UAAP Power Rankings: Eagles, Ravena soar

Ateneo went three-for-three in close games this week. Kiefer Ravena just went ‘nova on UE and to quote the color analyst, “have mercy young man!” Ateneo closes out the first round on top while UE and UST continue to flounder through Season 77.

1		Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles (6-1) Kiefer Ravena piloted well against FEU. Then he hit "The Shot" against UST to pull off the win. Then he engaged Roi Sumang in a shootout and dropped a career-high 38 in the process. Whoever his haters are, man we don’t know what else you can say about his game. This week: vs. TBA
Last week: 2
2		De La Salle University Green Archers (5-2) De La Salle is down to nine men. Kib Montalbo tore a calf muscle and had to be lifted off the court against UST. They still remain as the hottest team in the UAAP with five straight wins though. This week: vs. TBA
Last week: 3
3		National University Bulldogs (5-2) NU followed a great come-from-behind win with a lacklustre effort against FEU. Troy Rosario turned in probably his worst game this year with a six-point effort but he did haul down 12 rebounds, dished five dimes and blocked a shot. Glenn Khobuntin has been consistently putting in a nice 8-9pts and 8 rebounds per game so far as well. This week: vs. TBA
Last week: 1
4		Far Eastern University Tamaraws (4-2) After losing to the Blue Eagles last Sunday, FEU blasted NU early before hanging on to dear life as Troy Rosario and the Bulldogs tried to make a comeback. Mac Belo and Mike Tolomia were not their usual MVP-worthy selves but Achi Inigo stepped up big time. Nash Racela has been working hard on this PG and it has been showing. Inigo has been a nice surprise for Season 77. This week: vs. Adamson
Last week: 4
5		University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers (3-3) Karim Abdul ripped his teammates after their loss to Ateneo. Not that we’re taking sides, but no one has been really helping Abdul consistently. Louie Vigil has been showing up nicely, and Aljon Mariano has returned from the grave. But Kevin Ferrer man... he’s been practically a ghost all-season long. This week: vs. UE
Last week: 5
6		University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons (1-6) Mikey Reyes had the game of his life. JR Gallarza had the game of his life as well. And every UP Fighting Maroon fan went home happy after the UAAP CHUMPionship game last Saturday. SA WAKAS! This week: vs. TBA
Last week: 8
7		UE Red Warriors (2-5) Make that four straight chokes for UE. They had a comfortable 38-17 lead before Ateneo and Kiefer Ravena went berserk in the second half. The Red Warriors gave up a whopping 76 points as they scored only 53 points. Derrick Pumaren is running out of excuses to throw out there. They haven’t beaten a Final Four contender to date. This week: vs. UST
Last week: 3
8		Adamson University Soaring Falcons (0-6) Don Trollano (24 points) and Jansen Rios (20 points) were the only Falcons to remarkably put up a fight against UP. Kenneth Duremdes’ face caught on cam makes you just so sad for the newbie coach. He was trying. But they just don’t have the personnel for it. If he, Vince Hizon and Marlou Aquino can only play right now... This week: vs. FEU
Last week: 7

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...

Kiefer Ravena, Ateneo de Manila University: 38 points, 8-20 FG, 19-25 FTS, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal versus UE

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

Roi Sumang: 30 points, 12-26 FG, 5 rebounds, 7 assists

Chris Newsome, ADMU Blue Eagles: 18 points, 4-8 FG, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block

***

Player of the Week

Our Player of the Week is judged not only on numbers but overall performance in helping his team win. Quality of opponent is also added for heavy consideration. The Player of the Week goes to...

Kiefer Ravena, ADMU Blue Eagles: 27.5ppg, 7.0rpg, 6.5apg, 1.0spg, 39.5% FG, 23.1% 3FG, 68.8% FT

...and with that, we also have a Players of the Weak (since we really have two bad performers supposedly doing heavy lifting)! Sadly, we give that to...

