San Beda still a juggernaut

The lavish opening day program of the 85th NCAA season looked like a massive stage production or international awards program, and opened the college basketball season in style. Host San Beda College matched the intensity of the opening by smothering last year’s Final Four rival Mapua, 85-52, in a game that was over midway through the third quarter. The Cardinals, suffering from a miserable shooting game from their main offensive weapon Allan Mangahas, tried to shoot their way back into it from the outside, with no luck.

Despite losing center Sam Ekwe, forward Ogie Menor and point guard Pong Escobal (and along with it more than 30 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists per game), the Red Lions showed they have more than enough weapons to dispose of opposition in the NCAA. What makes San Beda so tough?

Size. With a frontline of mobile big men in 6’6” Jake Pascual, 6’5” Dave Marcelo and 6’4” Bam Bam Gamalinda, San Beda can more than match up against the thinner frontcourt combinations of other NCAA teams.

Throw in the 6’8” Sudan Daniel, who came off the bench and didn’t even play starter minutes, and the burly 6’4” Jay-r “Baby Shaq” Taganas (who started at center four years ago) and you have enough beef up front to repel any incursions. Add to this the fact that most of these big guys can run, and it will be hard to stop the Red Lions’ rampage.

Depth. We’ve already mentioned the front wall of the defending champions, but the guard corps isn’t shabby by any stretch of the imagination, either. Although Borgie Hermida is still recovering from an ACL tear in his right knee and still plays minimal minutes, there’s plenty of help in the backcourt. Chico Tirona more than ably filled in at the point, and Garvo Lanete and JR Tecson also improved even from last season. With the big early lead, head coach Frankie Lim was able to play most of his bench, too, giving his second-stringers valuable experience in front of a huge opening-day crowd.

Experience. Granted, the previous leaders of the team aren’t there anymore, but their teammates who are still around have been there for their entire three-year championship run. We’re talking about Taganas, Gamalinda, Tecson and Hermida, who even won the adidas Asian Streetball Championship together the year before their championship string started. They’ve been in big game situations several times before. San Beda is actually preparing for when that batch graduates together, and that’s soon.

In past years, San Beda lost huge chunks of its multi-titled Red Cubs squads because past coaches wouldn’t guarantee them spots on the senior team. That has changed, and the priority now is bringing up players who have been part of their successful juniors system. The results are obvious.

On paper, this year looks like a year of adjustment for several teams in the NCAA, and this may, at first glance, narrow the field somewhat.

Four teams are still going to be adjusting to new coaches: San Sebastian College with Ato Agustin, University of Perpetual Help with Boris Aldeguer, College of St. Benilde with Richard del Rosario, and the aforementioned Cardinals with Chito Victolero.

The three new teams – Angeles University Foundation, Emilio Aguinaldo College and Arellano University – will be feeling their way around, and the established schools will be loathe to lose to the rookie squads. That leaves the incomplete Jose Rizal University, and the retooled Colegio de San Juan de Letran on more stable footing.

At the end of it all, San Beda is sending a message to the rest of the NCAA, that it’s business as usual. The pressure is now on the other teams to pull off surprises.

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This writer would like to thank Mazda for their support in a recent project.