UAAP Layup Lines - Season 76 week four

UAAP Layup Lines is a regular compilation of thoughts, musings and ponderings on the previous week's UAAP men's seniors division basketball games. From the mighty to the mundane, the analytical and the surreal, our group of writers has you covered.


The line-up:

• Kevin Ferrer - 3DA
• Battle of the imports
• The fight and the Maroons
• Crouching tiger - Aljon Mariano
• Roi Sumang, silent sniper

Kevin Ferrer - 3DA
by Polo Bustamante, From the Stands, contributor to GMA News Online Sports

Back when he was a Tiger Cub, Kevin Ferrer had “superstar” written all over him. He was a blue-chip prospect on the same level as Kiefer Ravena, Bobby Ray Parks and Baser Amer. While his batchmates have gone on to elevate themselves into go-to guys for their respective teams, Ferrer has remade his game and accepted the role as the UST’s 3DA player.

A 3DA guy is a player with a combination of three-point shooting (3), defensive skills (D) and athletic ability (A), and Ferrer has exactly that right blend of talent and tenacity to perhaps become the best in the UAAP in that mold.

Offensively, Ferrer lives on the baseline. He constantly roams underneath the basket for under-goal stabs or put-back attempts. He finds himself open for corner three's thanks to all the attention given to Jeric Teng, Karim Abdul and Aljon Mariano. He’s also one of the best finishers off the break for UST.

He may not be the first, second or even third option on offense, but he’s the ultimate failsafe, finding ways to get open for easy baskets. His three-point shooting has been suspect this year (19.2 percent on three-point field goals), but everyone in the UAAP knows that Ferrer has the range and stroke to bang in baskets from beyond the arc.

Ferrer’s been even more impressive defensively. His length, lateral movement and underrated strength has caused trouble for a lot of wing players in the UAAP. He’s perhaps the Growling Tigers’ best perimeter defender.

Ferrer is also fast and athletic enough to keep in step with smaller, faster scorers like Ravena and Terrence Romeo. At the same time, he’s strong and tough enough to play in the post and stop rim attackers like Parks and Jeron Teng. His defensive intensity is on a different level. He hates getting scored on and takes it personally when it happens. Most memorably, UAAP fans have witnessed several epic battles between Ferrer and Parks last season where things got heated because Ferrer got even more physical with every point Parks scored.

3DA players are becoming increasingly valuable commodities for championship teams. He may not be a traditional “superstar”, but with UST back in contention, Ferrer’s role for the Growling Tigers is just as important.


Battle of the imports
by Carla Lizardo, writer, Humblebola

It's become a prevalent trend in college basketball to find a foreign center to strengthen one's team. In the UAAP, each team is allowed to have two imports, but they cannot play both on the floor at the same time.

Now regardless of whether we are for or against having imports in the UAAP, we cannot deny that they have made the league a lot more interesting, as they dominate the paint and provide several highlight reel quality plays. Let's take a closer look at the performance of the top-four imports so far:

Emmanuel Mbe - NU Bulldogs
 
Main advantage: During NU games, the focus and attention is usually on Bobby Ray Parks. Mbe is seen as a second option, someone to relieve some of the pressure off Parks’ shoulders. With that said, it’s a surprise that Mbe has actually been quietly beasting, making up as much as an MVP candidate as his teammate Parks.
 
Performance so far: He has been averaging 18.0 points and 12.8 rebounds per game, scoring at a 58.2 percent clip from the field, coupled with an above-average 73.2 percent free throw rate.

Karim Abdul - UST Growling Tigers
 
Main advantage: Among the imports, he is perhaps the most skilled and polished. He has a huge variety of moves in the post, and can reliably make 15-foot jumpers. Last year we saw his value to the team, taking UST all the way to the Finals.
 
Performance so far: Abdul currently norms 15.0 points and 9.8 rebounds per game, but I think he still has a lot to offer, especially with Jeric Teng sidelined. He's shooting at just a 42.6 percent clip, while hitting 65.7 percent of his free throws.
 
Charles Mammie - UE Red Warriors
 
Main advantage: Mammie is a workhorse. Does this guy ever get tired? He’s extremely aggressive when it comes to crashing the boards, and as a result, leads the league in rebounds with 17.0 per game, 9.8 of those on the offensive end, also a league-best mark.
 
Performance so far: While he is UE's best rebounder, he's also their second-leading scorer, averaging 14.0 points per game behind Roi Sumang.
 
Ingrid Sewa - Adamson Falcons
 
Main advantage: To state the obvious, Sewa is one huge guy! This Cameroonian player stands 6’9" and weighs 268 pounds, making him the second-tallest UAAP player (next to Christian Sentcheu). He's definitely got the intimidation factor going for him, as some local players don’t even bother trying to get the rebound when he’s under the ring.
 
Performance so far: Sewa currently averages a double-double with 10.6 points and 10.8 rebounds. He's Adamson's best rebounder, and is tied for third-best in the UAAP at collaring loose balls.


The fight and the Maroons
by Renee Fopalan, writer, GMA News Online Sports

It's become almost too easy to predict a UP loss. It's not news anymore, it's the norm.

Shirts relating to the basketball team have "1986 UAAP Champions" printed on them. UP alumni can bet ice cream and pizza parties after a Maroons win with confidence, knowing that the chances of their coworkers cashing in are slim. Students, on the other hand, look forward to the cheerdancing competition instead, as that's one place where UP reigns supreme.

