A week after winning our 20^th UAAP Championship title, I am still lost for words. I was waiting for the whole thing to sink in and maybe it will happen tomorrow night at the 20@15: The FEU Tamaraws Victory Party. 

For someone who have witnessed the ten-year drought (I came in 2006, right after the Fab 5 won the 3-peat), the feeling of winning is so foreign, numbing to me to say the least.

Season 78 was a rollercoaster ride, but I had the feeling it was going to be us from the start. This is our year and I am so happy I was never wrong.

December 2, 2015

I saw UST coming when no one did. I remember telling my friends in a group chat that it was UST I fear the most because like us, they have a veteran core. I was right. They were this season’s Cinderella Story while we were, what the media think, the team to beat. It was no surprise both teams faced off in the finals.

The Finals was a close call that no one from the sports world had the audacity to claim a team to win it all. There was a lack of forecasts to say the least which left me really wondering how it will all play out. True enough, the Last Dance reached its third game.

Game 3 was what most spectators expect, a rollercoaster. And it’s so fitting that the championship was determined by the last few possessions. Both teams deserve to win as their graduating players gun for a fitting end to a colorful UAAP career. But we can only have one winner.

Down by 6 midway fourth quarter, the media-proclaimed big three showed up. Mac Belo, RR Pogoy, and Mike Tolomia played the game of their lives and it all ended with medals on their chest.

Expectedly, the news were all about the three of them: how Mac Belo fought cramps twice to ensure we’re going home with the gold, RR Pogoy making the big shots when you need it, and Mike Tolomia swinging big after a dismal performance in Game 2.

But what’s so great about the whole championship coverage was how the media highlighted the team’s system. How role players like Achie Iñigo, Russell Escoto, Francis Tamsi, and Raymar Jose embraced the system, no questions asked, and it paid off.

We are so far from that team that depends on a player or two to carry us to the Finals. We are so far from the team that only knew meltdowns when the crucial time comes. We are so far from the team that only knew dying in do or die games.

We have come a long way and I am so happy I was there to witness it. I was there when Mac Belo was carried off the court because he reached his limit. He gave it his all. I was there the moment the buzzer sounded and the confetti was everywhere. I was there when the kids (I feel so old by this but that’s what I truly felt during that moment) around me were screaming and crying with joy. I was there when our drummers blasted a Go Uste beat and everyone with green bandana cheered.

I was there.

#BeBrave16

They were like a well-oiled machine. They are more than just a roster. They are a band of brothers.

The championship isn’t the only thing that sets the #BeBrave16 apart from the previous rosters that have seen the Finals.

Looking back at our previous back to back Finals appearances, I can only remember the heartbreak we have suffered after a meltdown against the eventual 5-peat champions, Ateneo Blue Eagles. Yes, that era that saw Terrence Romeo and RR Garcia having a healthy competition on the court and all we have hoped for was for it to flourish in a good way.

Those were back to back seasons that made us believe our time has come, only to fall short in the end and hope the next seasons will be different.

Both rosters have a lot in common—outstanding performances in the eliminations, veteran core, same thirst for glory, and same charge motivated by heartbreaks. The similarity is so appalling that it made me feel like the Season 77 loss was a repeat.

But the difference the #BeBrave16 is donning this season made their attitude towards the game so glaring that fans couldn’t help but feel this is it. It’s now or never.

What makes this team special, what makes them deserve to be on the pedestal was their brave attitude. Staying true to the dying words of our founder, Nicanor Reyes, the Be Brave 16 made every game not a battle against the league’s talented teams, but a battle against their fears.

What’s even more amazing is seeing them embrace a system so rare in Philippine basketball, a system that requires each and every player to sacrifice individual recognitions for the sake of achieving the ultimate goal which is not an easy thing to do if you’re aiming to join the pros.

With them, it was so easy to look past the clichés of basketball: The Big Three, The Backcourt Duo, The Lethal Weapon, The Scottie to our Michael. We’d rather be known for as a team with a deep lineup than have a lone name that represents us all. With them, there was never an I, only a We.

The “team first” attitude they have in them paid off so much that we didn’t bother about not having anyone from the team get a spot in the Mythical Five. We didn’t bother asking someone to drop 40 points in a game that won’t even matter in the long run. We didn’t expect an individual to grace every headline.

We all have our eyes on the prize, the bigger picture, the end game. We have Coach Nash Racela to thank for as he revolutionized FEU’s basketball program, teaching humility, hard work, and patience, which all the 16 King Tamaraws have embodied so well this season.

