The Rise of UP: How the Fighting Maroons Went From Cellar to Ceiling

Photo source: UAAP Photos

36 years is a long time for a championship drought, yes?

When the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons won the Season 84 men’s basketball title, they didn’t just end an agonizing dry spell. With championship momentum on their side, the Fighting Maroons’ program strengthened their grip on UAAP supremacy to ensure sustained success.

Now, as things stand in the UAAP, the memories of frustrating UP seasons in the ‘90s, aughts, and 2010s are as antiquated as 50-centavo blue books. Love them or hate them, the Fighting Maroons have dug their heels into title contention for years and years to come.

So, how did we get to this point? In what section of the multiverse did an opening day UP-Ateneo game become a tall order for the well-decorated Blue Eagles?

The answer, unsurprisingly, goes back several sunflower cycles ago…

Started From the Bottom

Here’s the thing about success: It’s a piece of isaw that cooks longer than you’d think.

While UP fans today could simply binge YouTube clips of prized recruits over the past three UAAP seasons, they need to recognize that the Fighting Maroons’ present glory traces its origins beyond the pandemic era. To fully appreciate UP’s status in 2024, they have to know what was happening in 2014.

“Dismal” doesn’t even begin to describe the circumstances of the men’s basketball team right around that pivotal year. Heading into Season 77, the UP Fighting Maroons had won just six of their last 64 games. This figure includes two winless seasons and zero Final Four appearances.

On and off the court, the red flags were numerous: a glaring disadvantage in the recruitment wars, reports of subpar training facilities and athlete nourishment, and delayed player allowances. It’s hard, of course, to focus on dominating the hardcourt when your morale is low and your body seriously lacks nutrients.

Evidently, the rehabilitation of that basketball program would be an immensely tall order for any set of backers. But this is the University of the Philippines we’re talking about, and you can bet there was activism involved.

In this case, a group of UP alumni opted not to pull the picket signs and megaphones from their arsenal. Instead, their activism took the form of wholeheartedly committing their time, funds, and resources to the improvement of the athletes’ conditions. Realizing that the Fighting Maroons weren’t getting the support they needed, these alumni took it upon themselves to provide meals, allowances, and a spark of hope.

The kicker: Through social media posts, this team—whose key figures include Renan Dalisay and Atty. Agaton Uvero—appealed to the hearts of other UP graduates to pitch in their assistance to the athletes as well. This grassroots movement, which began in early 2014, gained more and more traction in subsequent seasons, nicely complementing the efforts of die-hard boosters like Robina Gokongwei-Pe.

After years of watching the Fighting Maroons languish in the cellar of the men’s basketball standings, these supporters willed the long-awaited ascent into existence. In typical Peyups fashion, the supporters’ battlecry—not to mention the name of their team—was succinct and witty.

There was, quite simply, nowhere to go but UP.

The Come Up

Despite the existence of this benevolent entity, the team was by no means impervious to struggles on and off the court. A year after nowhere to go but UP was conceived, the men’s basketball team remained dead last in the elimination-round standings, thanks in no small part to drama on the bench.

(Ever heard of two coaches drawing up different plays on different boards, one after the other, during timeouts in an actual UAAP game? If Mikee Reyes and Paul Desiderio are to be believed, that’s just one example of the pandemonium that plagued the Fighting Maroons in Season 78.)

But things were indeed looking up for the Fighting Maroons towards the end of the 2010s. As financial and logistical support continued to surge, the team secured a bona fide players’ coach in Bo Perasol; brought in top-tier recruits like Javi and Juan Gomez de Liano, Bright Akhuetie, Ricci Rivero, and Kobe Paras; and eventually pulled off a 6-8 elims record.

By 2018, the better-nurtured Fighting Maroons were ready to gatecrash the Final Four. As if there wasn’t enough drama in this narrative, UP had to win its final elimination-round game to clinch a spot in the Season 81 postseason. Their opponent: a wildly successful college program that made it to the Finals just the season prior.

The De La Salle Green Archers had tasted championship gold as recently as Season 79—the ninth UAAP title in their rich history—and they were raring to get back to the promised land. As per usual, the Season 81 iteration of La Salle was brimming with talent: Aljun Melecio, Santi Santillan, Justine Baltazar, Kib Montalbo, and the list goes on.

In a game that could considerably be called a changing of the guard, the Fighting Maroons blew out the Green Archers 97-81. As impressive as the 16-point margin was, the implications were far more mind-boggling: UP, a few years removed from a 0-14 slate, had just eliminated mighty DLSU from Final Four contention.

The feel-good story of the Fighting Maroons carried on in their next do-or-die games, when the trio of Desiderio, Akhuetie, and Jun Manzo led the team in overcoming Adamson’s twice-to-beat advantage. As UP fans exulted in the team’s first Finals appearance since 1986, they believed—even for just a moment—that the previously unfathomable feat of another UAAP championship could become a reality.

Days later, the clock struck midnight for Cinderella—for the crown stayed with the belle of the ball.