"It's ok to go 0-14 in the UAAP," people say. "We're iskolars ng bayan [aka, we're smart]." These statements are being peddled as if it's ok to fail at one thing, as long as you are good at other facets of life.

This culture of qualifying UP defeats affects the basketball team and it should stop.

In some games, the Maroons look like they're going to win. They stick it out after the first three quarters, then suffer a meltdown in the end. Bad shot selection? Hero ball? Turnovers? We've seen them all.

And yet, after another UP defeat, basketball fans blame neither the coach nor the players. They instead chalk it up to "the UP brand of ball," as if that was enough of an excuse to justify the loss.

Maybe it's not physical, then. Maybe it's all mental.

So what now?

Despite a 9-61 record over the past five seasons, plus a 0-5 card so far this year, UP does not need another overhaul of their basketball program. Instead, they need to overhaul their perception of the team. The community needs to stop treating their players as tall, VAAS kids (aka non-UPCAT passers), and instead, see them as the representatives of their school, not as filler to get through before the halftime cheering performance.

The UP MBT jokes are getting old. This losing gig is getting old. The UAAP is a competition, one the Maroons ought to compete in. But to compete needs to mean more than just showing up to games and serving as fodder for the opponents. To compete ought to mean to fight, like what it says on the team monicker.

Man up, UP.


Crouching tiger - Aljon Mariano
by Aaron Valdez, contributor, GMA News Online Sports

While scouting the 2013 FilOil preseason tourney, I pointed out Jeric Teng to a colleague, telling him the sharpshooter would be a revelation in Season 76. He brushed me off, saying, “Watch out, this will be Aljon Mariano’s team this year.”

As summer unfolded, Mariano took off, using one double-digit scoring game after another to post an average of 16.8 points, good for seventh in the league, along with seven rebounds per game, carrying the Tigers while Teng recovered from an ankle injury and Abdul struggled to return to form.

However, five games into the UAAP, Mariano is norming just 10.8 points per game. He did have one breakout moment, picking up for the injured Teng against UE, scoring 24 points, most coming at critical junctures, and hauling down 11 rebounds. He showed flashes of his summer game, driving to the hoop with the same  vigor, and picking apart the UE defense with ball fakes, before calling bank.

There hasn't been much of that version of Mariano this season, after he in June sprained the same ankle that he previously fractured, the ankle that caused him to miss the entire UAAP Season 74. With Teng out again, after tearing a shoulder ligament, there was hope that Mariano would explode, but he had just 10 markers versus FEU, one assignment after UE.

Barring that injury, Mariano's moveset would have been on fully display, and those spin moves and pump fakes would've been death for any defender thrown at him. The cocktail of defenders UE coach Boysie Zamar heaped at him looked helpless, unable to answer the question, 'How do you guard a healthy Aljon Mariano?'

A pattern revealed itself during the summer.

While Mariano is an adequate jump shooter, attempting shots both inside and outside the arc, he will rarely shoot if not open, opting to drive when a defender leaps out at him. He spins, luring in his defenders, and if they don't bite, he'll go for a quick lay-up on the second try, or find Abdul if two defenders swarm him. If they jump, count it as an and-one opportunity, something he completes 77.8 percent of the time.

Now all this is theoretical, and it's obvious that Mariano and his coach have been hiding his hurt behind production from Abdul, Clark Bautista and Kevin Ferrer, on whose shoulders the Tigers' current fate rests. No timetable has been set to tag him at 100 percent, and the Tigers are definitely under full strength without him and Teng on the wings. But if and when that day comes, and I am looking forward to those days, expect them to go at their opponents with a rare gusto that only a scorned title contender possesses.


Roi Sumang, silent sniper
by Nico Baguio, owner and editor of Humblebola, columnist for GMA News Online Sports

Dribble. Dribble. Dribble. Silence. Swish.

Those are the sounds you'll hear right before Roi Sumang drills a three over you. And despite your best efforts, you won't stop him.

Yes, Roi Sumang is the master of the long three this season and there's nothing you can do about it. Try hanging back far in the hope that you'll stop his dribble penetration and force him to take a contested jumper over your long arms? That's not a problem for Sumang. He'll just take the long three because he's awesome at it, and you'll just be left in his dust. So far this season, Sumang has made 15 out of 37 three-point attempts this season. No one combines that much volume (six three-point attempts per game) and that efficiency (40.5 percent) like Sumang. I’m not even considering the fact that most of Sumang’s attempts are off-the-dribble, compared to attempts taken by someone like Juami Tiongson, who’s probably the closest guy to Sumang in terms of quality and quantity.

Combine those two together – his long, LONG-range bombs and his ability to contort his body in midair like a ballerina – and what you get is a hyper-efficient season. Sumang is producing 114.1 points per 100 possessions, while using 25.5 percent of his team’s possessions when he’s on the court. His 26.4 PER stands as the fourth-best in the league, ranking him among taller and more muscular players such as Emmanuel Mbe (30.6), Terrence Romeo (30.6), Bobby Ray Parks (27), Arnold Van Opstal (26.3) and Charles Mammie (26.1). That’s some feat for a kid who barely stands taller than me. His height and build may be slight, but his fearlessness knows no bounds – he’ll take that long three right between your eyes, drill it, sprint back on defense without barely letting out a smile or celebration.

Yes, Sumang will kill you (FIGURATIVELY) slowly, silently and with no remorse. And this killer instinct has allowed his Red Warriors to even their record, going from a 1-3 record to 3-3, right in the mix of things.

Dribble. Dribble. Dribble. Silence. Swish.

Game over.