Benilde coach Charles Tiu sees tougher NCAA title bid for Blazers

MANILA, Philippines – The path to redemption for the College of Saint Benilde is tougher than last season, head coach Charles Tiu said.

In an ambush interview during the Par-Tee golf event by the Original Penguin clothing line at the Powerplant Mall, Tiu said they plan to bounce back from a tough finals loss against Letran last season.

But he acknowledged that the other teams also had improvements.

“Our goal is to do better than [last year] But, it is a different story,” Tiu told reporters.

He said that last season, “a lot of things” aligned for them, but now, things are reset.

“A lot of the teams are all competitive, I think more so this year than last year. It is like, I feel every team has a chance to really contend,” Tiu said.

“At least five, six teams are very deep. That could potentially give us problems. I can’t say that I’m that confident entering the season,” he added.

Last season’s team captain, JC Cullar, was recently drafted in the fourth round of the PBA Draft by Rain or Shine.

However, the Blazers’ core is still intact, led by league MVP Will Gozum.

The team also tapped two European coaches as consultants — Serbian mentor Rajko Toroman and Slovenian Zoran Martic, who stayed with the team for some time.

“I want them to learn to be better players… Hopefully, somehow it can translate to help us win some games,” Tiu said.

The opening ceremony of the NCAA will be on Sunday, September 24.