For the first time, Goldwin Monteverde and Jeff Napa will meet in the collegiate ranks after so many years of battling it out in the high school circuit last decade.
But there will be an added flare when these two great minds face off on Thursday at 4:00PM inside the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
After Monteverde steered the Bullpups to the top in UAAP Season 82, the school appointed him as the head coach of the Bulldogs, replacing Jamike Jarin.
What happened during the extended off-season was full of drama, to say the least, though.
Just five months since being formally named as NU’s head coach, Monteverde suddenly resigned from his post. His decision came after Bullpups Carl Tamayo and Gerry Abadiano committed to University of the Philippines.
The rest would follow Tamayo and Abadiano.
Terrence Fortea and Harold Alarcon would also commit to UP while Migs Oczon and JV Gallego left NU to go to St. Benilde and San Beda, respectively.
A year after he left NU, Monteverde would become the new head coach of the Fighting Maroons. He’d finally have a collegiate team he could call his own after failed attempts with University of the East and NU.
Though emotions will likely run high when the game tips off, Monteverde downplayed things. He said that it’s just another game for his young squad will gain experience.
“We’ve always approached naman every team the same. Every game is important for us.
“Whatever we could get from the game — like the game against La Salle, I’m sure that in competing, there’s always something there you would want to build on,” said the soft-spoken mentor.
“Nasa second game pa lang kami this season. So definitely as we go on sa season namin, marami pa kaming chances again to improve. And so we’ve always approach every team naman with the same manner na paghahandaan namin ng maayos and siyempre to win the game.”
Ditto for Napa, the man with the task of building up the rubble left by the diaspora of Bullpups last year.
Napa’s rebuild centered around retaining those leftover from the Bullpups team, securing the commitments of Janjan Felicilda, Steve Nash Enriquez, Karl Gloria, PJ Palacielo, and Reyland Torres.
Against UP, he stressed that he and Bulldogs will have the same mindset as they have in their other games – to prove that they belong.
“Ever since naman, hindi ko tinitignan kung sino kalaban ko or whatsoever.
“Ako, talagang as a person is very competitive,” said Napa, a loyal soldier to NU. “Talagang, wala sa bokabolaryo ko na papatalo ako ng basta basta. Same thing sa mga players ko kasi iniinstill ko na hindi pumasok dito para maging talunan.
“Kumbaga, kahit anong mangyari, we will give our best and be competitive. Whatever the result is, may it be favorable or not for us, at least wala kaming regret dahil ginawa namin yung part namin,” he continued.
The winner of that game will break the 1-1 deadlock in the standings between the two squads.
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