It has been barely a month since Nationwide College’s (NU) stranglehold of the UAAP ladies’s basketball crown met its finish.
And whereas coach Aris Dimaunahan remains to be stuffed with remorse over the dynastic Woman Bulldos’ fall from grace, the previous professional refuses to contemplate the marketing campaign an absolute failure.
“Nothing’s going to occur even in the event you dwell on the previous. Even in the event you do this day-after-day, the outcomes received’t change,” he instructed the Inquirer on Tuesday afternoon. “We’re going to start out from scratch.”“There’s not a lot that we may do about what went down except for aspiring to be stronger—higher within the subsequent season.”
NU was taking pictures for an eighth straight championship when it ran right into a hungry College of Santo Tomas crew within the best-of-three collection finalé. The Woman Bulldogs noticed their bid fade within the fourth quarter of the decider, giving up a 14-point lead and finally yielding to a program mentored by an equally glorious coach in former nationwide group mentor Haydee Ong.
Lacking gamers
The loss additionally denied Dimuanhan a second straight championship since succeeding Pat Aquino, the architect of NU’s complete domination that started in 2014.
The meltdown was uncharacteristic of NU, which has been the golden customary of the league for almost a decade. However such a flaw was additionally probably from a squad that was lacking a number of key cogs.
“You understand, that group (that performed final season) is without doubt one of the youthful lineups within the event,” stated Dimaunahan. “I do know that’s not an excuse, however the truth right here is we’re nonetheless rising.”
NU needed to cope with a number of departures in Season 86. The Bulldogs missed the Gilas ladies’s standout Mikka Cacho, Cameroonian overseas student-athlete Annick Tiky, and shooters Rianne Villareal, Julia Barroquillo and Dimaunahan’s daughter Christiana. “Lacking these 5 was a giant void we needed to cope with all through the event. However that’s basketball. Some go away after which some get on board. So we’ll have to return to the drafting board this low season,” he stated.
For the approaching season, NU can be set to overlook Stef Berberabe, a US-raised guard who additionally performs for Gilas, as she is a “one-and-done.” INQ
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