The Adamson University Falcons will be trying to fill many shoes going into this season's UAAP hostilities. Can they thrive on the tweaks? | Philstar.com/Izzy Toledo
UAAP Season 78 Preview: Adamson
Coach: Mike Fermin, who once played for UP in the early 1990s. He’s in his first year at Adamson.
Season 77 record: 1-13
Losses: Matt Aquino, Alexis Barrera, John Baytan, Harold Butron, Francis Donahue, John Gumtang, Axel Iñigo, Ryan Monteclaro, Jess Pedrosa, Jansen Rios and Don Trollano. And head coach Kenneth Duremdes.
Holdovers: Christian Garcia, Joseph Nalos, Dawn Ochea, William Polican and Ivan Villanueva
Newcomers: Kristian Bernardo, Simon Camacho, Nico Capote, Jose Carlo Escalambre, Gerald Fernandez, Jerome Garcia, Alvin Margallo, Ken Mark Miranda, Harold Ng and Gwall Cherif Sarr Soulemane.
Team breakdown
Where do you begin with this team?
They practically lost all their scoring and rebounding team from last season. Essentially that was Jansen Rios and Don Trollano.
And there's that valuable game experience – save for Jospeh Nalos – they lost as well. And to think before Season 77 they also lost a lot of key players.
For last year's squad, promising rookie Matt Aquino moved to a new address that is NU. Their head coach, make that ex-head coach Kenneth Duremdes, is out and from all indications, it was an acrimonious parting.
So is there any good news?
Yes.
Hope springs eternal and the Soaring Falcons enter the season well under the radar. It is both good and bad notes first year head coach Mike Fermin.
Good in the sense, it allows his team to grow without the harsh spotlight reserved for veteran and talent-laden teams.
Bad in the sense that they do not want to stay in the cellar.
It is a young team yet Fermin got them to play hard-nosed basketball during the summer. Players like Dawn Ochea, who languished on the bench in previous seasons, now had lots of playing time. There sure were a lot of adjustments. However, Fermin likes what he sees.
They've got a good attitude in spite of the odds being stacked against them. And they hope to run and play some small ball.
For them to do that, Cameroonian Gwall Cherif Sarr Soulemane must rebound. Coach Mike has asked his 6'8" center to rebound and protect the rim. He has players – Ochea, Joseph Nalos, and Frederick Tungcab, who is coming off a Mythical Five selection from last season's Juniors UAAP – to provide some scoring. Some points here and there, a lot of rebounding and defense; Fermin will be happy.
"Unfortunately for us, we learn as we go on," said Fermin. "The summer was a good experience but the UAAP is something else. As long as we can stay close up to the end of the game, we can be satisfied. It is just getting better with every game."