Letran all set for Season 101 format
Only a few weeks remain before the opening of the NCAA Season 101 men’s basketball tournament, where the league moves on from the traditional format and implements a new one.
Letran, however, isn’t taking the format lightly. Especially since it can bite the Knights in the back if they aren’t careful.
Just ask Rain or Shine rookie and graduating Knight Mark Omega.
“Everyone’s competitive, even those in the other group,” he told the Inquirer recently. “They’re all competitive, and we’ll just do what we can when the season starts. We’ll go all out.”
The last time Omega was on the NCAA hardwood, he was representing Perpetual Help—so a lot will change for the agile big man when he returns as a Knight.
Two six-team groups
This time, the league will hold group games to determine the cast for the quarterfinals.
Group A will have defending champion Mapua alongside fellow semifinalist Lyceum, Perpetual Help, San Sebastian and Arellano.
San Beda and College of St. Benilde banner Group B, which also has Letran, Jose Rizal University and Emilio Aguinaldo College.
Teams will play their fellow group teams twice while facing the opposing group’s teams once for a total of 13 elimination games—fewer outings compared to the traditional 18 games in a double round robin.
The top two teams in each group will have twice-to-beat advantages over the other group’s lower two seeds in the quarterfinals, where eight teams square off for Final Four berths.
The fourth and fifth seed of each group will have a play-in for the last spots in the quarterfinals and Deo Cuajao believes Letran won’t have to worry about that scenario thanks to the squad’s veterans under rising coach Allen Ricardo.
Trusting each other
“We all trust each other. We have a lot of veterans in the team, all of them have coach Allen’s trust,” Cuajao, another Rain or Shine selection, said.
“It’s a big thing for us veterans that we have players we can rely on who can voice out our mistakes for us to be better,” he added.
Omega and Cuajao have both been issued tender offers by Rain or Shine after being selected in this year’s PBA Draft.
Before they can suit up for the Elasto Painters, though, they’ll be playing their final year with Letran in Season 101, starting Oct. 1 at Araneta Coliseum and they certainly want to leave lasting marks in the new NCAA.
