MANILA, Philippines – When the UST Growling Tigers won only two UAAP games last year, head coach Pido Jarencio vowed to turn things around in Season 87.
Jarencio, now in his second season back with UST, is raring to deliver on that promise.
“This is the team we’ve formed. I built this. We are positive about this team,” said Jarencio, the same coach who brought the Growling Tigers their last UAAP men’s basketball title in 2006.
“There was a process. It did not happen overnight,” he added in Filipino.
The Growling Tigers will finally reap their past year’s recruits, bannered by former UAAP champion Forthsky Padrigao, the ex-Ateneo guard who is expected to steady the ship for UST alongside backcourt partner Nic Cabanero.
For Jarencio, who was a point guard in his heyday as a player, it will take more than just their backcourt duo to go over the hump.
“The thing is, they are elite point guards,” Jarencio said of Padrigao and Cabanero. “But, this is not Nic Cabanero’s team. This is UST’s team. This team is built on teamwork and trust. We are on this together.”
The team also added ex-UE star Kyle Paranada, NCAA high school MVP Amiel Acido, Gilas Pilipinas youth standout Zain Mahmood, and complementary pieces Leland Estacio, Chase Lane, Geremy Robinson, and Ice Danting.
UST tapped formidable foreign reinforcement, Mo Tounkara, a 6-foot-8, do-it-all big, for their Season 87 campaign.
Aside from topping up the roster, the team brought in Magnolia Hotshots’ assistant coach Juno Sauler and San Miguel Beermen’s Peter Martin for their coaching staff.
The Tigers will also be banking on the chemistry built from a busy preseason, which included a South Korea trip where they faced numerous professional and collegiate teams.
“We did a lot of preseason games to give my players exposure, considering we have like 10 new players in the team,” Jarencio said.
“With this new team, it took us a lot to build the chemistry and camaraderie within the players,” he added.
UST wants to rebound from a horrific three-season stretch where they only won a total of six games under three different coaches.
Ultimately, those years are now in their rearview mirror, according to Jarencio.
“Let’s forget that. We will move forward,” he said. – Rappler.com