Thoughts on the NCAA UAAP All-Star Game

• Lots of missing names. Sudan Daniel. Borgie Hermida. Mark Barroca. Elmer Espiritu. Nonoy Baclao. (Man, I miss Baclao). Khasim Mirza. Val Acuna. The injured Rey Guevarra. Even the juniors game had some missing stars with Kiefer Ravena and Joshua Saret both out of the contest.

• Ato Agustin had the right idea by keeping things simple for his boys. There seemed to be only two directives for the NCAA All-Stars: hustle and run. This worked insanely well against the UAAP All-Stars, to the tune of a 16 point win for the NCAA. Of course, the luxury of having both Jimbo Aquino and John Wilson on the break may have something to do with the win as well. San Sebastian’s running big men were a little much for the UAAP bigs. Dave Najorda, Calvin Abueva and even Ian Sangalang outran the UAAP frontline on a regular basis.

• The UAAP selection looked like a poorly-constructed team. They had no shotblockers. Aldrech Ramos is a nice player, but he didn’t go after it the way Espiritu and Baclao often did in the Finals. They didn’t have shooters on the wings. Just a bunch of guys getting in each other’s way. Pari Llagas and Reil Cervantes on the same team is just repetitive. So is having Alvin Padilla when you already have Paul Lee and Eric Salamat.

• No chemistry for the UAAP guys, too. Which is kind of strange considering Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Aldrech Ramos, Dylan Ababou, Ryan Buenafe and JR Cawaling are all playing together in the PBA for Smart Gilas. The NCAA team looked like they’ve been playing together for years and looked like they had a lot of fun as they ran the UAAP squad to the ground, fun and gun-style.

• Nice depth on the NCAA side. Even the end of the bench was solid with guys like Argel Mendoza, Macky Acosta, Matt Carney and Raffy Ynion. The UAAP bench particularly Kokoy Hermosisima, Woody Co and Jan Colina had little to no impact in this basketball game. Where in the world are the DLSU Green Archers? Or the San Beda Red Lions for that matter. Only Jake Pascual was scheduled to be in this.

• The juniors game was a lot more interesting than the seniors game. A one-point victory for the NCAA in a preview of guys who will be in the seniors division soon. Red Cubs Ponso Gotladera and Arthur dela Cruz were a handful down low. Baser Amer, of course, came up big when his team needed him. NCAA MVP Louie Vigil will be a nice recruit for the Heavy Bombers. For the UAAP, Kyle Neypes is such a presence underneath. Gwynne Capacio is solid. So is Nico Elorde. These guys are going to be players. Terrence Romeo can still put up the points, but he’s really most effective when he plays on a one-man team because of all the touches he needs. Arnold Van Opstal would have been a nice addition to this team. I don’t know why Aiki (Ikee?) Herrera was playing instead of Van Opstal.

• Most interesting part of the afternoon was probably the father-son two-ball event. Bacon Austria lit it up with no help from his dad, Adamson coach Leo. Nice stunt they pulled, though, with Leo wearing an Ateneo jersey and Bacon wearing his dad’s practice jersey from Shell. (A little too snug, though, eh, Bacon?) Ato Agustin still has a killer shooting touch, although his son Jolo struggled to make shots. Jolo has about 16 points taken away from him, though, after his first basket was disallowed because his foot wasn’t on the 8-point spot and his last basket came just after the buzzer. The two Banal teams had similar strategies: have the son take 8-point shots exclusively while the dad rebounds and takes the nearest available shot to the basket. Ael Banal hit the shots more consistently than cousin Jonathan. Jonathan Banal, of course, missed the NCAA season for Mapua with an injury. Ateneo coach Norman Black must have been happy with what he saw from seniors recruit Ael. Chot Reyes and son Ice admitted that they did not practice for the event. It clearly showed as they finished with the lowest score by a large margin. Joel and Ael Banal won the event, and a side bet with Koy and Jonathan Banal to see who picks up the tab for their dinner tonight.