EITHER history will repeat itself or will be rewritten.
That is the scenario today when Ateneo and Far Eastern University (FEU) fight for all the marbles in the Final Four series of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament.
The 4 p.m. game materialized after No. 4 FEU shocked No. 1 Ateneo on Sunday in an 80-67 upset that sent the unheralded Tamaraws to an unfamiliar role of aiming for a precious Finals slot.
After that stunning loss that dashed away Ateneo’s much-envied, twice-to-beat incentive for topping the two-round eliminations, the Eagles found their backs thrust against the wall.
Thus, they are in the same situation as last year, when the Eagles, enjoying a two-game bonus, lost Game One to the Tamaraws to seal today’s winner-take-all contest.
La Salle, the first finalist, will meet the winner of the Ateneo-FEU tussle this weekend in a best-of-three Finals affair.
With momentum of its side, FEU hopes to repeat over Ateneo, in the process erasing its failed Finals bid last year, when it bowed to Ateneo in the no-more-tomorrow contest.
Ateneo would be dying to duplicate last year’s Game Two win over FEU as another loss would also put to naught its magnificent 13-0 run in the eliminations.
The Eagles getting ousted by the Tamaraws today would also derail a much-anticipated Ateneo-La Salle championship showdown, always a perennial dream match in the league’s storied lore.
Will FEU Coach Olsen Racela rewrite history? Or will Ateneo mentor Tab Baldwin bring the Eagles back to the Finals?
Blink, and you might miss a masterpiece.
THAT’S IT Gilas Pilipinas will play Japan on Friday in the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) World Cup Asia Qualifying minus the injured Terrence Romeo, the prolific point guard averaging 22 points a game in his last Fiba Asia Cup in Lebanon. He will be replaced by either Kevin Alas or Kiefer Ravena in a squad that will also include naturalized 7-footer Andray Blatche and 6-foot-10 June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer. Gilas flies back to Manila the following day, Saturday, to face Taiwan on November 27 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. We made it back to the World Cup in 2013 Spain Worlds after placing second behind Iran in the Manila Asia Cup that year.
