The Ateneo Blue Eagles will face the Santo Tomas Tigers in a best-of-3 series to determine who will win the 2006 UAAP Men's Basketball Championship.
Everyone, including myself, expected Ateneo to be one of the teams in the Finals. But nobody predicted that UST, a team that last made the UAAP Final Four in 2002, would make it not only to the Final Four, but even make the Finals by beating the UE Warriors, the pre-season favorites, not once but twice!
The Tigers, led by rookie coach and former PBA player Pido Jarencio, went 2-5 in its first 7 games, but managed to get into the Final Four by winning 4 of their last 5 regular-season games, including an upset over Ateneo in the second round that avenged their humiliating loss in the first round and ended the Blue Eagles' chances of getting undefeated in the regular season.
After winning their playoff against Adamson to determine the #3 slot, they had to face UE, who had secured a twice-to-beat advantage by finishing #2 in the standings with an 8-4 record. Both games could've gone either way, but in the end, UST prevailed. Led by Jervy Cruz, the Tigers are now back in the Finals for the first time since 1999.
Meanwhile, Ateneo has been on cruise control the whole season, getting the #1 seed with a 10-2 record and beating Adamson in the Final Four for their fourth Finals appearance in 6 years. The Eagles are led by Doug Kramer, Macky Escalona, and MVP-candidate JC Intal.
It would be interesting to watch these two teams. As mentioned earlier, they split their season series, 1-1. The only time they met in the postseason was back in the 1999 UAAP Final Four, where UST won.
Being a Thomasian, I would love to see UST winning its first UAAP Men's Basketball Crown since 1996. I would love to see the Tigers on top again. With that said, I'm still picking Ateneo to win it all in 3 games. I think The Eagles are too much for the Tigers to handle.
But anyways, good luck to both teams, and enjoy the series!
As for the NCAA, which i really don't give a crap about, I'm hoping PCU wins over San Beda this Friday. Hehehe! Go Dolphins!
