Defending champion University of the Philippines (UP) is taking advantage of its extra rest days to fine-tune its game heading into the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 88 men’s basketball tournament finals next week.
Already secured of a ticket to a fifth straight championship stint, the Fighting Maroons are playing the waiting game for the team that will challenge their reign in a best-of-three showdown starting Wednesday.
UP will be watching closely to see whether a trilogy against De La Salle University or a historic title duel with National University (NU) will be set as the two teams duke it out for the last finals seat Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
But head coach Goldwin Monteverde maintains that the Fighting Maroons are not dwelling on who they will face; they’re more focused on addressing what needs to be done to complete a repeat.
“As we always do, every after game, the first thing that comes to our mind is our team,” Monteverde said.
The UP mentor wants his wards to review and work on improving some of their lapses, especially after a close call over University of Santo Tomas, 82-81, in the Final Four last Wednesday.
“We always believe that even if we are in the tail-end of the season, we will still learn more as a team and develop maturity,” added Monteverde, who seeks to steer the state university to a third crown in five seasons.
The Fighting Maroons have swept the Bulldogs in their elimination round head-to-head but will surely find a different NU squad in the finals if it gets past the Green Archers for a return to the championship after 11 years.
On the other hand, La Salle had UP’s numbers during the elims despite playing sans a couple of key players due to injuries. The Green Archers are now in full strength as Mason Amos and Kean Baclaan have recovered from their knee injuries, making them a huge threat once again.
Either squad will give the Fighting Maroons a tough series.
“So, the focus for now is just to look for what we need to improve and at the same time, see which team we’ll go up against,” Monteverde said.