THOUGHTS | UAAP/NCAA SCHOOL PRIDE

College basketball is front and center this month, with the top squads from both the NCAA and UAAP battling for supremacy. As it stands, the UP Fighting Maroons and the DLSU Green Archers are set to go to war for the third straight year, while the San Beda Red Lions and the Letran Knights renew their long-standing rivalry. And this week alone, the action has already spilled off the court.

First, Magnolia center and former UP standout Zavier Lucero stirred things up by declaring that the Green Archers aren’t ready for the Fighting Maroons. On the other hand, San Beda coach Yuri Escueta made waves of his own by saying that Red Lion guard Nygel Gonzales is the better point guard than Letran’s potential rookie MVP Jonathan Manalili.

Sure, both claims may sound absurd to some, but honestly, this is just people loving their own.

And I love it.

Love, love, love, love, looooove it!

Because this past decade, we’ve seen an insane volume of transfers—players hopping schools because they want to follow their coach, because a sponsor swooped in, or because they made deals you’d usually only see in pro leagues. Back in my day, when a player got hit with a scandal, a team either suspended him, kicked him out, or he walked away on his own to find another opportunity.

If you’ve read my blogs, you already know I condone favoritism. I’m fine with hometown cooking. I don’t mind homecourt advantage. I even like it when a crowd makes the visiting team feel who’s boss—unless it crosses the line into violence. And yes, there are times when I stop or delay my blogs simply because I’m hurting from a result or I don’t want to jinx the team I’m supporting. I made an OG blog when they were winning, and when they lost? Dead silence. When the Philippines was knocked out of Physical Asia, did I continue the blog? It’s not that I didn’t want to write about it…

It’s that I REALLY DIDN’T WANT TO WRITE ABOUT IT unless someone bribed me to relive that pain!

The truth is, there are levels to loving a team. Couples fight for days over rooting for different teams. In the Philippines, we’ve even seen relationships fall apart over political differences.

When the Knights defeated the Arellano Chiefs to set up their series against the Perpetual Altas (if I remember correctly), the NCAA–GMA panel ended up calling Letran consultant and current TNT guard Rey Nambatac instead of head coach Allen Ricardo. The choice made sense—Nambatac was once part of the NCAA broadcast team and, of course, a former Letran Knight who helped beat the San Beda Red Lions in the NCAA Finals.

What made the moment even more interesting was that Javee Mocon—now also in the PBA—was on the panel as well. He was part of that San Beda team that Nambatac and Letran defeated. Sure, they exchanged some “friendly” banter on air, but make no mistake: when the Red Lions and Knights meet, both of them will be firmly on their own school’s side.

So loving a team—and defending them even when the take sounds ridiculous—is completely normal.

And sometimes, even when a team clearly loses, their fans see it differently. They deny it. They blame the refs for favoring the other team. They think a player tanked. They suspect the venue ticketing was rigged. It happens everywhere.

But all of this makes both finals showdowns must-watch. Even the most casual fans will be glued to their feeds, eager to share their two cents—because for two or three games, they get to wear their school pride loud and proud.