San Beda certain to defend NCAA crown as Season 102 looms

SAN BEDA’s title defense in the upcoming NCAA Season 102 men’s basketball tournament started rocky in the offseason, but that didn’t dampen coach Yuri Escueta’s belief in the Red Lions.

Following the tournament’s press conference at the Mall of Asia Arena on Monday, Escueta bared that the Red Lions faced multiple challenges after Season 101, including a hit in the defending champions’ lineup.

Still, Escueta is “satisfied” with how the squad has been responding despite losing all of his starters from last year.

“As a coach, satisfied ako sa preparations namin and the tournaments we’ve joined sa Filoil, Asiabasket. Those are tournaments where we prepared ourselves,” he said.

“‘Yong offseason namin medyo challenging. ‘Di pa nagsstart ‘yong title defense namin na-injure na agad ‘yong starting point guard ko (Nygel Gonzales). Good thing lang na na-address namin early ‘yon kasi we had time to play offseason without him.”

Gonzales suffered an ACL injury during the offseason, Janti Miller switched ships from Mendiola to Taft with La Salle and Bryan Sajonia, Joe Celzo and Yukien Andrada are all in the PBA.

On paper, San Beda is looking at a tough path en route to back-to-back titles.

Aside from their own roster woes, the NCAA’s landscape has changed dramatically over the past couple of months.

Lyceum and Mapua got some shots in their arms following the appointments of former PBA coaches Jamike Jarin and Chito Victolero, who were both in attendance during Monday’s preceding.

There’s also the rejuvenated Letran Knights who will be bolstered by Titing Manalili, last year’s Rookie and Freshman of the Year awardee.

There will also be no shortage of dark horses for Season 102 with Jose Rizal University leading the pack under coach Nani Epondulan. The Heavy Bombers barely missed last year’s Final Four with a 6-7 card.

Even with a harsh landscape awaiting the defending kings of the NCAA, Escueta remained positive about his squad’s back-to-back title dreams.

“Everyone’s very positive. Me, as a coach, I’m confident sa team ko but we know it’s going to be a challenge because all the teams got stronger.”

The NCAA Season 102 basketball games will air live and free on Cignal platforms via the ONE Sports Youtube Channel and the CignalPlay app.

Select games will also air on Mondays and Thursdays on the RPTV channel. NCAA will also launch a dedicated channel for NCAA content on NCAA NXT channel 264 HD on Cignal before the opening.