Moustapha Arafat, University of the East: 0ppg, 5.0 rpg, 0apg, 2topg, 0% FG, 0% FT

Kevin Ferrer, University of Santo Tomas: 7.0ppg, 5.0rpg, 3.0apg, 18% FG, 15% 3FG, 71.4% FT

***

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 3 rank: 1)

This week: 27.5ppg, 7.0rpg, 6.5apg, 1.0spg, 2.5topg, 39.5% FG, 23.1% 3FG, 68.8% FT

Season: 23.0ppg, 5.1rpg, 5.1apg, 1.4spg, 0.1bpg, 2.6topg, 37.4% FG, 31.6% 3FG, 74% FT

If Ravena does not win MVP by season’s end, we’d be surprised here at Star Sports Hub. Maybe, we’d be even more surprised if he tapers off at season’s end. But knowing Ravena, it is highly unlikely. The kid has been on a mission and it’s not just thanks to those fanning the #Miefer flames. Dude has been clutch. There’s just no words to describe him right now except: insane.

2. Mac Belo, FEU Tamaraws (Week 3 rank: 2)

This week: 9.0ppg, 7.0rpg, 3.0apg, 1.0spg, 2.0bpg, 2.0topg, 38% FG, 50%FT

Season: 17.2ppg, 5.7rpg, 2.5apg, 0.5spg, 0.7bpg, 2.8topg, 61.2% FG, 33% 3FG, 64.3% FT

Belo was stymied a bit by NU’s huge frontline putting up sub-par numbers. Nonetheless, he still is on a rampage this year and has done enough work in apst games to solidify his number 2 spot.

3. Chris Tolomia, FEU Tamaraws (Week 3 rank: 4)

This week: 10.0ppg, 5.0rpg, 4.0apg, 4.0topg, 27% FG, 0% 3FG, 40% FT

Season: 15.5 ppg, 3.7rpg, 3.7apg, 0.2spg, 4.2topg, 41.2% FG, 31.3% 3FG, 56.5% FT

Star Sports Hub’s Tolomia Passing Theory remains strong. He dished out four assists against NU in a horrendous shooting performance for the ages. They came out with the win and he still is in the MVP rankings.

4. Roi Sumang, UE Red Warriors (Week 3: Unranked)

This week: 30.0ppg, 5.0rpg, 7.0apg, 0spg, 2.0topg, 46% FG, 63% 3FG, 20% FT

Season: 15.2ppg, 3.8rpg, 5.2apg, 0.2spg, 3.0topg, 36.6% FG, 32.1% 3FG, 60.9% FT

Sumang has been explosive the past games. It’s just sad that Derrick Pumaren threw him under the bus last time. He’s been at it time and again, but like last year, the Red Warriors have been lacking firepower outside of him. And Charles Mammie hasn’t been given burn by Manong. After two wins to open the season, the Red Warriors are reeling close to the Adamson Falcons.

5. Chris Newsome(Week 3: Unranked)

This week: 18.0ppg, 7.0rpg, 3.0apg, 1.0bpg, 4.5topg, 52.9% FG, 50% 3FG, 88.9% FT

Season: 13.7ppg, 7.7rpg, 2.0apg, 0.9spg, 1.0bpg, 47.2% FG, 58.3% 3FG, 83.3% FT

What else can Star Sports Hub say about Newsome? He has been an all-around beast like Shawn Marion was in his 7SOL Phoenix Suns days. He doesn’t need 10 shots to put up at least 18 a game last week, and he rebounds like a power forward (tops for Ateneo). Newsome picks his spots well, adding to his efficiency and rarely forces the ball to the cup.

Almost made the cut: Jeron Teng, Karim Abdul

Dropped out of MVP race: Alfred Aroga, Troy Rosario

Surprise of the week

UP WON. UP. WON. After 27 tries, God finally sent something good the way of the Maroons. #UPFight lasted for the whole game and Mikey Reyes was playing the game of his life. It was bad offense meeting bad defense and bad defense won!

Team of the Week

Ateneo gets this award as they won in two grind-it-out games. This shows the character the Blue Eagles have as they have been on a mission with Kiefer Ravena checking haters, critics, and doubters off his list along the way.

Team of the Weak

Man, UST has been ugly eh? You got your best player ripping people off like Kobe and worst part is he ripped people off who were doing their jobs (Paolo Pe, Jon Sheriff) and someone who don’t (Kevin Ferrer).

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