Since taking the helm for Adamson University in 2016, Franz Pumaren has never failed to steer the Soaring Falcons to the UAAP Final Four.
But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.
Adamson suffered its eighth loss of Season 82 at the hands of FEU, marking the end of the Soaring Falcons’ semifinal hopes.
And for Pumaren, there’s only one explanation.
“You know, coming into this season… Like what I’ve mentioned before in all of my interviews, half of my team are all rookies,” said Pumaren.
“They’re young, coming out of high school, but you know in hindsight, we were always there in the game. But I guess the lesson that we’ve accomplished here in this year’s UAAP is that there’s really no substitute for experience eh.”
With Adamson’s unexpected exit, Pumaren remains positive about his squad’s trajectory.
Entering San Marcelino in Season 79, the fiery mentor inherited an Adamson squad that placed last in the previous season. And just in his first season with the team, Pumaren turned a cellar-dwelling bunch into legitimate Final Four contenders over the past three years.
“Well, you have to look at the whole picture. When I came here, Adamson is not even considered a contender or what,” the five-time champion coach said.
“But with much speculative, my assumption must be… When I’m in charge of the program, I just was able to establish some respect from the other schools.”
Despite his team’s early exit, Pumaren knows that the future is in good hands, especially now that Adamson’s crop of talented rookies finally got their feet wet in UAAP action.
“I have a bunch of young guys that can be playing well as a future superstar. [Joem] Sabandal, too bad Sabandal wasn’t able to play. You know that [he] could be getting a lot of playing time, but it’s just unfortunate that he broke his hand so he was out for almost the entire first round,” said Pumaren of the Adamson High School standout.
“Of course, AP Manlapaz probably the best right now. Yerro is gonna be there; you know even Flowers, who didn’t get that much playing minutes because he arrived kinda late already. A lot of my rookies will be stepping up come next year.”
