There’s a unique bond in the men’s and boys’ teams of the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) lately.
Both teams treat each other as family. They train together and pray together.
And this Cesafi season, both teams are hoping to rise together.
After missing out on the semifinals in their respective divisions last season, the Panthers are looking more promising this year as they made some adjustments during the offseason that’ll not only make them emotionally and physically tough but also spiritually stronger.
Starting this year, USPF boys’ and men’s head coach Albert Alocillo made it a habit for his players to share a single bible verse to their co-teammates in every practice session.
“Men don’t live by bread alone, you need the words that come out from the mouth of God. Basketball is just only a tip of an iceberg. The word of God is very important because that is very useful in our daily undertakings as a basis of how we live life,” Alocillo said.
Aside from changing their daily routine, the Panthers men’s team also made some big moves when they acquired the services of six-foot-eight Nigerian big man Richy Managor to man the middle, making themselves a force to be reckoned with down low.
And the acquisition paid off, as they posed trouble to other Cesafi teams in preseason tournaments held in Leyte and most notably in Bayugan City last June, where they even pulled off a monumental upset against UAAP powerhouse, the University of Sto. Tomas (UST).
However, Alocillo believes that the boys’ and men’s teams still need to improve defensively to have a chance against some of the best offensive squads in the league.
“Since we are small, we really need to improve our defense especially our trapping defense and the rotation of our defense. Managor really helped us in the defense, but we cannot rely on a few players but we rely on the strength of numbers,” Alocillo shared.
Projected by Commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy as one of the semifinalists, the Panthers men’s team is motivated enough to get over the slump after finishing with a 0-12 (win-loss) card in the 2015 season before settling for a 3-9 slate last year.
“Our goal is to be in the magic four and we’ll take it from there,” Alocillo said.
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