Excel Roof Riding Championship Momentum
by Joseph W Buduan (February 18, 2010)

Head coach Ato Agustin was used to being underrated as a player. At a time when players were either scorers or shooters, Agustin was both scorer and shooter all in one. He could nail shots from the parking lot with several hands in his face, as easily as he could slash and run the break. He is known as arguably the best second-round draft prick in the history of the professional leagues, cemented by his becoming a PBA Most Valuable Player in 1992. This was no mean feat considering the star-studded San Miguel roster of that season, and all the young talents in the PBA in general. All of this made it easier for Agustin to be named as one of the 25 greatest players in PBA history. “He is easily the best player never to have been picked in the first round of the PBA draft, and he’s proven throughout his career that he would have the last laugh,” explained long-time basketball pundit Sam Miguel.

He continued to be underrated when he was named the head coach of the San Sebastian Golden Stags a couple of months just before Season 85 of the NCAA. He had never held the reins of a major collegiate basketball program before, and no one gave him much of a chance in his first foray. After all, rookies are bound to make rookie mistakes, no matter how talented they may be, whether they be players or coaches. “Taking over an NCAA team is not an easy thing to do, especially a consistent contender and multiple championship winner like San Sebastian,” Miguel said.

Lo and behold, Agustin surprised the entire Philippine basketball community when he steered the Golden Stags to a clear upset over erstwhile Grand Slam champion San Beda in a two-game sweep. More than any of the surprisingly tough, talented and highly-skilled recruits, it was the understated coaching of Agustin that was the biggest reason for the San Sebastian triumph. “That had to be one of the biggest upsets in college basketball in then last 10 years,” Miguel said. “San Beda had completed a Grand Slam, they have a tall and very talented lineup, they carried the swagger of a defending champion, and it was Agustin’s coaching that allowed San Sebastian to beat them,” he added.

Going into this current PBL conference, the core of that Golden Stags championship squad will be seeing action for Excel Roof, and Agustin will once again be at the helm. They are likely hoping that the surprising but huge success they had in NCAA Season 85 will be mirrored in their inaugural PBL campaign. Former RP Youth Team 6-foot-7 center Ian Sangalang, 6-foot-3 power forward Gilbert Bulawan, 6-foot-3 forward Ronald Pascual, 6-foot-2 forward Calvin Abueva, 5-foot-8 guard Anthony Del Rio, and 5-foot-7 pointguard Pamboy Raymundo will form the core of this team. All of these guys will be coming back next season, so the rest of the NCAA better be forewarned.

They will be joined by 6-foot-1 2-guard and NCAA Season 85 Finals Most Valuable Player Jimbo Aquino. “We wanted to play with a more complete core, kaya lang na-draft kasi ng ibang team sina Dave (Najorda, the 6-foot-4 forward-center) at si Maco (5-foot-8 guard Raymond Maconocido),” explained Agustin. He could have requested for the two to still join the Excel Roof squad but decided to allow the two to play for the team that drafted them. “Since they were drafted by another team we thought it would be okay naman na payagan na namin silang maglaro para sa naka-draft sa kanila,” he further explained.

Speaking of the draft, Agustin and Excel Roof took in a couple of players from the two separate draft dates of the PBL: long-limbed 6-foot-7 center Eric Sugitan (formerly of Harbour Centre) elongated 6-foot-3 swingman Adrian Celada (of the Arellano University Chieftains) dynamic 5-foot-9 pointguard Argel Mendoza (of Emilio Aguinaldo College) should help immediately. Sugitan, a star of the ACSAT Lightning, did not see much action with the powerful and loaded Harbour Centre championship squad, should see more minutes on this team since they do not have much ceiling. Celada, who can score from anywhere on the court, and who can run end-to-end all game long, will be valuable as a backup to the sweet-shooting Aquino at the swing spot. Mendoza provides depth at the pointguard spot. Since Agustin loves to rotate his three pointguards in San Sebastian, Mendoza should prove to be a much better version of Maconocido.

That almost all of these guys had a chance to play each other in the recent NCAA season should help Agustin and his coaching staff in bringing them together as a unified team. Sugitan is not a total stranger to the NCAA either – he spent some time on the San Beda B Team a couple of years ago before eventually hooking up with ACSAT. Sugitan certainly saw action against Aquino and Bulawan when he was with San Beda B in a couple of off-season tournaments, when all of them were still role players trying to stay on regular NCAA rosters. “Madanda din na kahit papano magkakakilala na lahat ng players because of the NCAA, pero siempre we still need time to jell as a team, lalo na sa mga hindi San Sebastian,” explained Agustin.

A few observers are saying that Excel Roof should enjoy an advantage over the rest of the teams in this PBL conference since they have a championship core who are already familiar with each other. Agustin however would certainly not want to guarantee anything. The man is used to being underrated, and certainly he would like to go into the PBL underrated as well. That may not be quite as easy after their championship run, but that does not mean they will rest on their laurels. “Siempre naman we want to be competitive, and then (take it) one game at a time lang,” Agustin said.

At the rate Agustin is going, being competitive should be the last thing he should worry about.

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