ANTIPOLO — Who would’ve thought that Far Eastern University would be the second team to clinch a Final Four berth in the UAAP Season 82 Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Well, according to third-year Tamaraws head coach Olsen Racela, only a few.
“Walang naniwala sa amin, except yung mga nandoon sa loob ng room, sa circle namin, and of course, FEU community,” Racela said after FEU’s dominant 82-58 win over University of the East.
For starters, FEU began the season with a 2-4 slate — and this included a humiliating 31-69 loss to lowly National University last September 25.
The loss served as a wake-up call not just to the Tamaraws but also to their coaching staff.
“Yung offense namin struggled that game but it’s up to the coaches to make adjustments and fortunately, good support from my assistant coaches. Mabigat din yung mga assistant coaches namin. We made the right adjustments and then the players really responded,” admitted the PBA legend.
“That’s why we’ve made it this far.”
Though the Bulldogs were able to repeat against the Tamaraws in the second round, FEU still finished strong, winning five of their last seven games.
And the FEU attack came at all fronts.
The likes of L-Jay Gonzales, Xyrus Torres, and Royce Alforque stepped up. 
Barkley Ebona and Patrick Tchuente embraced the roles of being the team’s energy guys. 
Then there were Kenneth Tuffin, Ino Comboy, and Hubert Cani who took a stepback to show the team that they are willing to do whatever it takes to win.
“Itong dalawang to [referring to Tuffin and Comboy], they’re coming off the bench. People who understand basketball, it’s not naman who starts for you but who ends the game for you or sino nandun sa crucial moments,” expressed Racela.
“It just shows the collective effort that we put in dito sa FEU – tulungan kami.”
Making the Final Four though is just one of the goals of Racela.
Safe to say, the work is not yet done and they still have a business to attend to.
“We’re not done yet. Our goal every year is really to make it to the final four then we move on to the next goal,” said Racela.
“We’ve achieved our first goal, and next goal na kami.”
Can everyone see FEU now?
