Congratulations to the Animo Squad for a superb performance in today’s UAAP Cheerdance Competition at the Araneta Coliseum. The team has shown tremendous improvement. Even if they were not able to finish among the top 3, their routine was a joy to watch.
Again kudos to the Animo Squad as well as the winners of this competition.
More photos of the event to be added HERE in the coming days
With Adamson winning their last assignment yesterday, the Archers were relegated to 6th place in this season. The last time they placed this low was way back in 1987 when the team was just in their second year playing in the UAAP.
We’re used to the Archers being closer to the top than to the bottom. So what does it feel to see our team (as far as this year is concerned) in the company of traditional cellar-dwellers? Wow! It’s terrible to say the very least. It’s even more frustrating now to be in a position to watch other teams still playing whereas so many times we were always part of the last season game to be played. This is one early vacation that we definitely are not looking forward to.
Everything that transpired this year to our team was definitely not what we are accustomed to seeing. Struggling offense, losing streaks, losing to lowly teams you name it; it had all the ingredients for a very disappointing season.
One might even question if this is the real Green Archers team or just some phonies pretending to be like them. Oh yes they are real! This is no dream. And no matter how many times you rub your eyes thinking if this is some kind of illusion, everything will still be the same. Face it guys, this was just not our year. Just from the preseason alone, we could have already foreseen that this campaign would be tough.
This definitely qualifies as a rebuilding year for the Green Archers. This team is young but full of potential. They could only get better in the coming years. Are we entering the so called “Dark Ages”? I don’t think so. Happy days will soon come again. Our young players, arguably among the best recruits in the collegiate leagues, will achieve their potential with a bit more experience. Hopefully, in nine months, we’ll see the Green Archers emerge from the cocoon that they were in this year, looking and playing like the Green Archers we’ve been used to seeing in the past.
Finally, closure for a season like no other in recent memory.
Season 72 for the Green Archers ended with a 61-63 loss to the nothing-to-lose NU Bulldogs. For the first time in a long time, the Archers finished with a losing record, 5-9. Also another first – the Archers failed to reach the playoff stage for the first time since the final 4 format started in the early 90′s.
Why we lost
NU simply wanted it more. They played their usual free wheeling game without pressure, taking long potshots and individual dribble drives past their perimeter defenders. They pressured the Archer ball handlers, and made ball movement difficult around the perimeters.
Injuries hounded the green-and-white in this game. Arvie did not suit up due to injury, and we lost Yutien early in the game to a sprain. A few minutes later, Kish also had to be helped off also after he sprained his ankle, although he managed to return in the second half. Without a credible inside defender, the ‘dogs penetrated at will although their shooting also left much to be desired.
Archers couldn’t hit the target
Another game where our team couldn’t shoot straight for most of the game, both from the field and from the foul line. In the first half, the Archers made less than 1 out of every 4 shots from the field, and missed 13 out of their 20 foul shots. Missed free throws were costly. Joshua missed two in the last minute after successfully fishing fouls from the NU defense.
Ineffective offensive patterns were the offshoot of poor ball movement. Joel had a so-so game, and was not fielded for much of the second half. Without his quickness and smooth ball distribution, the Archer offense became a walk up half court offense, easily predictable and defended even by the weak-guarding Bulldogs. Peejay misfired early, but persisted and scored 17 points on a variety of long shots and drives. Bader saw action, coughed up the ball a couple of times, but scored on gutsy drives and a now rare triple. Ferdinand was fielded in for the first time in a few games, expended a lot of energy but contributed little else. James pulled another one of his now-familiar disappearing acts, contributing a single field goal and very little else. Kish played well but committed a momentum-breaking offensive blunder, taking a hurried jumper from the elbow early in our shot clock after the Archers had taken the lead at 52-51. His miss effectively halted a potential run by the Archers and enabled NU to regain its bearings.
