With JB Bahio moving on and the potential of James Kwekuteye forgoing his last playing year, San Beda University head coach Yuri Escueta is expecting shifty guard Tony Ynot to play a bigger role come their redemption bid next season.
"I know JB and James are moving on, but Tony, I think Tony's going to be a big part of next year's team," said Escueta.
Ynot's NCAA Season 98 stats speak for itself. The second-year cager posted averages 9.06 points, 5.44 rebounds, 2.33 assists, 0.56 steals, and 0.39 blocks in 18 games played, just behind top scorers Kwekuteye and Bahio.
But while Ynot has shown promise for the Red Lions, Escueta is also raving about other young players like Jacob Cortez, Yukien Andrada, and Justine Sanchez, whom he expects will also play more pivotal roles in their next campaign.
Escueta is also hoping to get much-needed reinforcements from new recruits Jomel Puno and Collin Dimaculangan as well as the returning JV Gallego while also sharing that they are looking to get to get rookies who can hold the fort in the paint against the big men in the league.
"Of course Jacob, he just needs to be more consistent. Justine also and Yuki, they need to be able to play a bigger role and we have guys coming. We have guys like JV Gallego coming back, we have a couple of guys doing their residency, si Jomel from Canada and Collin Dimaculangan," Escueta shared.
"So those three will help a lot and hopefully we can get a couple of blue chip rookies that could help our frontline in terms of rebounding and banging with the NCAA bigs."
In preparation for Season 99, the rookie tactician said they are hoping to fly abroad where they can conduct their off-season buildup.
"Hopefully, we'll get post-season games and preseason games tapos we'll be able to get experience training abroad, playing a different level of competition. 'Yun 'yung plano."
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
