UAAP Power Rankings: Sweep-less Season

There will be a Final Four after all. No one’s sweeping this season, and the Ateneo Blue Eagles won’t always make their jumpers as much as Alfred Aroga won’t drive to the hole on most occasions. It’s a dogfight out there with no one pulling their punches. Let’s take a crack at Philstar.com’s UAAP Power Rankings after some teams have played four games.

1		National University Bulldogs (3-1) It was a 1-1 week for NU. They lost the game to DLSU (more than the Green Archers won it really) by themselves but made up for it by gutting out a hard-earned win over the Ateneo Blue Eagles last Saturday. Troy Rosario continues to shine for this fun squad nonetheless. This week: vs. Adamson
Last week: 2
2		Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles (3-1) Was it fatigue to blame for Kiefer Ravena’s recent shooting-er-house building? The past week, the King Eagle shot a nightmarish 7-for-33. That’s Jeron Teng’s and Almond Vosotros’s number combined in a single game! And then, Bo Perasol had that cute thought of starting Kris Porter against NU. What was that? The bright side here is that Arvin Tolentino has been delivering as advertised...well, except on defense. This week: vs. FEU
Last week: 1
3		Far Eastern University Tamaraws (2-1) FEU jumps up a spot this week after taking care of business against UP. It was a surprise they let UP fight in the first half. In the second half, things were different after unleashing a 31-7 warhead. It was a breeze from there as Mac Belo continues to impress everyone. This week: vs. UE
Last week: 4
4		De La Salle University Green Archers (2-2) The defending champions eked out two close, come-from-behind-wins. If they get their bearings, things are bound to get scary. However, the fact remains that they are obviously feeling the negative effects of Thomas Torres’ injury, which has forced Kib Montalbo to play more minutes (good luck with that). It’s more of NU and UE losing the games by themselves really. However, 36 TOs and all, DLSU has had a better week than UE and UST. This week: vs. Adamson
Last week: 6
5		University of the East Red Warriors (2-1) When the going got tough, UE...choked. Just like old times. Remember Season 70? Yeah, that hurt right? Here was UE, up 10 at the start of the final canto in their first acid test, and then...UE just went UE. DLSU threw the ball 36 times, they failed to capitalize. They thought acrobatic shots account for something more than simply fishing the foul or and-1. It’s all on you, Red Warriors. At least hey, you had two great games to cushion yourselves unlike UST. This week: vs. FEU, UST
Last week: 3
6		University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers (2-1) Honestly, we have no idea where to put the trio of UE, DLSU and UST this week. All of them played bad. But perhaps, UST played the worst, next to DLSU’s 36 TO game, which ended in a win. With their lineup, they could’ve easily blown Adamson to kingdom come. But it was...a one-point win that shouldn’t have been? More importantly, Aljon Mariano was nowhere to be found at endgame with Bong Dela Cruz opting for Kent Lao. Can you tell us the difference between Mariano and a manual-shift car now? The car has clutch. This week: vs. UP
Last week: 5
7		Adamson University Falcons (0-3) Tough break for Adamson against UST last Saturday. But at least, they are getting somewhere under Coach Kenneth Duremdes. You have to marvel how reed-thin Matt Aquino held Karim Abdul to eight points and nine rebounds and how they were just one possession away from giving their coach a victory. If only they had Don Trollano that time... This week: vs. NU, DLSU
Last week: 7
8		University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons (0-4) Congrats! The #UPFight hashtag and spirit has an increased duration of 20 minutes now. The Fighting Maroons took it to the Blue Eagles before UP became UP (AGAIN!). And then, in the second half of their game against FEU, the Fighting Maroons managed to shoot six, yes, you read that right, SIX percent from the field. Can we say hopeless? This week: vs. UST
Last week: 8

Line of the Week

We’ll be handing out this award to players who garnered the most eye-popping stats for the week. Drumroll please as we hand it to...

Jeron Teng, DLSU Green Archers: 18 points, 6-12 FG, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal versus UE

Surely, we have consolation prizes! And they are...

Mark Juruena, UP Fighting Maroons: 9 points, 3-4 FG, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks, 1 steal

Troy Rosario, NU Bulldogs: 16 points, 6-9 FG, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

Arvin Tolentino, ADMU Blue Eagles: 20 points, 7-12 FG, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block

MVP Watch

It won’t be as good if we don’t have an MVP watch as well seeing as we have many great players doing a lot for their teams! So, did your team’s top gun make it this week? Let’s see who we got this week.

