UAAP Season 74- Flyin' High

Hey lookie, I'm back in the hoops blogosphere. I thought it prudent to reignite my passionate quill and write, write, write!

For my money, no one's played better in the UAAP in the last 5-6 games than Adamson's Alex Nuyles. The fellow's got mad hops, but heck, we've always known that about him. This year, the Falcons' swingman's developed a consistent jumper and on-court savvy telling of having been through adversity, and of maturing in general.

While Ateneo's Greg Slaughter and wunderkind Kiefer Ravena have been grabbing the spotlight as MVP candidates for most of the 2011 UAAP season, Nuyles has presented himself as the dark horse candidate, showing his wares via a 21 point, 7 rebound, showing against the Blue Eagles. Consequently, Nuyles' statline during that game was the primary reason Adamson managed to shove the Loyola Heights kids off of Cloud 9 and back onto the solid ground of an actual UAAP Final Four.

Don't look now, but the once invincibility-layden Blue Eagles suddenly look vulnerable. Nuyles put on a clinic on how to beat Ateneo, stymieing Kirk Long and Tonino Gonzaga with his quick drives and drawing fouls on Eagles' bigs like Chua and Slaughter. His on queue jumper also managed to keep defenses honest.

What's Ateneo to do against Nuyles and other athletic combo guards (i.e. Terrence Romeo)? Since no defenders outside Kirk Long, Bacon Austria, and maybe Tonino Gonzaga are remotely capable of fronting the athletic wingmen of other squads, Ateneo has to do what they do best- gang defend. They should exploit their bigs (Slaughter, Golla, even Eram) and use them to clog lanes.

On offense, the Eagles should run, run, run, even when Slaughter is on the floor. Over 14 games, Ateneo's only ranked 6th in the league from the perimeter, ergo, they should exploit Ravena's slasher mentally, Slaughter's size, and Nico Salva's midrange and paint game to score easy buckets. Easy buckets for the Eagles on transition lead to the Eagles being fleet footed on defense.

Althoug Ray Parks was in the headlines earlier today as the latest winner of the UAAP's MVP plum, for my money, no one has been more integral to his team's success to Alex Nuyles- so much so that even the Eagles and their formidable bid for a 4th straight crown, will not be able to stop the upstart Falcons from scoring the biggest upset in their school's sporting history.

-MC-