Olsen Racela rues 'season of inconsistency' as FEU's Final Four streak comes to an end
By NIKOLE JAVIER
Far Eastern University won't be in the Final Four of the UAAP Season 85 men’s basketball tournament – the first time since 2013, following a season of inconsistencies according head coach Olsen Racela.

After eight straight semis berths, the best streak in the league since the Final Four era began, the Tamaraws officially bowed out of contention for the season's crown after absorbing 75-70 loss to the Adamson Falcons on Wednesday, Nov. 23.
FEU, which started its campaign on a rocky footing with five straight losses, showed some flashes of brilliance when it went on to win its next four games to stay in the hunt for Final Four spot.
However, the Tamaraws couldn't sustain the winning run, losing their last four games for a 4-9 record in the standings.
“The season of inconsistencies. May times na magsa-start kaming okay, tapos may times na bad start and then may times na we finish strong, may times na we do not finish strong. Puro kasi streaks eh. Losing streak, winning streak, losing streak. Kailangan matapos kami with a win this Saturday,” said Racela.
Despite the series of misfortunes, Olsen was proud of how his players showed up in every game whether it ended in their favor or not – something he hopes to become instrumental come the next season.
“Hindi mo matatawaran sa kanila is the effort that they put into every game or in every fightback. Ang problema sometimes nababaon kami nang masyadong malalim eh. But we will learn from this and then coaches, management will take a look at evaluate everything. Tingnan natin what went wrong and everything,” Racela added.
Now left with one remaining game, FEU is determined to put on a graceful exit when it tangles against University of Santo Tomas which, interestingly, the same team it defeated in the first round to snap its five-game slide.
Additionally, Racela is delighted that the FEU lineup would hold up and remain pretty much intact next year.
“Lahat will still play next year. Basically, intact kami except for Ximone Sandagon. Sabi ko sa kanila, we’ll talk about us getting eliminated on Saturday, but right now, ang focus namin is UST ,” Olsen concluded.