The season in a nutshell
In a way, this last game was representative of the Archers’ season. Poor shooting, weak ball movement and distribution, the walk-the-ball up offense and the absence of fastbreaks, vulnerability to the perimeter drive-and-dish penetrations, lackadaisical effort from some veterans, and the rookies unable to follow anyone’s lead (because no one wanted to take the lead).
Wait till next year!
So the pregnant wait starts (hey, it’s all of 9 months), and in the meantime rumors are sure to swirl about who remains on the team. Only Hyram is ineligible for next year. Of the veterans, James, Ferdinand, Peejay, Bader, and Kish have at least 1 year each, Jovet, Maui, and Joshua have 3 years of eligibility left, Simon has 2, and our rookies all have 4 years to go. Our team B has exciting talents like Norbert Torres (eligible only in Season 74), Papot Paredes, Martin Reyes, Paolo Rodriguez, and Manoj Chandumal on its roster. The Junior Archers have several good seniors who could potentially go to DLSU. Let’s not forget our guys who sat out the season while in sick bay – big man Marko Batricevic who should have fully recovered from his knee injuries, and LA Revilla whose quickness and ball handling were sorely missed this year.
In the meantime
An early vacation for the men’s basketball team. But not necessarily for the loyal green-and-white basketball supporters, since the Junior Archers and Women’s Basketball Team are already into the final 4. Come and cheer our Junior and Women’s teams as they try to reclaim the championships in their respective divisions. Why not help our Pep squad as they compete in the cheerdance competitions on Sunday.
And let’s not forget our athletes who compete in the other UAAP sports. The badminton and beach volleyball competitions are currently under way. Judo, table tennis, swimming, and taekwondo will kick off within the first semester, while baseball, fencing, chess, football, softball, track & field, and volleyball are slated for the 2nd semester.
Our men’s basketball team may have bowed out for the season, but our other teams are sure to figure in the thick of the battle. Let’s show up and cheer them on (except in chess, of course!).
It’s our Animo Squad’s turn to take centerstage. Support them as they battle it out for cheerdance supremacy this coming Sunday, September 13 at the Araneta Coliseum.
The votes are in! After a month, we now close the poll later and we shall be announcing the 10 players that will be part of the All-Decade Team soon. The results you see now in the poll page might be a bit surprising. However, to make the results more meaningful, we shall exclude all duplicate votes per player based on IP address. Have you guys ever heard of a serious poll where you can vote for someone more than once? Just as with any serious exercise such as this, Flying Votes are not allowed!
Obviously some people made a mockery of this poll by voting successively for a player. They even went to the point of voting hundreds of times successively for their preferred candidate. It’s mystifying exactly what personal satisfaction they get out of doing this.
So for those who spent countless internet hours trying to ridicule the results, we’re terribly sorry as your efforts have gone for naught.
After the loss against FEU last Saturday, not a few thought “It’s all over but for the shouting”. Well, almost but not quite. You see, miracles do happen, occasionally. Well, half a miracle anyway. Because on Sunday, UST, with the 4th playoff berth theirs for the taking, lost to Adamson. The door remains open, but just a crack. On Thursday, the Archers wait for the other half of the miracle – they do their share and win against NU, and hope that UE plays true to form and beats UST to give the Archers a tie for the 4th slot, and a playoff against UST.
Back to the FEU game. The Archers lost a must-win game against powerhouse FEU, but not before forcing the Tams into a nailbiting overtime session before finally coming up short by just 2 points. The Archers dictated the pace for most of the game, only yielding the lead in the 4th quarter. This must have been FEU’s toughest game this season, their anxious moments aggravated by the effective Archer defense on Barroca, Cawaling, and Ramos.
With the loss, the Archers are assured of a losing record for the first time in a long while. With a 5-8 record, the best the Archers can finish with is 6-8 assuming they win over NU.
