Having lost six players to graduation a year ago, few people expected the Far Eastern University Tamaraws to be serious contenders in the UAAP Season 79 Men’s Basketball tournament.
Out of the six players they had lost, four are all-Philippine talen,t as Mac Belo, Mike Tolomia, Roger Pogoy, and Russel Escoto have gone on to dominate the semi-professional circuit and are currently part of the Gilas Pilipinas pool. But with a line-up filled with student-athletes that have embraced coach Nash Racela’s system, the Tamaraws ended their first round campaign with a 5-2 slate, currently second in the standings — a feat that has awed even Racela.
“To tell you honestly, even… some people from our camp hindi kami tinitingnan na magco-contend this year,” Racela shared after FEU escaped rivals National University on Wednesday. “That’s why I’m happy for the players because they were up for the challenge.”
“Siguro, noong narinig nila yun, sabi nila the more we need to work doubly hard para mas ma-achieve natin ang goal natin.”
And indeed, the Tamaraws were able to accomplish this feat as a team. Unlike the other contenders that feature a go-to guy, the defending UAAP champions are the only team in the league with no one averaging above 12 markers a game. Moreover, outside of King Tamaraw Raymar Jose, no one has logged in more than 22 minutes per game for the Green and Gold.
Monbert Arong is currently leading the FEU Tamaraws in the scoring department with 11.3 points per game
The mystery of who will step up on a nightly basis is something in which Racela takes pride for this batch of Tamaraws.
“There’s no specific one guy in this team. Paiba-iba,” he remarked. “Hopefully may mag-emerge pa na mga surprises pagdating ng second round.”
“Even ako as their coach, nasu-surprise din ako sa mga pinapakita ng players namin.”
But for Racela, the feat that the team has achieved in the first round is nothing more than a good head start.
Back in the 75th season of the UAAP, the Tamaraws went on a blitz in the first round with a 7-0 start. However, that crop of Tamaraws were eliminated in the Final Four by eventual champions La Salle.
“But again [the record] doesn’t really mean anything for us ngayon. I remember during our first year in FEU, we had a 7-0 first round and then sumabog kami ng second round,” he reflected. “We didn’t end up winning the tournament.”
“So wala, it’s now behind us, the first seven games are all behind us.”
Just like in the first round of the current season, Racela and the Tamaraws will continue to take it step-by-step, one game at a time.
“We’re just gonna focus on the next game and I think it’s on Sunday.”
