Saturday, November 11, 2017

Playoff feel set for UAAP today

UAAP is about to get more intense as stakes get higher at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.

With both their seasons on the line, National University and the University of the Philippines will battle it out on Saturday to keep their respective postseason hopes alive in the first game of the doubleheader at 2pm.

The Bulldogs hope to once again rewrite the script for UAAP Season 80, after their dramatic 87-84 victory over Far Eastern University last Wednesday. Head coach Jamike Jarin told the media after the game, "I'm hoping for a miracle. We are hoping for that." He adds that he is hoping that the team's development with regards to their maturity is just in time and not yet too late for the season.

NU will have to overcome the Fighting Maroons, who are fresh from bowing to current league pacesetters Ateneo, 96-82. Although UP gallantly battled them for most of the game, Bo Perasol knows that this was not enough to topple the Blue Eagles from their undefeated perch. Paul Desiderio and the rest of the team knows that they need a full 40-minute effort to pull out a victory.

In spite of this, whatever result of the game above will be moot if the result of the Adamson vs FEU game that immediately follows ends up in the Tamaraws' favor.

The Tamaraws would be locked in as the fourth seed and complete the postseason cast if they manage to defeat the Soaring Falcons, something they failed to do in the first round in a 95-79 loss. The squad of Franz Pumaren already has the third seed locked up, regardless of the result, but the multi-titled head coach is already getting their team into a Final Four mode and mentality and securing the best finish possible for a team that last won a title 40 years ago. (c/o Kim Karlo Castro)

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