The stage is set for explosive action in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 89 men’s basketball tournament.

Defending champion De La Salle University’s arrows are already sharpened and aimed at a back-to-back title.

University of the Philippines wants redemption while the rest of the field is ready to shake the balance of power in the first-semester centerpiece competition.

Collegiate basketball fever is upon us once again.

But hostilities have to wait for a little bit as season host Far Eastern University (FEU) has prepared an opening ceremony to remember Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Not to be outdone by previous hosts, FEU is starting Season 89 with a bang.

Philippine entertainment icon Vice Ganda is turning the state-of-the-art arena into her own halftime stage, fittingly named “Super Unkaboga-Bowl.”

Festivities begin at 5 p.m., with Vice Ganda and Gloc-9 headlining a star-studded lineup of performances designed to usher in a brand-new UAAP season.

FEU aims to stage a kickoff show that feels less like a traditional sports opening and more like a Super Bowl halftime show or a UEFA Champions League Final opener.

More than a curtain-raiser, the show will spotlight FEU’s artistic side while setting the tone for Season 89’s theme, “For Everyone, UAAP.”

“It underscores, as you all know FEU, very inclusive. Everybody is important,” UAAP Season 89 president Mark Molina said.

The UAAP theme reminds everyone that the league is not defined solely by the student-athletes who take the court, field, pool, or track, but by the entire community that makes collegiate sports possible.

“When you talk about the UAAP, you always see the basketball players, the volleyball players, but we don’t see the people who made them successful. Everyone in the community is very important; that’s why we have successful teams: teachers, students, drivers, even the cooks inside the canteen. Everybody’s important. All are part of the FEU community, part of the UAAP community. That’s why we have that theme,” he added.

And FEU intends to make that message impossible to miss.

“We are going to put up a show. Saturday will see the artistic side of FEU. It will be a celebration of the artistic side of FEU,” Molina said.

The spectacle will serve as the opening act for what promises to be another packed UAAP calendar, with the men’s basketball tournament tipping off Sunday with a tripleheader at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“And after that, on September 13, it’s going to be a showcase of the athletic side of FEU. This is what’s in store in Season 89,” Molina added.

The Tamaraws charge into battle with the mission of reclaiming the title, over a decade after their last championship in 2015.

An intact FEU squad under third-year mentor Sean Chambers gets an early acid test against Adamson University at 12 p.m.

Following the curtain-raiser are rematches of last season’s Final Four.

The Green Archers begin their repeat quest against National University at 2:30 p.m.

Preseason favorites Fighting Maroons and University of Santo Tomas rekindle their rivalry at 6 p.m.