What went right
The defense, both halfcourt and transition, shocked the Tams and forced them to play at the pace dictated by the Archers. The crisp execution of the game plan that limited national team players Barroca, Ramos, and Cawaling to 22 points. The effective shackling of Barroca, forcing him into an ineffective game on 2/12 field goal shooting on top of 3 turnovers and no assists. The tight guarding of Cawaling, hounding him into a similar 2/14 shooting performance. Only Ramos managed to score 10 points.
The aggressiveness and intensity of the young Archers as they matched the veteran smarts of the Tamaraws for most of the game. The small ball tactics that worked wonders against the taller FEU team, forcing them into 25 turnovers.
Oh yeah, the great example of successful execution of coaching tactics in the closing seconds of regulation, which played exactly as Franz drew them up after calling timeout to “freeze” RR Garcia prior to his last ft (which he missed) that led to the Marata triple to tie the game. And the last defensive stand that prevented FEU from scoring.
What wasn’t quite right
Not much, given the composition of the team that played today. The young ‘uns played most of the game, and among the veterans, only Kish and James saw minutes. There were some unnecessary fouls on Tams even though they were on the perimeter, and these contributed to the Archers’ foul trouble throughout the game.
Only the heroics of rookie Garcia and Cervantes saved the day for FEU. This also highlighted the difficulty of the Archers in guarding good dribble/penetrators and mobile big men.
Possibly the biggest factor was the rebounding prowess of the taller Tams, which gave them a 53-39 advantage on the boards.
The rookie watch
Good performances by Yutien, highlighted by his drive that started from the halfcourt and resulted in an and-1 situation. Sam’s touch from the outside returned, with two killer treys that forced the overtime. In fact, he was asking for the ball before hitting the trey to cut the lead to 2, 64-62. Joel’s effective quarterbacking continued, and he continued to give a good account for himself as an effective rebounder despite his size. Gab contributed a lot of hustle during his brief stint, while Arvie had an off game and failed to contribute.
Looking forward
The season hinges on the results of Thursday’s games. We must win against NU, to put pressure on UST during their game against UE which follows ours. UE will probably not want to enter the playoffs coming off a loss, so I would expect them to go for the win. UST, on the other hand, is a mystery. They had the opportunity to knock us out last Sunday by beating Adamson, but failed miserably.
Half a miracle to go.
KEEP THE FAITH!
A diehard supporter had a chance encounter with Commissioner Joe Lipa in the San Juan Arena after our game. Like most of our fans, he was obviously disgusted with the officiating, and asked Lipa what he thought of the officiating of referees #26 and #30. To his surprise, Lipa started screaming at him, asking why he was making accusations about the officiating. Lipa lunged towards our supporter, and only the timely intervention of cooler heads prevented what many of our supporters wanted to do with the game officials. Why Lipa flew off the handle without any provocation other than an innocent question asking for his opinion is a mystery. Or is it?
Why was Lipa so sensitive to questions regarding the officiating today? Did he see obvious mistakes that could have affected the result of the game? After all, we were playing the host school, which controls the way the league is run.
Which begs the question – what is the real role of the commissioner? This year has shown that he is nothing more than the supervisor of the referees. He has no power to make any decisions regarding technical matters, and can only make recommendations to the board. We all saw this after our first game against UST, where Jovet was penalized for punching but leading MVP candidate Ababou was not, even though his actions were clearly seen during a replay. Lipa recommended a suspension for punching, but was overruled by the board representative of the affected school, UST. Fr. de Sagun even had the gall to defend the actions of the board in disregarding the recommendation of Lipa. We heard rumors that Lipa was hopping mad, but for some strange reason chose to stay in his post.
Every year, the league host nominates a commissioner who ends up being just a figurehead, since ALL decisions are made by the board, including those which are technical in nature. Whoever carries the title “UAAP Commissioner” is actually a lameduck official who has very little power except to choose and suspend the referees in a game.
So why bother have a commissioner’s office in the first place?
