The outspoken Coach Yeng Guiao of the Rain or Shine ElastoPainters has brought up another major boo-boo from the PBA. This time, it's about the quarterfinals format.
It's not the seedings, since that reveals itself in the standings. It's the format, or specifically, the way they bracketed the seedings.
The PBA tried to imitate the Olympics format, except that there are only two groups. The top seed of Group A will take on the bottom seed of Group B, second placer will take on third placer of the other group, and vice versa. Easy enough.
However, the bracket for the ensuing semifinals has both the 1 vs 4 matchups taking on each other. Thus, the two no.1 teams could face each other in the semifinals, when it should be in the Finals.
Is this a minor setback that should have been ignored? What were the factors that had this seemingly basic task result in an egregious error? Was it laziness, or simply an oversight?
We are ruling out the possibility that it was done on purpose, since the brackets were already made before we found out which teams filled out the slots. In fact, the bracket seems to favor Guiao, as powerhouse teams got lumped together on the other side.
Did Guiao feel disrespected at the fact that the no.1 seed in the group was not given the reverence and incentive that they should enjoy?
Green Kryptonite
The De La Salle Green Archers suffered an upset win against the UE Red Warriors. The Archers were heavily favored, as the defending champions kept their Most Valuable Player at all costs.
By all counts, almost all the teams in the UAAP succeeded in recruiting. However, the Recto-based Warriors hardly created any buzz, and were given a slim chance to make the Final Four.
However, UE has been seen as the La Salle Kryptonite. Despite their dominance last year, the Warriors gave La Salle legitimate scares. Now, they got to hand them a solid "L."
Doubling down on the assessment that Jeff Napa of the NU Bulldogs is probably the best coach in the UAAP, Warriors took a page out of the NU playbook to get the win. NU pushed La Salle to the limit, with the MVP taking the clutch freebies to escape from an embarrassing opening game.
Despite losing their ace point guard Kean Baclaan to their opponent, NU still employed a running game that threw off the La Salle rotation, forcing them to field multiple bigs. By reducing the shooters around Quiambao, the Archers had to use multiple bigs, which in turn further limited their offensive options.
UE did the same, and shooting became the great equalizer for the perceived talent deficit. Yes, the Warriors turned it into a shooting match, all the way to the final seconds. Quiambao found himself in the middle of the floor for another set of clutch free throws. The reigning MVP showed that he is also human, and this time, he could no longer bail his team out.
Big Questions
In typical critical mode, overreactions on an upset will emerge. "Can La Salle actually repeat?" Is now a legitimate question. There are glaring holes in their roster, and it seems like they were not prepared for the Jonnel Policarpio departure. They desperately needed his tough, fearless offense.
They have no excuses for replacing Evan Nelle since they knew he was graduating. However, their top point guard acquisition in Kean Baclaan is serving his redshirt season. It has led to them relying too much on Quiambao. He eventually gets tired towards the end of games.
The other question is whether the UE win is a fluke or a sign of things to come. John Abate became an instant star, but the team actually has quality in all positions. But as mentioned in the season preview, apart from the top two (UP and La Salle), all the other six teams have a legitimate chance.
Coach Topex Robinson will surely make adjustments, and the Archers should be raring for retribution. On the other hand, we have the undefeated UP Fighting Maroons.