Road to the Last Dance: UAAP Final Four Preview

The UAAP Season 85 Men’s Basketball Tournament has reached its crescendo with the top four teams all set to duke it out for a chance to play in the finale. And because this version of the Final Four is one of the most unpredictable semis we’ve seen in years, the excitement over it has gone through the roof.

So with that, check out our initial preview of the highly anticipated penultimate encounters.

(1) ADMU vs (4) ADAMSON

Season 85 head-to-head: 2-0

RD 1: ADMU 80 - AdU 75 | RD 2: ADMU 66 - AdU 61

Tab Baldwin was in the building when the Soaring Falcons forced DLSU out of Final Four contention. So, expect the Blue Eagles to be fully prepared in trying to make it three wins in a row against the newly recharged Adamson squad. The number 4 seed meanwhile, has to believe that third time's the charm. Looking back, their first confrontation resulted in a lopsided loss. The second one was a lot closer. Who knows? The next time these flocks of birds collide, It might be the Falcons who’d come out on top.

Keys to victory for AdU

Forceful Falcons

To have a real chance against the Blue Eagles, their athleticism must be met with force. Playing with toughness and little more roughness might just offset the opponents’ physical advantages. If they are to employ this tactic, their X-factor would likely be the duo of Cedrick Manzano and Joshua Yerro.

Keep it close

Another thing they need is to stay within striking distance long enough to give Jerom Lastimosa a chance for a late-game takeover. An unanswered run by Ateneo might result in a huge lead too insurmountable even for the King Falcon. It's paramount for Adamson to give their best player enough leeway to do his thing.

More of Jerom Clutchtimosa

As good as he has been, Lastimosa needs to be better against Ateneo. In their previous games, he scored 18 in a one-sided loss and only had 10 points in a winnable game. This sounds a bit callous considering his heroics all season long but Jerom must dig deeper and come up with a couple more special performances to get the job done.

Keys to victory for ADMU

Be ready for anything

Ateneo must be ready for whatever surprise Adamson has. The last time they went at it, the Falcons almost clipped the Eagles with the unleashing of their secret weapon, AJ Manlapaz. To ADMU’s credit, they were able to weather the storm. Still, last season’s finalists would want to avert getting RKO’d out of nowhere.

Keep it basic

To avoid playing a second game in the Final Four, Coach Tab’s boys should stick to their strengths. For rebounding and inside presence, they can lean on Ange Kouame to find his MVP form and dominate the paint. Their team defense must also stay at an elite level to disrupt the offensive flow of the Falcons and at the same time contain their main man. We expect ADMU’s offense to take care of itself with Kai Ballungay and Dave Ildefonso leading the way.  

(2) UP vs (3) NU

Season 85 head-to-head: 1-1 

RD 1: NU 80 - UP 75 | RD 2: UP 75 - NU 63

Their first meeting went the Bulldogs’ way as Omar John and the NU guards outplayed their counterparts from Diliman. The rematch on the other hand, resulted in a thrilling win for the Maroons thanks to a surprise Cyril Gonzales explosion. It just shows that NU can hang with any powerhouse team through sheer effort and stellar backcourt play, while the firepower of the reigning champs can be too overwhelming at any given moment.

Keys to victory for NU

Hustle, hustle, hustle

That should be the main theme of NU’s Final Four campaign. Feisty forwards Jake Figueroa, Michael John Malonzo and John Lloyd Clemente must come together in trying to outwork and ultimately beat a star-studded team. 

Steve Nash and Kean Chaos

As for Kean Baclaan and Steve Nash Enriquez, their mission is to wreak havoc all over the floor and befuddle the defense as they always do. UP’s JD Cagulangan and Terrence Fortea are no slouch on defense by any means but when the Bulldogs backcourt are on, even they have a hard time keeping up.

NU’s X-Factor

Omar John is the Bulldogs’ X-factor. If he can subdue the MVP Malick Diouf for two straight games, an upset might be on the horizon. He was able to do it before. Maybe he can push himself to do it again two more times. The entire NU community has got his back after all.

Keys to victory for UP

Start strong 

There are two things UP can do to ensure a trip to the finals in one try. First is to avoid another slow start. For a change, the reigning champs might want to have an opening attack strong enough to immediately shut the door on the upset-minded Bulldogs. 

Take care of the ball

Second is to limit their turnovers. In almost every outing, the Maroons get a chance to blow the game wide open but would fail to do so because they inexplicably get careless with the ball. Should UP find a solution to this particular weakness, NU might be in for a long night. 

UP’s X-factor

The X-factor for UP would be a scoring surge from Terrence Fortea, In the first two games vs NU, he only scored a total of 9 points. The former Bullpup might just be ripe for a big performance against his high school alma mater.