At First Glance: Far Eastern University Tamaraws

This team has ran into bad karma since the Soc Rivera days. Will they be able to jump back into good relevancy?

The Good

FEU once again fell short of their goal and owner Anton Montinola can’t take it.

A bright spot for them is that RR Garcia opted to play out his final year. And then there’s Russell Escoto gaining positive experience in the PBA D-League. You cannot discount as well that Cris Tolomia should’ve gotten better for a three-guard attack featuring superstar RR, Terrence Romeo and Tolomia.

Escoto wouldn’t be alone up front with Anthony Hargrove back in harness after his drug raps. Carl Bryan Cruz is in once more while they might miss the services of Anton Bringas. Brother Arvie should be calmed down and focused this time around to give the Tams at least a shade of his former self as a Staglet.

The Bad

Team rap is bad, folks.

We think no one has recovered from Spit-gate wherein Arvie Bringas spat on Justin Chua’s nape and their overall “Thug”-araw attitude. We know it’s great to have a mean streak but sometimes, they just are overboard. No one liked FEU last year. No one wanted them in the Final Four simply because of the bad blood.

The Ugly

Aside from getting a bad pub, FEU added more to its woes when Anthony Hargrove got busted along Morayta. That’s a PR nightmare along with his team’s thin bench. Christian Sentcheu, the 6’11” foreign student-athlete was not up to par in Montinola parlance.

Oh and they also lost Jerie Pingoy Jr. to Ateneo. That made them ensue an anti-piracy bill in the UAAP boardroom.

And Terrence Romeo’s heroball antics and shot selection.

Very ugly.

Watch out for…

Russell Escoto should be better this year with more major burn time.

Hell, he would be the lead Tamaraw in a year’s time.