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MANILA, Philippines – The De La Salle Green Archers’ failure to make the Final Four round of the UAAP Season 78 senior’s basketball tournament will likely warm up the hot seat that head coach Juno Sauler was already sitting on to begin the season.
After leading La Salle to a UAAP title in 2013 and a Final Four appearance in 2014, the third year of the head coach’s tenure ended with DLSU blowing a double-digit lead against FEU and getting eliminated out of Final Four contention with a 6-8 record.
Throughout the 2015 UAAP season, there has been talk that Sauler will be replaced as DLSU’s head coach in the event that the team underperforms. Noise surrounding that seems likely to only magnify after the loss to the Tamaraws.
When asked about his future with De La Salle, Sauler said that he’s staying in the moment and unaware of what will take place tomorrow.
“I live in the present. I don’t know what happens in the future,” he told the media at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday, November 18.
“With the future, we always have to be ready with the future,” Sauler said later on. “If you’re not ready for the future, then malaking problema yun (that’s a big problem).”
The Green Archers blew double-digit leads in 6 out of their 8 losses this season. Other than the improved play of Prince Rivero, standout rookie season of Andrei Caracut, and consistency of Jeron Teng, La Salle had an underwhelming campaign considering their preseason expectations.
“Our main weakness really this season… we used Prince at the center. He’s probably 6-2. And our 4-man, Jason [Perkins], [is] not really that tall also,” said Sauler.
“We’re the last in blocks,” he later added. “We don’t have any intimidating factor, which probably, if Ben [Mbala] was there, maybe it could have made a difference.”
Mbala was expected to suit up for DLSU this season but was deemed ineligible after participating in an exhibition game in General Santos over the offseason, which is prohibited by UAAP rules for players serving residency.
La Salle also expected to have a returning Arnold Van Opstal, but he had to bow out of his final playing year due to injury.
“It entered my mind, but I don’t want to charge it to bad luck, or the other team being very lucky when they play us,” Sauler said about the bad breaks his team caught over the past year. “You have to find a way to go over that.” – Rappler.com
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