Nueva Ecija cannot wait for the offseason to come as it aims to stack up its weapons for its bid to reclaim the title following an early exit in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League playoffs.

The Rice Vanguards are raring to bounce back after suffering a tough North semis loss to San Juan that ended their reign in the regional league.

Team owner Bong Cuevas shared that there were still no decisions yet days after the loss but the team is seriously looking for upgrades to its lineup in hopes to finally live up to the expectations of its home crowd.

“I will evaluate this season very well. Because malaki palagi expectations for Nueva Ecija to perform. Nakita niyo naman kung gaano karami ang nanonood pag Nueva Ecija ang naglalaro. And for me, ang pinakaimportante is I cannot let my kababayan down,” said Cuevas.

Coming in as the heavy favorite in the series, Nueva Ecija suffered a tough loss in Game 1 before blowing up a home court advantage in Game 2. 

Cuevas said it’s important for his team to keep up to the evolving game of all of the other MPBL teams if they wish to continue to contend for the title.

“I will re-evaluate everything from the coaching to the players. Because I have to come up with a better team, a much better team,” said Cuevas.

“To follow the evolution of MPBL, lahat ng team sa MPBL are already re-tooling, the game has evolved, and maraming bata na. And it's a totally different league in 2022 than 2023. And I'm sure 2024 will be even different and much better than 2023,” he stressed.