De La Salle University may be marching to Season 87 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament as the reigning champion, but it still remains hungry and motivated to win.

Green Archers head coach Topex Robinson said what they have is an entirely new season so they have to work hard if they want to retain their crown.

With reigning Most Valuable Player (MVP) Kevin Quiambao returning, the Green Archers were tagged as the team to beat for having the deepest lineup on paper.

Quiambao is being aided by a powerful support crew led by Mike Phillips, EJ Gollena, Lian Ramiro and Earl Abadam. By next year, they will parade their blue-chip recruits in Luis Pablo, Mason Amos, Kean Baclaan and former National Collegiate Athletic Association MVP Jacob Cortez.

But Robinson knows that talent alone can’t win games.

“We decided last season that we wanted to win the championships,” Robinson said after emerging from a nail-biting 78-75 win over National University last Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“And it’s given to us now. So, we know the responsibility of being the previous champions. And, we kind of take that out of our vocabulary that we are not defending anything right now.”

Robinson said they are playing as if they are not the defending champions.

In fact, they refused to be complacent in the off-season in which they competed in various tourneys, including the World University Basketball Series in South Korea and the Kadayawan Festival in Davao City.

“We’ve played over 50 games during the preseason,” Robinson said.

“We saw everything. All teams are going to play us a certain way. And we believe this is just going to make us better. It’s going to bond us.”

Against NU, La Salle delivered a glimpse of their willingness to win.

Quiambao, for one, played like a one-man wrecking crew, dropping nine of his 22 points in the payoff period, where he knocked down a dagger three-pointer with 9.8 seconds left that saved the Green Archers from a stunning setback.