UAAP Preview: Defiant Bulldogs still targeting Final Four stint
Losing the league’s Most Valuable Player never bodes well for a team. If the National University Bulldogs want to win their first ever men’s basketball championship in the UAAP competitions, they will have to conquer that and so much more.
The Bulldogs were tabbed as championship contenders in the past UAAP seasons because they built a strong team around MVP Rayray Parks. With the ultra-talented Fil-Am testing out the waters in the United States, NU will have to contend without the cornerstone of their team.
Still, head coach Eric Altamirano is confident that their system and the players left in his squad are good enough for another title run.
“We’re capable of beating the strong teams in the league but considering that we’re a young team now, we’re still vulnerable because of our youth,” said the coach. “We’re still cohesive because we have guys who have played together for two or three years.”
In terms of cohesion, Altamirano was talking about his veterans as they are introducing lot of rookies in the upcoming season.
“Actually, we have nine new players so this will be a big adjustment for us. Coming from a team that has lost its core players. We lost five players who gave us most of the output,” Altamirano added. “Sean Mbe, Parks, Denice Villamor, Robin Rono, and Jeoff Javillonar, those were our players who were really scoring and rebounding for us. You remove all of that and now we have players who were used to being back-up players and third stringers and now they’re going to take the lead role so it’s going to be a big adjustment for us.”
One good thing about NU is that some of their rookies already have knowledge of the system. The Bulldogs stockpiled talent in their Team B in the past few years and they aim to rip the dividends now that a lot of slots opened up.
“I expect our veterans Troy Rosario, Glenn Khobuntin, and Gelo Alolino to carry the leadership for us this season,” said Altamirano. “And then we just have to hasten the maturation of our young players.”
The NU head coach admitted that DLSU and UST are the two toughest teams in the upcoming collegiate wars.
“Overall, La Salle is still the team to beat. Not only are they intact, they’ve also won the championship so they have the experience,” he said. “But you cannot discount UST. They lost two of their core players but they’re still intact in terms of their key players and they gained experience from their finals stint last season.”
This, however, does not mean that the Bulldogs will be all bark and no bite for Season 77. Even without Parks and the rest of their starting unit, Altamirano has set lofty goals for his squad.
“Ultimately of course we want to win the first ever championship but of course our short term goal is to make it into the Final Four.”