1. Kiefer Ravena, ADMU Blue Eagles (Week 1 rank: 1)

This week: 16.0ppg, 4.0rpg, 5.0apg, 1.0spg, 1.5topg, 21% FG, 10% 3FG, 80.9% FT

Season: 20.8ppg, 4.3rpg, 4.0apg, 1.8spg, 0.3bpg, 2.0topg, 37.1% FG, 35% 3FG, 80% FT

It’s hard to imagine why Kiefer is still number 1 in the MVP race given the sudden ugly turn of shooting the past two games. From 51.3 percent, it dropped to 37.1 percent, and please, #Miefer people don’t blame the absence of Mika Reyes on this one. The King Eagle claims it was fatigue that brought his game down. Against NU, he had all the looks he wanted but somehow decided to be jump shot-happy instead of foul-baiting on drives. If he can’t regain his legs against UE, UST and FEU, expect a drop in the ranks.

2. Troy Rosario, NU Bulldogs (Week 1 rank: 4)

This week: 13.0ppg, 8.0rpg, 1.0apg, 0.5 spg, 1.5topg, 55% FG, 33% 3FG, 50% FT

Season: 13.0ppg, 7.8rpg, 1.0apg, 0.5bpg, 1.8topg, 51.1% FG, 33% 3FG, 40% FT

Troy let NU down against DLSU when he somehow forgot to use his speed advantage over AVO, Norbert Torres and Jason Perkins. He more than made up for it by destroying the little semblance of defense Ateneo rookie Arvin Tolentino put up against him as he needed only nine shots to rifle in 16 points on top of eight boards and two dimes. He has to develop a go-to-guy gene quick though.

3. Mac Belo, FEU Tamaraws

This week: 12.0ppg, 9.0rpg, 2.0apg, 63% FG, 100%FT

Season: 17.0ppg, 6.3rpg, 2.3apg, 0.67spg, 3.0topg, 60.6% FG, 28.6% 3FG, 69.2% FT

The current Sinag member makes his StarSports Hub UAAP MVP Race debut thanks to a solid game over the UP Fighting Maroons. Belo has been the star of FEU alongside Chris Tolomia, proving to be more lethal than RR Garcia and Terrence Romeo were, in their ability to co-exist.

4. Chris Tolomia, FEU Tamaraws (Week 1 rank: Unranked)

This week: 18.0ppg, 4.0rpg, 3.0apg, 4.0topg, 88% FG, 75% 3FG, 100% FT

Season: 18.3ppg, 3.3rpg, 3.0apg, 0.3spg, 3.0topg, 52.5% FG, 55.5% 3FG, 66.7% FT

The trend is this: if Tolomia is passing the ball, FEU wins. If he doesn’t, God help ‘em all. In wins, Tolomia dished out 4.0apg. In their loss against UST, he only hit once. If he wants to continue surviving in this race, he has to take care of that basketball since he is throwing it away at least thrice a game. However, Tolomia has been scoring the ball so well we cannot help but welcome him to the UAAP MVP Race of Star Sports Hub.

5. Arvin Tolentino, ADMU Blue Eagles (Week 1 rank: Unranked)

This week: 18.5ppg, 8.5rpg, 0.5 apg, 0.5bpg, 2.5topg, 46% FG, 31.3% 3FG, 100% FT

Season: 15.8ppg, 6.8rpg, 0.8apg, 0.8bpg, 2.0topg, 45.7% FG, 34.6% 3FG, 75% FT

The highly touted rookie makes his Star Sports Hub MVP Race debut after a strong Week 2. The defense is still not MVP-caliber (we don’t think it ever will, unless proven otherwise) and he still has the propensity to take defensive plays off. However, we cannot shrug off the fact that he put up those numbers up there. While for a big, he is shooting just a shade above 45 percent, he hits threes at a higher rate than most bigs do (counting Hefty Lefty Perkins). Almost 35 percent is good enough to keep defenses on you as you create space inside for Kiefer Ravena. Their chemistry needs some work but man, A-Train coming through!

Almost made the cut: Norbert Torres, Alfred Aroga, Roi Sumang, Jeron Teng

Dropped out of MVP race: Gelo Alolino, Von Pessumal, Jason Perkins

Surprise of the week

This week’s surprise come way of Ateneo and Bo Perasol as Kris Porter was elected to start in front of G-Boy Babilonia and Ponso Gotladera. It apparently backfired as NU carved out a 64-60 win.

Team of the Week

This one goes to the DLSU Green Archers after going through two grueling matches and coming out on top. NU and UE may blame themselves for the losses they incurred, but DLSU just played with poise out there and stuck with it.

Team of the Weak

We shall not continue to shame UP in this regard even if they are the weekly champion of this department. UST earns this dubious title for now after that showing against Adamson. That was horrendous, Bong Dela Cruz and Aljon Mariano.

File your comments, complaints, protests, and blind hate to @PioVGarcia.