Before the start of the season, the UP Fighting Maroons Club had a chance to interview Sean Alter, Gani Stevens, Denzil Walker and Jacob Bayla on the team’s preparation for season 87.
Motivated by their past three Finals’ appearances with the first ending in a storybook championship, the resurgent UP Men’s Basketball Team is ready for their return to collegiate basketball glory and for a chance to win their second championship in the last four seasons.
Though coming from yet another runner up finish, [this time] against the De La Salle Green Archers, the team had overseas training camps in Serbia and Korea where they engaged in tune-up games with professional and semi-pro teams. They also participated in two preseason tournaments: Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup and Pinoyliga, winning the former while withdrawing in the latter during the playoffs due to academics.
Returning big Alter, former UE center Stevens and two rookies in Bayla and Walker discussed their preparations for the upcoming season.
Alter shared, “Physically, we’ve got some great strength and conditioning coaches. We’ve been working hard in the gym, getting bigger… every phase that we’re going through, trying to maximize our muscle strength. We’re trying to be the most fit that we can be for the next upcoming season.”
He added, “Mentally, I mean we have a lot of great leaders. They’re teaching the mindset we need to have for the upcoming season. Maimai (Cagulangan), Gerry (Abadiano), Harold (Alarcon), they’re really tough on us in practice so that we can be the toughest for the tough [games] next season.”
Bayla also spoke about the physicality of college basketball here in the Philippines and that he is “definitely working on his game before practice” and being guided by his kuyas, mentally, along with the coaches and “just working hard every day, trying to do my best”.
Meanwhile, Walker expects that all teams will prepare “super hard” and that they will prepare “even harder”.
Former UE big man, Stevens, was confident of their physical trainings like Alter, “pumping iron, getting bigger, stronger, faster”, “watching film”, “and obviously [help] from our kuyas who have been playing for a while now”.
As they begin the season hoping to get over the hump after losing to the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the De La Salle Green Archers in the past two finals, the team definitely feels the weight and pressure of being touted as one of the favorites for the season.
Bayla said that the pressure comes from the opposing teams, but within the team, there is no pressure because of the confidence that he has in their everyday practices and the motivation that comes along with it.
Undeterred as well, Alter emphasized that it’s a “good kind of pressure”, “a pressure that we want to win…a pressure that we’re gonna be fighting for the UP community [and] UP fans, and that we’re gonna use this pressure to win games.”
Rest assured that the season 87 version of the UP Fighting Maroons will give their all and that the championship is still theirs for the taking.
“This year, if we win, it’s gonna be crazy bouncing back from the previous loss, stars are lining up”, said Stevens.
Third time’s the charm?
After winning the title in Season 84 and two consecutive runner up finishes, the team is determined to bring back the crown to Diliman.
Alter shared his thoughts after last season’s game 3, “They still definitely hurt. My thoughts in the last moments, I believed we could have won. Who’s not gonna believe in their own team?”. Alter’s and his teammates’ emotions inside the locker room towards the end of Game 3, which the Maroons were leading for most of the game before faltering in the last few minutes, were described by the then-rookie as “dead silent for two hours”. “We don’t want to experience that [loss] again,” he promised.
However, the team is still adamant despite their unbeaten run in the Filoil Preseason Tournament and the Yangming Cross-League Basketball Invitational Tournament, hoping that the preparations will drive and push them forward.
Right now, the Fighting Maroons are closing in on a first round sweep with an average winning margin of 14.5 points, after another comeback win against the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers, 81-70, on Wednesday. Standing in their way are their Finals tormentors, the DLSU Green Archers, whom they will face on Sunday 6:30pm to cap off the first round of eliminations.
This UP Fighting Maroons Club post is in partnership with Jiang Nan Hotpot.
