NCAA Season 98 is heading into its last stretch of elimination round games and the Final Four picture is set, with only the twice-to-beat advantage up for grabs. Letran, Benilde, San Beda, and Lyceum will all look to close their elimination rounds strong and build some momentum heading into the playoffs.
1 De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Blazers | Record: 13-4 (Week 10 record: 3-0) | Last week: 3rd
Three games and three wins for Benilde, including an impressive one against Final Four-bound Lyceum of the Philippines University. Thanks in large part to Will Gozum, who earned a third Collegiate Press Corps NCAA Player of the Week nod this week, the Blazers have given themselves a chance to compete for a twice-to-beat bonus, and even a shot at the #1 seed heading into the final stretch of games.
Gozum has been touted as an MVP candidate all season long with 17.29 points per game (1st), 9.59 rebounds per game (4th), and 1.06 blocks per game (5th). But the Blazers are made especially dangerous when the other guys are there to pick it up for Gozum, like in their game against Arellano. Robi Nayve, Miggy Corteza and Mark Sangco all played well to lead Benilde in what was a relatively quiet night for Gozum.
One hurdle remains for Benilde – but it’ll be a tough one. Their head-to-head against the formidable San Beda Red Lions could have major repercussions regarding their twice-to-beat aspirations.
2 Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights | Record: 13-4 (Week 10 record: 1-1) | Last week: 1st
Benilde’s perfect week gets them the top spot in these Power Rankings, but Letran may have positioned itself slightly better thanks to their big winning streak in past weeks. While the Blazers have a formidable Red Lions team with plenty to fight for on their schedule, the Knights will end their season against a struggling JRU team that’s already been eliminated from contention.
Despite a loss to San Beda in a rivalry game this week, Letran has won 10 of its last 11 games, and that has put themselves in prime position. There isn’t a lot of reason to doubt them, especially with a deep team that has five players, led by Fran Yu’s 11.35 points per game, averaging double figures.
The defending champs will need to take care of business against the Heavy Bombers, though, and the Knights then look poised for another deep playoff run in Season 98.
3 San Beda University Red Lions | Record: 12-5 (Week 10 record: 2-0) | Last week: 4th
It was a very impressive week for San Beda, with a 91-77 win against seemingly-invincible Letran and a 70-61 win over JRU. Despite a small hiccup against LPU, San Beda has won six of their last seven and are looking like they’re putting it together at just the right time.
James Kwekuteye (15.47 ppg, 3rd in NCAA) continues to be terrific, JB Bahio has emerged as a consistent double-double, and they’re getting tons of support from game to game with Damie Cuntapay scoring 16 against the Knights and Jacob Cortez dropping a team-high 15 against the Heavy Bombers.
They still have a difficult matchup vs a streaking Benilde side that will prove crucial to the playoff picture and the twice-to-beat bonus. But regardless how things go, the Red Lions should have plenty of reason to feel confident heading into the Final Four.
4 Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates | Record: 12-6 (Week 10 record: 1-1) | Last week: 2nd
Lyceum may have lost a tough matchup against Benilde this week to miss out in the twice-to-beat race, but they’ll be headed to the Final Four and that’s where the focus should be.
Especially impressive is that they’ve done this with no player in the Top-10 of either points or rebounds, and instead have a balanced attack led by Mclaude Guadana, Ato Barba, and Enoch Valdez, who are all averaging double-figures. The engine, of course, of their vaunted running game has been their defense, with Valdez and Guadana both in the Top 5 in steals (averaging 2.83 between them) and Shawn Umali #1 in blocks with 1.94 per game.
LPU remains a dangerous pairing against any of the other playoff teams, and this Final Four is shaping up to be an exciting one because of it.
5 San Sebastian College-Recoletos Golden Stags | Record: 8-9 (Week 10 record: 2-1) | Last week: 6th
San Sebastian was the last team knocked out of the Final Four race – but they showed great character to remain focused despite being out of contention. Close wins against Perpetual and EAC this week catapults them up the standings after becoming the fifth team with eight wins this season.
Ichie Altamirano has stepped it up of late, averaging 15.5 ppg in the last week. The Stags have a chance to finish Season 98 at .500, which would be pretty respectable. Standing in their way will be a matchup against a much-improved Mapua squad, but if they can keep the effort up, they’ll have a chance to finish the season strong.
6 Arellano University Chiefs | Record: 7-10 (Week 10 record: 1-1) | Last week: 8th
Arellano showed flashes of how good they could be when they built a huge 25-point lead against a quality squad in Perpetual. But a fourth quarter collapse nearly let the game slip away from them.
The Chiefs will be sad to bid veteran Shane Menina goodbye, even before they close out this season, but they might have found their cornerstone for the future, at least, with Cade Flores having an impressive rookie season, leading the league in rebounds and ranking 7th in scoring 4th in blocks.
7 University of Perpetual Help System DALTA ALTAs | Record: 7-11 (Week 10 record: 0-2) | Last week: 5th
Perpetual with the tough week, losing by five to AU and by seven to San Sebastian. They’ve been knocked out of contention, but these games have given the ALTAs an opportunity to take a look at some guys who may be playing bigger roles in the future.
While players like Jielo Razon and Rey Joey Barcuma will be a given, guys like Carlo Ferreras (14 ppg in two games this week) and Shawn Orgo (6-for-13 on three-pointers this week) have gotten opportunities to shine in the last few games and that’s something to build on.
8 Mapua University Cardinals | Record: 6-11 (Week 10 record: 0-1) | Last week: 7th
Mapua had a disappointing outing in their lone assignment against Letran this week. They couldn’t stop Louie Sangalang (9-of-10 FG) inside and could not put points on the board in the fourth quarter (5 points) for a 16-point defeat.
They had a much better second round after a nightmare first half to the season, but it’ll be back to the drawing board for the Cardinals if they hope to make a return to the playoffs next season.
9 Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals | Record: 2-15 (Week 10 record: 0-1) | Last week: 9th
EAC had high hopes to start the season but ran into a reality check early in the first round. They’ve only won two games this season and are assured of finishing last in the standings regardless of their results in the coming games.
They’ve had to deal with a lot – including team suspensions for players Ralph Robin and King Gurtiza and more recently, an injury to Allen Liwag – but Nat Cosejo has been such a bright spot for them through a difficult season. His averages of 13.2 points is 6th in the NCAA this season.
10 Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers | Record: 6-11 (Week 10 record: 0-2) | Last week: 10th
JRU had two tough games this week against two Final Four teams. And both of the games turned out to be losses, making it six in a row and nine losses in the last 10 games.
This has been such a tough stretch for the Heavy Bombers after a promising 5-2 start and it doesn’t get any easier as they close out their season against the defending champion Letran Knights in their last game of the season.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