The Ateneo Blue Eagles were simply more experienced, more composed, and more tactically sound than the Fighting Maroons that season. Under coach Tab Baldwin, the defending champions were a well-oiled machine that executed impeccably on both ends of the floor. From the cerebral backcourt led by Matt Nieto and Thirdy Ravena to the fearsome frontcourt featuring Isaac Go, Ange Kouame, and Will Navarro, the Eagles were clicking on all cylinders.

There was no beating Ateneo in the Season 81 Finals—and, for that matter, the entirety of Season 82. With the Blue Eagles securing a three-peat in the Tab Baldwin era, the Fighting Maroons had to settle with counting their small victories. One of these was their continued mastery over La Salle, whom they defeated twice in the Season 82 elims. For the second straight year, UP was in the playoffs while La Salle was not.

From then on, the fates of these three teams would be intertwined as they pursued the rarefied air of the UAAP summit. Because of Season 83’s cancellation in the wake of the pandemic, fans had to wait nearly three years before certain questions could be answered.

Were the Fighting Maroons for real?

Could the Green Archers overcome this new rival and get back to the top?

Was there any team within striking distance of the Blue Eagles’ greatness?

Euphoria

“UP, 36 years without a title, is this it? Cagulangan, for the championship…”

And the UAAP landscape was never the same again.

Cagulangan was “cash money,” make no mistake about it, but the investments that led to this priceless moment were abundant. For starters, there was the untiring support of nowhere to go but UP, bolstered by the helping hands of Palawan Express, Converge, Fil-Am Nation, and Jonvic Remulla. 

There was the unselfishness of Bo Perasol, who embraced the role of program director and allowed multi-titled coach Goldwin Monteverde to take the reins. (Here’s an analogy: Monteverde is a damn good chef, but Perasol did stock the kitchen with top-tier ingredients.)

There was the commitment of basketball talents that went well together: towering Malick Diouf, matchup nightmares Carl Tamayo and Zavier Lucero, rugged Gerry Abadiano and Harold Alarcon, and sweet-shooting CJ Cansino. (For that matter, there was also the accelerated growth of veterans Ricci Rivero and James Spencer.)

And then, there were the fans, who braved the risk of COVID-19 infection to pour out years of stored adulation onto the hardcourt of Araneta Coliseum and Mall of Asia Arena. 

No matter what they were going through on the evening of May 13, 2022, they magnified their team’s newfound glory with their incessant cheers.

The Big Three, Perhaps?

Since that fateful day two years ago, the Fighting Maroons have had a target on their backs. There was no way that the rest of the UAAP would allow them to celebrate for too long.

The Blue Eagles, whose four-peat aspirations and 39-game winning streak came to an end because of the Maroons, gained their pound of flesh by reclaiming the title from UP in the finals of Season 85.

Though UP reasserted its mastery over Ateneo in their Season 86 Final Four matchup, they came up short in Game 3 of that year’s championship series. Their slayer: the De La Salle Green Archers, who finally exacted revenge at the highest level through the extraordinary hands of Kevin Quiambao.

No crystal balls needed here—in the foreseeable future, La Salle and Ateneo will continue to load up on talent and fine-tune their comprehensive basketball programs. 

On the Green Archers’ side, coach Topex Robinson has yet to scratch the surface of his mentoring brilliance. A more UAAP-acclimated Robinson is a scary thought, as is a core that includes Jacob Cortez, Kean Baclaan, Alex Konov, and Mason Amos. (On that note, what if KQ decides to hit pause on his pro plans? That’s a downright terrifying team.)

As for the Blue Eagle camp, Tab Baldwin remains a force to be reckoned with, a north star that can still pull otherworldly talents within Ateneo’s orbit. With Baldwin around, it’s always a matter of when—not if—the Blue Eagles can assemble a cast that’s capable of making the Finals at minimum.

On multiple occasions in the history of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament, Ateneo and La Salle had the limelight to themselves. Now, a new powerhouse has set up camp on the league’s mountaintop, and they have no plans of giving up their real estate.

What does UP have in store for the next few seasons? In Season 87, they’ll be fielding 6-foot-6 wing Jacob Bayla and 6-foot-10 versatile big man Quentin Millora-Brown. Bayla and QMB round out a well-balanced roster that includes Francis Lopez, Dikachi Ududo, Chicco Briones, Aldous Torculas, and Janjan Felicilda (along with championship holdovers Cagulangan, Abadiano, Alarcon, and Terrence Fortea).

Then, in Season 88, the Fighting Maroons are expected to field former Mythical Five member Rey Remogat and 6-foot-5 sniper Miguel Yniguez. There are rumblings as well that a certain high-flying Goldwin protege could end up in a UP jersey.

A constant stream of high-caliber talent, robust resources for holistic athlete development, and ardent support from backers and fans—now that’s a far cry from a lowly university team that lit a bonfire to celebrate a single elimination-round win.

No one can say for sure when the UP Fighting Maroons will win their next men’s basketball title. But here’s a safe bet: It won’t take another 36 years to get there.

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