TWO of the highly-touted teams in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi), seven-time champion University of the Visayas and current top seed University of San Jose Recoletos will have their acid test when they face off in the main game today at 6 p.m.
The USJ-R Jaguars, who have been winning every game this season for a 6-0 start, has a good chance of changing the course of Cesafi history.
If the Jaguars win over the Lancers tonight, they will post their seventh straight victory and will be the first team aside from UV to finish the elimination round on top in seven years.
The UV Green Lancers have always finished the elimination round on top and have always gone on to claim the title. As of the moment, UV holds a 5-1 win-loss record.
The Lancers, however, are not a team to take for granted. Having had seven titles in their belts, the Lancers are expected to live up to their lofty billing and will do whatever it takes to snatch the leadership from USJ-R.
“We are the defending champions. We have to live up to it,” said head coach Elmer “Boy” Cabahug after their win over the University of Cebu last week.
Cabahug however, remembers their semifinal outing last year, making him wary of their chances.
“It will be a tight ball game. Mura ni ug championship judging from our semifinals last year,” Cabahug added.
In that semifinal meeting, which stretched to three games, the games all finished with identical 79-78 scores.
UV needs to win today, otherwise, they will be tied with their perpetrators, University of San Carlos Warriors, which has a 4-2 card.
Third place
A win today and in their next outing can put UV on top with a 6-1 card. However, a loss will relegate them to third place in the ranking by virtue of a simple tie—a debacle that would be too appalling for the champion team, as they have never been plucked out of the top spot in the ranking in all of Cesafi’s existence.
In a different view, USJR, having boasted of a battle-toughened crew, could look at the immediate goal of topping the elimination, or to look ahead in the finals.
The Top 4 teams in the eliminations will be enjoying twice-to-beat edge in the quarterfinals, where they are all expected to sail through their opponents from the bottom four teams.
Should USJR top the ranking, there is a huge chance that they will once more meet with UV as the semifinals as the pairing will be Top 1 against No. 3 and No. 2 against No. 4.
It will then be a huge task for USJR as the semifinals is a best-of-three series.
USJ-R’s option is to lose deliberately to ditch the top ranking altogether. Coach Edito Salacot, could field in his second stringers against the formidable UV team today and if they lose, they face a weaker opponent in the semifinals, thus assuring themselves of a slot to the final round. (MCB)