The Glaring Moments of Season 78

I will never forget Season 78, not only because we won the championship this year. But because of small, meaningful moments that made me brave too.  

This season’s most shining moments weren’t just about the glory—the come from behind wins, the domination all throughout the four quarters, the wins off a buzzer-beater, or my favorite Sige na nga, game na moments—but it is also about bouncing back, recovering from losses, and never losing the mindset.

The Game 2 loss against the UST Tigers were so disappointing that it made us feel the déjà vu of last season’s meltdown against the NU Bulldogs. We find ourselves in a pool of doubts. I remember being ready to claim the crown that day in Araneta but something in me felt it may not be that time and I won’t be surprised if it wasn’t.

The Tigers bounced back, hard. Thanks to Kevin Ferrer who went berserk in the third quarter, looking as if Steph Curry should worry he’s not the only one capable of raining threes. We lost and were worried during the postgame dinner which we only had when we lost a game.

Our usual group would do postgame analyses like we were some kind of a pro when it comes to dissecting the game. I won’t deny the worry in our faces until Kuya Ian, Advocate’s Chief, dropped by. He was in a good mood, donning his New York Mets shirt and cap, welcoming us with a smile we usually see in him after a satisfying win.

He doesn’t look bothered with the loss or maybe he was just good at playing it down. We just lost and he doesn’t look bothered. As a matter of fact, he was on his way to the team dinner.

He told us that the team still has the same ego, pride, and confidence they had when they started Game 1. That the team still has the same mindset in the dugout after the loss.

Wala pang champion!

I think it was the team’s composure and graceful accept of the defeat that suddenly made everything felt fine. Knowing the team still believes restored the hope. I think this is where their true character showed. Their never say die spirit and the promise of coming back even stronger in Game 3 is all we need to feel fine.

It was in that moment I realized I have never believed in a team so much the way I believed in them now.

My Test of Character

My own test of character came in December 2. After UST won Game 2 convincingly, I would be inhuman if I didn’t feel a tinge of doubt that this season might just end in a meltdown. But the character came out the moment a guard from the MRT asked me if I had felt us winning the championship tonight. I answered with yes convincingly that the guard laughed at the bravery I have shown.

The test didn’t end there. When I hailed a cab, the driver asked me which team I was rooting for (as if the name of my school wasn’t all over my shirt), I answered with FEU. He suddenly felt nostalgic and asked me about players which I assume played before the Final Four era started. He told me he thinks UST will win the game, I let him be.

When we arrived in MOA, I paid him a hundred bucks when the meter only billed Php 75.00. He asked if he should still give me a change and I told him ‘Wag na Kuya. Magchachampion naman kami! to which he replied with a resounding laugh that I can still hear after I closed his car door. Manood ka ng balita mamayang gabi, Kuya is what I told him after he rolled down his window to see if I was mad or something. I was in a good mood, really.

Thank God we won that night because the cab driver’s laughter would probably be the only thing I would remember had we lost.

Ending the quest for our next championship is truly a one of a kind experience. Hats off to UST for one hell of a game. Despite the off court issues we have encountered (some were really below the belt I couldn’t keep mum about it), I know that one Tiger could not speak for all. I have a lot of friends from the other side (Hello, Adele) and it would be unfair to think of them all the way I thought of that lone Tiger in my timeline who could have dragged the name of her school down for the sake of bashing.

At the end of the day, the UAAP is founded to promote respect, camaraderie, and sportsmanship among member schools. Let’s stay true to the goal.

Thank you to everyone who shared the experience with me: my FEU batchmates, my friends and co-writers from the FEU Advocate, and FEU Tambayan friends. Thank you to Kuya Ian Evasco for the inside scoops, the stories in the dugout, the heart to heart talk after the game, and the best seats to witness history unfold. Thank you to everyone from FEU Marketplace, Tamaraw Squad, FEU Portraits, @FEUTamz, @OneFEU, @TagaFEUKaKung for info on tickets and events. Thank you to the FEU Boosters (and to ate, na sobrang supportive I feared for her life when she stood on top of an Upperbox seat in MOA just to pump up the crowd) for relentlessly cheering for the team.

Thank you Coach Nash Racela and the entire coaching staff.

Lastly, thank you to the FEU Men’s Basketball Team a.k.a. The Be Brave 16 for giving us our 20^th title!

The long wait is truly over!

Header photo by The FEU Advocate