Ateneo Soars High Capturing UAAP Crown. Chris Tiu Finally Gets His.

The Blue Eagles dominated the whole 71st season of the UAAP as the number one team in the league and have finally won the much coveted UAAP crown with a 62-51 victory over the De La La Salle Green Archers. It was destiny's calling for Ateneo as they stayed on top of the food chain and went on to win it all with a sweep against their long-time rivals in Green. A bittersweet ending for the defending champs.

Ateneo mentor Norman Black is in cloud 9 right now as it was his first championship win against Coach Franz Pumaren and the rest of The De La Salle Green Archers since leading the Blue Eagles in his 4 year coaching tenure.

“I’d like to dedicate this victory to the community,” said Black.

“It’s different because in the PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) a lot of my success were also as a player. And I’ve never coached a college team before so it was a learning experience."

Rabeh Al-Hussaini's season MVP win was made even sweeter after his Ateneo squad swept the Green Archers in Game 2. The Blue Eagles big man has been a force to reckon with the whole season and his 31 points, 9 rebound performance, just one rebound shy of a double-double in Game 1 of the UAAP Finals last Sunday was proof enough to bag the MVP award.

Ateneo's Nonoy Baclao was named the UAAP Finals MVP. He was also the league's DOY (Defensive Player of the Year) who provided defensive spark for the Blue Eagles that caused a lot of trouble for the Green Archers' offense.

De La Salle's Rico Maierhofer wasn't a very happy camper and wasn't very supportive of Ateneo's win over his team. He was obviously, very vocal about it after getting T'd up with 1:31 left in the 3rd quarter and got booted out of the game. La Salle Coach Franz Pumaren co-signs with his big man Maierhofer for the poor officiating of the game. Jvee Casio, in his final year (and game) with the Green Archers was also in foul trouble the whole game then he was fouled out late in the 4th Quarter. A "W" over Ateneo would've forced a Game 3 but it was all Ateneo all game long.

When it was all said and done, the smoke was cleared, Ateneo emerged victorious either way. A win is a win. The Championship win for Ateneo meant so much for guard Chris Tiu. A good gift per se, for a player who played his final game in a Blue Eagles jersey. It's his first 'Chip and what could be better to win it all against La Salle. Tiu was very emotional about the win and who can blame him. The win erased their championship loss with the UST Growling Tigers in 2006.

“I couldn’t describe the feeling. I can’t control my emotion because this is my first championship in the UAAP,” said Tiu who came back hard at La Salle after being held to two points last Sunday.

“But this is sweet because it’s my last year,” he added.

Now that season 71 has already closed, it's a new chapter for the Ateneo Blue Eagles as Champions. Come season 72 of the UAAP, it's gonna be their turn to defend their title and rest assured, The De La Salle Green Archers will not forget their loss against the Blue Eagles and will come back for another Championship run. It's very likely that their paths will cross again when the Championship is on the line.

For the Ateneo Blue Eagles, the party's just begun....

Serbian Coach to helm RP National Team

Finally, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas has named a new coach to lead Team Pilipinas into the highly competitive International Basketball contention. National Caging now has something to look forward to and the Philippines can now be taken seriously.

Serbian coach Rajko Toroman was the architect of the Iranian Team that captured last year's FIBA-Asia Championships in Tokushima, Japan. A formal meeting is set between the 53 year old Serbian mentor and SBP President Manny V. Pangilinan today.

“There’s no formal contract yet but the reaction of the SBP leadership in hiring Toroman as coach is good,” said SBP executive director Noli Eala. “He’s interested to coach the Philippines but at the end of the day it would still depend on the contract he’ll be offered.”

Having an international coach of his caliber will somehow boost the confidence of players whoever dons the National Team's jersey. Toroman seems to be enjoying his stay here in the Philippines. Watching a lot of college ball should give him a fresh idea of what Pinoy basketball is really about.

OFFCOURT Magazine is finally out!!!

I haven't been blogging for quite a while due to some personal issues I had to deal with. This is my first blog entry for this month of September. Now, time to get back to business....

Yup! The Philippine Basketball Association's (PBA) Official Lifestyle Magazine is already out! It's the first and only lifestyle magazine, by the way, that showcases the PBA personalities outside the hardcourt. It was officially launched last September 18, 2008 at the Ever Gotesco Mall in Commonwealth, Q.C. I believe it's the first leg of the mall tour. I'm hoping one of their stops would be somewhere down south (I live in Las Pinas) so I can check it out.

The players who graced the event were:

Mark Andaya
Kenneth Duremdes
Eddie Laure
Gerome Ejercito
Paul Artadi
Sunday Salvacion
Mark Macapagal
Cesar Catli

I'm one the writers there, by the way. I'm so glad all the hard work has finally paid off for yours truly and I simply can't wait to see that magazine myself. It's actually my very first published work as a professional writer (well, it's professional work so I guess I can consider myself as such. XD). I'm definitely proud of my accomplishment and I can't wait to do more stuff for OFFCOURT Magazine.

On that note, I'm still waiting word from my EIC (Editor-in-Chief) on when I can get my complimentary copies of the magazine. I sure hope I could get a lot so I can give some copies to my friends, family and relatives. I'm really stoked on getting my hands on that mag and I'm pretty sure that freshly released first issue is gonna be dope! It will be available nationwide, so grab your copies all you PBA fanatics and basketball junkies alike. Price is @ 125 php. Please support OFFCOURT Magazine....

Much love to y'all....