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Last Saturday, I have just witnessed the play of the decade.

Fourth quarter, UST vs Ateneo, and with around three minutes to go, a Thomasian drove past King Eagle Kiefer Ravena along the baseline and soared for a two-handed jam.

I thought the Thomasian who threw that rim rattler was either Kevin Ferrer or Aljon Mariano, since these two forwards are known high leapers. But in the replay, the dunking dude was Eduardo (insert usual expletive here) Daquioag, erstwhile benchwarmer of the Tigers during the Jeric Fortuna era.

Blinded by the uniform hairdo (or hairdon’t?) of the Tigers, my jaw dropped that Daquioag was the one who threw that stuff. If I had the credentials, height, and hype of a Kiefer Ravena, I must have peed in my shorts after getting posterized by an unheralded 5’9” guy. Good for Ravena, and the rest of the Blue Eagles, they won that game and were at least bailed out from the humiliation of finishing solo seventh place in the team standings after the first round of UAAP men’s basketball.

Still, cheers to Eduardo Daquioag, who showed moves of a mad man during that game. He may not be the next Jeric Fortuna in terms of leadership quality, but I bet, if he gets more playing minutes and exposure, he might just be the next Andy Barroca. With the hops of a Nate Robinson.

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Speaking of the first round, FCF editor Diego de la Paz and I thought that this is the most opportune time to foresee the final four because we have seen the initial results of how the teams played in their first seven games. A forecast, in our opinion, is much accurate if the material basis was laid down instead of a mere guess.

However, before the start of the season, I have been telling Diego that Season 76 will be the year of U-Belt, given that the schools based in Manila’s University Belt area (Recto, Sampaloc, and Morayta) have maintained their core from last season, while traditional powerhouses Ateneo and La Salle, either of which have reached the finals in the past 20 seasons, seemed to have lost their championship touch upon the graduation of their vital cogs.

True indeed, the standing of the first round might be a foreshadowing of September though the tournament is still an open race for seven schools.

I expect FEU to maintain its hot streak, though they might lose a game or two along the way. Props to new head coach Nash Racela, who has transformed this bunch of individual talents into a true team. Terrence Romeo is playing the way he did during his high school days, but this time, he now knows how to pass and facilitate.

But the most improved player in the Tamaraws, in my view, is RR Garcia who finally has evolved into a true point guard. Romeo might have tallied more assists than his backcourt partner but that’s because he gets the ball more than Garcia, but whenever Garcia is on the floor, he gets the team organized in their attack whether in the halfcourt or open court. Furthermore, the Tamaraws have a wide array of scorers in Mike Tolomia, Roger Pogoy, Gryann Mendoza, and Mac Belo; and lockdown defenders in Carl Bryan Cruz, Anthony Hargrove, and the much-improved Christian Sentcheu, who has been averaging two blocks a game despite playing limited minutes.

The NU Bulldogs are also set to return to the Final Four and, if their players outside Ray-Ray Parks and Emmanual Mbe click, they might just be a finals contender against the Tamaraws. The strength of their support cast was seen in their last game against the La Salle and their first win against Ateneo and these guys are really good players, if they play at par with their two black supermen. Gelo Alolino is a big pass-first point guard with high basketball IQ while Dennice Villamor is an accurate spot up shooter if given the space to shoot, while big men Troy Rosario and Kyle Neypes are strong inside players. Coach Eric Altamirano himself said that they can surpass last year’s performance if they get more of its players involved in the game.

Good for third place are the UST Growling Tigers if Jeric Teng gets back to MVP form in the second round. The team has been fighting hard, keeping its final four form despite losing their best player due to a freak injury. They have a solid frontline of Mariano, Ferrer, and Karim Abdul and coupled with the backcourt duo of Teng and the emerging Daquioag, this team has the best starting five in the league. However, UST’s bench players must step up especially since almost all
of the teams right now have deeper benches than them.

Finally, pre-season champs UE Red Warriors might just return to the Final Four for the first time after the Paul Lee era and for one imposing reason — Charles Mammie. Being the league’s most dominant big man, the Warriors will live and die with him. To boost UE’s chances, Roi Sumang has been more mature in playing his role as the primary point guard while the team has an array of shooters in Ralf Oliveros, Dan Alberto, and Gino Jumao-as, the latter being the next RJ Jazul in my opinion. UE has also maintained a big frontline to assist Mammie in Chris Javier, Addy Santos, and the returning JM Noble and perhaps, this team might just upset their U-Belt neighbors in their quest for a finals seat.

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This year’s Gilas Pilipinas men’s national team is a reaffirmation of good old Pinoy basketball, that is, open-court and guard-oriented basketball. I firmly believe that we have the best backcourt among all teams in the FIBA Asiad this August and the team will live and die in their running and shooting game. All I can hope is that this year, they’ll upset the competition to reaffirm the notion that basketball is still the favorite team game of the masses.

It is interesting to note that the last championship of the Philippine basketball team in Manila was held in the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Vito Cruz way in 1973. I suggest that for posterity’s sake, if Gilas will reach the finals, Rizal must be the venue. First of all, the historical sports edifice was built by the Filipino people and not by a big capitalist. Our team fights for the Filipino people and it’s a fitting tribute to us if the finals will be held there, if our team will reach that stage.

Laban, Pilipinas!