CONTINUITY, VINDICATION
by Joseph W. Buduan
(December 15, 2008)

Game 1 of the WPBL Finals starts tomorrow at the Letran Gym in Manila at 4:00 PM.

Ever Bilena UST and Smart Buddy UP will dispute the 2008 – 2009 WPBL PG Flex Cup title. Will this be the continuation of a championship reign that technically has lasted the last 10 years, or vindication for a team hungry for a major cage title?

With the core of the 2006 UAP titlists, and the reigning UAAP most valuable player in their fold, the Gandang Pinay return to the WPBL Finals to defend the crown they won in 1998. Marichu Bacaro, the tournament’s leading scorer and arguably the best player in the women’s game today will face off versus familiar foes.

UP’s Lady Maroons have been the runners-up in the UAAP the last two seasons running. It has been pretty frustrating for a program that has been highly touted in the women’s game. Head coach Eric Castro has come so close to winning it all and now is looking to finally get the big crown with the core of his Lady Maroons over at Smart Buddy.

Both teams could have easily met in the last two UAAP Finals. Bacaro and her Tigresses however were upended by the Lady Maroons themselves in the Season 71 Final 4. FEU would go on to win that UAAP championship against State U. In Season 70 it was the year of the Ateneo Lady Eagles as Bacaro and company once again came up short in the semifinals. Bacaro would still have some measure of satisfaction after being named MVP.

For the Lady Maroons it was an ironically similar story. In Season 70 they lost to Ateneo in the Finals, their first Finals appearance in quite a while. Last season they lost in the Finals anew this time to the aforementioned FEU after they went through a wringer against Bacaro, Rem Buenacosa and the rest of the Tigresses.

Now both teams will once again share the spotlight in what is arguably the biggest women’s basketball title fight in a long time. Each team brings different approaches to the game and whoever dictates the tempo of the game will win this series.

Ever Bilena is built around speed, running and gunning with its platoon of fleet-footed athletes. Bacaro, Buenacosa, Cebu recruit Aiumi Ono, swingman Nikki Leonardo, and guard Elaine Orillana all prefer the uptempo game where they can use their superiors speed and shooting to overwhelm even bigger opponents. They showed what they can do against the taller Muscle Tape Lyceum squad and even against Smart Buddy UP when they went to their transition attack to great effect. Even centers Anne Gregorio and Paula Bombeo can rebound and fill the lanes if they have to.

Smart Buddy for its part is built around the post presence of talented center and RP Team mainstay Fatima Tolentino. With the broad-shouldered 5-foot-9 Tolentino manning the low blocks, the Lady Maroons have a solid anchor inside who can score from the post, rebounds, block shots and intimidate. She is joined by do-it-all forwards Sai Sadorra and Joan Roma, the prefect complements to her low post game. Sadorra can play up to three positions and can swing easily from the perimeter to the post giving the Lady Maroons many options, ditto Roma.

Guard play however will be crucial for Smart Buddy. Fille Cainglet, Andrea Stevens, Diwa Paz, Danielle Bautista and Marsha Faustino are not the superb and gifted athletes that the Gandang Pinay guards are. Although they know how to run a team and defend, they aren’t quite in the league of Bacaro, Buenacosa and Ono. They must rely on intelligence, patience and cunning in running the Smart Buddy game to counter the Gandang Pinay, who have arguably the best backcourt in the tournament.

Tolentino has to establish her game down low and control the boards or Bacaro and company will run away with the series and the title. Of course that is easier said than done especially since the Gandang Pinay backcourt can break down defenses with their dribble and are very quick in pounding the boards coming from the outside especially Ono and Buenacosa who have had double-digit rebounding efforts in this conference.

Whichever team can impose its will on the other will make a short series of this. Smart money says Ever Bilena gets it in two games, Smart Buddy gets its first title if it goes the distance.

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