another title for the blue eagles

the ateneo blue eagles add another championship to 2011 by winning the 16th psc university games basketball championship. with the "big" manila-based teams not participating in the event, the blue eagles are undoubtedly the favorites to win the competition even without the following key members of the team: greg slaughter, nico salva, kiefer ravena, emman monfort, and coach norman black (training with sinag pilipinas); oping sumalinog and bacon austria (playing for adamson-freego in the pba d-league); frank golla (out with illness); and kirk long (graduation break? haha!).

the team was impressive during the competition, winning mostly by double digits and sporting their patented pesky defense on teams who relied much on physical play. this could be a good ground to further develop the likes of jp erram (he displayed a good touch in his mid-range jumper and was rattling the rim with vicious dunks against hercor college jaguars), gwynne capacio (he will surely get into the rotation next season), and juami tiongson (he led the blue eagles in scoring in most games). of course, justin chua and tonino gonzaga continued their brilliance and veteran presence with a team comprised of eight team glory b players. if joma adornado and paul siarot develop in the off-season, we might see them in our drive for five next season.

so far, the team has won several titles this year, including their first fil-oil pre-season championship, their 4th straight uaap championship, and the uni-games championship. they are heavy favorites for the philippine collegiate champions league and we do hope they win it for a record third consecutive year.