit the team’s ballhandling, I thought it would’ve been a deadly combination of scorers UE would have a hard time with controlling. Now back to lambasting Coach Glen.

Cawaling was hot in the first half, scoring 15 of his points in that stretch. In one play, JR was feeling it, he was patting his head, wanting to set an iso or pick & roll play for himself. In the process, he shunned Capacio’s playcall, waving away once, twice, thrice his right arm in the coach’s direction, as if saying: “I’ll take care of this. Let me do this.” He missed the shot on his iso play and, in the next deadball situation, he was taken out. It is a bit understandable. JR disregarded his call. But to make that statement on the most crucial of games that your captain is trying his very best to win is just INSANE!

As mentioned earlier, Coach favored Casey Caluag over Christian Manalo. Caluag was so out of his element that I cringed whenever he dribbled the ball down court. The guy’s got no offense! Lingganay, who is at least 4 inches shorter than him, blocked his only shot! … And, oh, he also committed a crucial traveling violation in the 4th quarter, lifting his pivot foot before the ball landed on the floor while driving to the basket after coming off a good ball rotation up top.

Jack Tanuan—who has played around, say, 5 minutes so far up until that point—subbed for CAWALING in the last minute of the game!

Oh, man, I’m getting nauseous.

Failing to foul

In the late stages of the game, Coach also botched to tell his guys to foul. With a little over 30 seconds to go, down four points, it took around 7-8 seconds before he was able to make a call for his players to foul UE. And, unfortunately, at that point, it was foul-troubled RR Garcia nearest to the UE ballhandler who had to do his duty. And the game ended there. Well, the game ended right about after the 1-minute mark when Pari Llagas looked to have committed a goal-tending violation on an FEU attempt. Perhaps that affected Capacio to the point that 30 seconds later, he failed to instruct his kids to foul.

Blackhole of FEU basketball

After the game, Ian asked former FEU standout Mark Isip what he thought the team missed. The answer was simple: Barroca.

Let’s elaborate.

In the fourth quarter, FEU put up only eight points. EIGHT POINTS! The Tamaraw offense just stopped right there. And I attribute it to Coach Lawrence Chongson’s hat trick, putting the smaller Paul Lee on the meaty Reil Cervantes. It was a trap that Glen Capacio fell for. I can’t believe my eyes as the move had prompted the Tamaraws to give the ball exclusively to Reil, who, according to a UE staff we talked to after the game, will shoot the ball in the post 90% of the time. It was as if “Reil in the Post” meant the galactic equivalent of a blackhole. FEU lived and died with that go-to play. It stagnated the offense and the players relied solely on Reil.

This wouldn’t have had happened had Barroca played. He would’ve taken over, set the proper plays and come through. Somebody Ian and I talked to after the game said that he felt Paul Lee feared nobody in the FEU lineup, that he all of a sudden was invincible with Andy’s absence. “Nobody can guard me.” That was the guy’s thought of Paul Lee’s mindset. And it wasn’t difficult to see as evidenced by his scoring sprees on both Final Four games he squared with a Barroca-less FEU team.

I must have missed a few things here and there. But I am afraid that going through everything would be mean. So let’s ask the question everybody is asking after the season ended: where do we go from here?

Fixing FEU

I’ll start by letting Coach go. His three-year contract is over anyway. There are some whispers of FEU alumnus George Gallent as a possible replacement. While I have no idea what the next coach would do, I have ideas of my own on how the team should be run.

If I were in charge, I will make FEU a halfcourt team. I know it’s boring and reminiscent of those 90s NBA teams that played low-scoring games. But, problem is, without Barroca, fastbreaking would not be a luxury we would have. What we do have though is the bulk and the height to pound it inside and the shooters to kick the ball out to.

I’ll put Ramos on the post. Like I have been saying all season long, this is an 18-points-per-game kind of guy! Dump the ball into him, score easily over smaller defenders, or pass the ball out to shooters (Sanga, RR, Jens) or to cutting slashers (Cawaling, Reil, Pipo, RR again). Do this and I guarantee you Ramos will average 18 points, 8 rebounds and at least 3 assists per game, and get the MVP award while at it.

I would love to see Pipo improve his dribble drive. He is tremendous now, but his powerhop is borderline traveling violation. When he develops that good dribble drive impenetrable from pesky guards going for the steal, he will be unstoppable going to the basket. Next year, I see him averaging 12 and 8.

Reil should do a Baclao—support the main man. You know why Rabeh is as efficient as he is on offense? Because he doesn’t have to do a lot of defense; Baclao has got his back. Rebound, defend and score when the ball falls right into your hands, Reil—don’t ask for it. If he comes off the bench, he’ll serve the team right averaging just 7-8 and 5-6.

RR Garcia can get Barroca numbers. Next year, he can just average 12-13 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, with a ton of heady play and leadership and I am sure this team will be dangerous—even more dangerous. I am trying not to expect anything from JR Cawaling. But if he could average 10 points per game next year, that would be gravy.

I am hoping the team can get two to three guards. Kahit isa lang sa kanila ang solid, that would spell a world of difference. The core of the team is still in tact—like UE transitioning from 2008 to 2009. And, hopefully, the same change occurs and bears the same fruit—the Finals, at least.

Singit

Okay, I will still give my thoughts on the Finals sans FEU. I want the Warriors to win. I will route for Paul Lee and Val and Elmer and Pari (even though he leaned on Pipo’s left foot a little too long) and Lingganay (even though he had those five straight killer points) and Lawrence Chongson (even though he looks like the time-shaving, overcharging guy who ran the videogame hangout I frequented as a kid). I’d love to see them hand Ateneo their ass. I’d love to see Eric Salamat pissed because he can’t do his overplayed salute. After the FEU-UE game, I heard somebody telling UE folks that he’d agree to hit Eric Salamat in the shin with an iron pipe for a plate of pancit. I wonder if he got his oily share and if he’d keep his end of the bargain. He’s got, what, the whole day Saturday left.

BUT, I still think Ateneo will win. Watch out for Nico Salva and Ryan Buenafe. They are due for good outings. But this will be a good matchup. And, I have to admit, UE would fare better than a broken FEU team against a seemingly unstoppable Ateneo team. How I wish Alfonso Yuchengco was a UE alumnus. Can you imagine him sitting in the patron seat across Manny Pangilinan? I’ll pay to see that!

I know, I know this is another matter. Can’t blame a hurting guy for trying to divert his attention. … So, okay. Where do we go from here? … GO, SHAIRA!!! … Again, can’t blame a guy, right?

 

September 27th, 2009 by A Les Lupisan A Les Lupisan is a creative writer + director. He is an alumnus of the Advocate + a graduate of AB Mass Communication, batch 2002. He is an artist, a musician, a writer, but aren't we all?