ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider 'Battle of Katipunan' highlights UAAP opening day

'Battle of Katipunan' highlights UAAP opening day

Published Mar 25, 2022 12:31 pm

By CARLO ANOLIN


Minus the usual collegiate atmosphere that is loud and lively, the University Athletics Association of the Philippines Season 84 kicks off today after almost two years since the 82nd season was shortened due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Eight universities will begin their UAAP campaigns in unfamiliar sight as games were set in a bubble setup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

A pre-recorded opening ceremony, as mentioned earlier by Season 84 president Nonong Calanog of host De La Salle, will signal the start of the new season to be followed right away by the basketball matches.

Defending champion Ateneo begins its four-peat journey against University of the Philippines, the season's first "Battle of Katipunan," at 4 p.m.

Interestingly, both Katipunan-based squads were selected as teams to beat by the majority of the coaches. De La Salle, Far Eastern University, and University of Santo Tomas were among the runners-up for some coaches.

Leading the Blue Eagles are captain Gian Mamuyac, Ange Kouame and SJ Belangel, while the Fighting Maroons have Ricci Rivero, Noah Webb , Carl Tamayo, and former UST standout CJ Cansino.

"Obviously, like everybody, we're excited about the start of UAAP," said Ateneo men's basketball head coach Tab Baldwin. " just wanna conclude by saying that it's great to be back and I wish all the other coaches, all the other captains, all the other teams, all the very best and I can't wait to see you on the court."

Manila neighbor schools FEU and UST will set the pace of basketball action at 10 a.m., Adamson and National University will clash at 1 p.m., while De La Salle and University of the East will cap off today's quadruple-header at 7 p.m.

Prior to the matches, all players, coaches, staff, and personnel, will be required to undergo antigen testing. RT-PCR tests, on the other hand, will be done every 14 days.

Teams will play in a double round-robin format and the Top 4 teams will advance to the playoffs. Depending on the standings, stepladder playoffs may take place.

Last Season 82, Ateneo soared to the top unbeaten in the elimination round which created a stepladder format in the Final Four, No. 2 UP earned a twice-to-beat advantage, while FEU and UST trailed to complete the cast.

The Growling Tigers clawed their way to the Finals by beating the Tamaraws and the Fighting Maroons but the Blue Eagles, led by three-time Finals Most Valuable Player Thirdy Ravena, emerged victorious in two straight games en route to their third consecutive UAAP title since Season 80.

Meanwhile, Baldwin said this season will be met with many unknowns, starting from revamped and renewed squads, change of coaching staff, the whole bubble experience, among others.

Baldwin added that the thrill of starting the collegiate season amid the Covid-19 pandemic will "counterbalance the fact that we might not be playing our best basketball."

"The bubble setup offers its advantages and disadvantages... they have a lot of time together and that's an advantage. I think they could spend more off-court time working on the mental side of the game with the players," said the three-time UAAP champion coach. "But even though we've been in the bubble, it's been an abbreviated buildup, I think only since January, and that's very short period of time to get these teams and players ready. I think that probably will be reflected in the performance of the teams."

Related Tags

Ateneo UAAP Season 84 uaap Tab Baldwin
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.