Humblebola

By: Eriko Dela Cruz

The UAAP season has come to a close, with the De La Salle Green Archers coming out on top after seven years of futility.

The UP Fighting Maroons, the other protagonist of the Finals, now stands at a 1-3 win-loss record since they first made it back in 2018. The past two title series, they got swept after winning game 1.

Since 2019, UP has had (arguably) the strongest team on paper. Imagine having a cornucopia of talent thanks to the backing of Nowhere to Go but UP. Imagine having the privilege of going abroad to train prior to the season. Imagine having one of the elite Filipino coaches at the helm – And only one title to show for it. The question now is, where do the UP Fighting Maroons go from here?

UP? They’re already there.

Many fans would say that this has been a successful season given the nightmares of 0-14s past. That is a fair statement, if you look at it through that lens. But is it really fair to look at it that way?

For one, UP has had FOUR finals appearances in the last five seasons. Since then, they have won a championship. A lot has changed since their single-win bonfire. The standards of their fans must be raised, their expectations for their team must be raised, their ambition for their team must be raised because the Fighting Maroons as a basketball program has been raised.

It’s easy to say that this was a successful season. Comforting even. But after all that money, recruitment, training abroad, scouting, only to come close but no cigar, at some point it has to start sounding like copium.

No more yearning to rise up from rock bottom, no more aspiring to be among the teams with winning traditions. UP is up. UP’s winning started yesterday.

In the UAAP, results matter. For programs with winning traditions, it’s always championship or bust, no matter what the talent pool looks like. Tab Baldwin was not exempted from this, Bo Perasol was not exempt from this, Derrick Pumaren, Jermaine Byrd, Pido Jarencio, Bal David, Olsen Racela, any coach who has ever handled a program with a winning tradition was not exempt from this. Every year they didn’t bring the trophy back to their schools was treated as a disappointment. Now UP is a winning program. Now UP is up. It’s time to expect excellence from its team. It’s time to write books about title runs, not runners-up.