Entering the season, few expected Far Eastern University to make it to the next round of the UAAP Season 82 Men’s Basketball Tournament.
For starters, the Tamaraws had lost a lot of student-cagers to graduation, including heavy-hitters Arvin Tolentino, Prince Orizu, Jasper Parker, and Achie Inigo. Moreover, the UAAP did not allow one-and-done FSA Emman Ojuola to join the team for the season.
With this, Season 82 was “supposed to be” a rebuilding year for the proud FEU men’s basketball program.
Fortunately, though, none of them got the memo.
“The last couple of years, we’ve been under the radar. Lalo na this year with all the rookies we had. We have a lot of good seniors, but compared to the ‘superstar’, FEU isn’t really being talked about,” shared team captain Ken Tuffin.
“We don’t mind that. We’re always just gonna take care of business and try go further this year.”
After a slow start to their campaign that saw them sport a 2-4 slate, the Tamaraws went on a huge second round surge capped by a masterful 82-58 win over the UE Red Warriors to book their slot to the Final Four.
And they did it with an underdog mentality that the 22-year-old Fil-Kiwi has been instilling in the Tamaraws.
“Si Kenneth Tuffin talaga ‘yung captain ball na nagli-lead talaga as good example para sa ‘min,” said graduating guard Ino Comboy.
“‘Pag tinignan ko lang siya, ‘yung effort niya, parang kayang-kaya mag-Final Four.”
Looking at the stats, no Tamaraw has averaged above 10 points per game. L-Jay Gonzales and Comboy top the sheet with norms of 10.79 points and 10.43, respectively. For his part, Tuffin is averaging just 6.57 points per outing — sixth-best for FEU.
“I don’t mind that. We always talk about David and Goliath. We have travel time and we always talk about how we should always play as Davids.
Tuffin went on, “We have that chip on our shoulder no matter who we go up against. We play with that chip on our shoulder and stay motivated.”
With FEU making it to the Final Four for the seventh straight season, this batch of Tamaraws has definitely exceeded expectations. But expectations are different from goals.
And of course, the endgame of Tuffin and the Tamaraws is to win the big one.
“I think nothing really changed. We just continued to believe in ourselves, but it’s just now, people are taking notice of us. We don’t mind that,” said Tuffin.
“It’s nice to have a bit of attention, but we will just keep working.”
