Former Colegio de San Juan de Letran head coach and current De La Salle University Green Archers mentor Aldin Ayo has always kept tabs on the Knights throughout the season. The 38-year-old mentor has always asked how his alma mater is doing and has religiously watched the Knights during their NCAA Season 92 campaign either live or on TV.
The Knights, with an 8-9 record, have effectively been eliminated from the Final Four race, thus ending their bid for back-to-back championships.
During the crucial stretch of the season, Letran lost five straight games that sent the defending champions out of the Final Four despite starting their campaign with a 5-1 slate. During that skid, Letran lost two close games to the Lyceum Pirates, 75-72, to end the first round, and 68-66 early in the second round; lost to eventual-semifinalists Mapua Cardinals, 79-75, late in the first round; and were outlasted in overtime by the JRU Heavy Bombers, 75-68.
The nail in the coffin for Letran’s season was then handed by the same team they had eliminated last season during the Final Four, as the Mapua Cardinals denied the Knights’ comeback attempt, 77-72, last Tuesday.
Ayo, who had led Letran to their first championship in a decade last October, was visibly disappointed with how his beloved team had been eliminated.
“Siguro, yung detalye lang. Kasi kung makikita natin yung mga talo, mga endgame e,” Ayo said last Wednesday after La Salle’s rout of the University of Santo Tomas.
“So may kelangang i-adjust dun. You have to figure that out.”
When asked about what adjustments could have been made to avoid Letran’s endgame woes, the Sorsogon City native said that issues should have been addressed quicker before they had reached that streak of defeats.
“If your team is losing in the endgame, then there must be something wrong with yung mindset ng mga bata and kung pano mo i-handle yung mga bata,” the Letranite concluded.
