That’s what you call college ball!

A big congratulations to the UST Growling Tigers for winning it all in the 69th season of the UAAP. I haven’t enjoyed a championship series like this since I entered college as UP never finds itself in the finals. :laugh: I also liked that there were fewer sponsors this year because of the ban on La Salle. There were no Mentos sticks, no Globe and Smart hand foams, no flying cars and no Nestle cheers. Let’s face it, the UAAP became a money machine and it’s nice at least this year to see it return to its roots.

You gotta love how UST’s journey could very well mirror the plot of a movie. They have a rookie coach who was a superstar back in his day but he never got to win a championship. He inherits a team whose best player, Jemal Vizcarra, suffers a season ending injury during their first game. They were pretty much inconsistent during the elimination round but still managed to enter the final four at third place. The whole team steps up and they beat the second seeded team twice to enter the finals.

In the finals they get to meet the team who dominated the elimination round. If this was a movie, Ateneo would be the jocks from Iceland (Mighty Ducks ata tong movie na to hehe) whose players are not only regarded as the best but good looking as well. (Doug Kramer, Chris Tiu :winking:) It would have been more dramatic if Ateneo’s coach was an old rival like Allan Caidic but Norman Black is as good as it gets.

UST could have won game one but Coach Black had a surprise up his sleeve. UST coach Pido Jarencio utters some sage advice to his players and they masterfully win game two. In game 3, Coach Black had an answer to UST’s game plan and the Eagles were poised to win it but faltered at the last second. The Tigers, with two of their offensive options fouling out, had to dig deep and win it all in overtime. (Quack! Quack! Quack!)

And if this was a movie, Jaemark found the perfect person for the role of Pido Jarencio. :rotfl: