THE UST Growling Tigers will make yet another attempt to end its UAAP title drought with a revitalized lineup, but for the coaching staff of last season’s worst, the key to a successful campaign lies not on recruiting new players, but on choosing those who will “fit in the system.”
Assistant coach Juben Ledesma, who has been with the España-based squad for more than 20 years, said the Tigers are the “dark horse” in the upcoming UAAP Season 87 because of a revamped lineup built on talented recruits of transferees and imports.
But he believes that a detailed preparation and more opportunities for players to build a chemistry are what will make the Tigers a tougher contender this season.
“Dark horse… Very commonly said because of the recruits this season. But actually, it is not about the new players, it’s really just having an opportunity to select the right players that will fit in Coach Pido’s system,” Ledesma told The Flame.
After suffering a league-worst 2-12 win-loss record last season, the Tigers bolstered its roster, which is now headlined by former Ateneo guards Forthsky Padrigao and Isaac Danting, UE guard Kyle Paranada, last year’s NCAA junior’s MVP Amiel Acido and foreign student-athlete Mohamed Tounkara.
“[T]he approach is we’re going to be more detailed… We get confidence in effort and preparation, not because we have new players and we added new coaches,” Ledesma said.
“We made sure to track player movements [and] how they were playing… I think it will also play a crucial role this time around in the scouting reports on how we approach every game in a specific opponent.”
The assistant tactician pointed out that team preparations were much longer this offseason than in Season 86, which saw the Tigers troubled by lack of training and preparation. The team only managed to train in late February last year.
“Now, there is an opportunity for new players to have more time to acclimate to even holdovers last season… more time to really gel,” Ledesma said.
With the recent addition of assistant coaches Juno Sauler and Peter Martin, the Tigers, which last won the championship in 2006, claimed to have achieved the majority of their targets.
“We were very fortunate to attain and reach the majority of those goals, that’s why there’s a level of excitement and enthusiasm this year,” Ledesma said.
Ledesma gives the whole credit to coach Pido Jarencio’s way of exposing players to different levels of competition during the preseason.
“Aside from the pre-season leagues, we had that Korea trip and were able to get exposed and compete against five Korean Basketball League teams, especially the defending champ of that league,” he said.
“We were able to build the chemistry and bonding of players, which is very important since our holdovers that most of the team is a transferee to UST.”
The reconstructed UST Growling Tigers will open their season campaign against the UE Red Warriors on Sunday, Sept. 8, at the SMART Araneta Coliseum. F – Brent Richmond Angelo Sagre
