NCAA Season 85: Just because

Before I begin, lemme show you an awesome stupidity no one has seen yet.

We have UAAP Season 72, right? Let's do the long math:
2009 = Season 72
1999 = Season 62
1949 = Season 12
1939 = Season 2
1938 = Season 1

Now, on the NCAA's case:
2009 = Season 85
1959 = Season 35
1939 = Season 15
1929 = Season 5
1928 = Season 4
1927 = Season 3
1926 = Season 2
1925 = Season 1
But the NCAA started in 1924! So what designation is that? Season 0? What?

Now for the reason why you are here.

It's NCAA season one more time, whether its season 85 or whatever was the first year of reckoning, it doesn't matter since now we have ten teams, seven regulars and three guests. Those guests have virtually the same rights as the regulars, the only catch is that when some situation arises such as game protests and the like, they won't have a voice either on the MANCOM or at the Policy Board. Too bad there is no Anton Montinola figure on the NCAA board, but then again, there's always his disciple Paul Supan. Hahah.

I'll rank the teams at the end of each round -- first round, second round, seeding playoffs, semifinals, finals, etc.

First round:
Opening day: San Beda will make the Cardinals weep, the Knights will win round 1 vs. the Bombers, and the Recto peeps will decimate the Perps. On Monday, CSB will open their campaign with a triumph, and NCRAA rivals EAC and AU will duke it out on national TV with Ronjay Buenafe's school winning.

So what happens next? JRU and San Beda will finish on top, probably tied or less than 2 games away from each other. SSC-R will be about another two games behind at third, followed closely by Letran. Then AU, EAC, Mapua in the middle. CSB will win at least four, and Perps and AUF only win will be against each other -- although Perps has a knack of winning their opening day game.

Second round:
Last year, the top five teams virtually split their elimination round series -- only San Beda vs. Letran and JRU vs. SSC-R (how ironic) ended up as sweeps. We might expect the same this year, with SBC and JRU possibly sweeping a couple of their elimination round series with the next four teams. The second round will boil down to the final two semifinal berths: SSC has a legit chance of breaking the SBC/JRU duo and their games against the other seven teams will determine their chance of cracking the top two. If the other teams spoil them, it could very well relegate them to #3.

Seeding playoffs:.
With ten teams and only four playoffs berths, the race will be tighter for #4 -- if Letran does get tied with another team, they have a legit chance of winning the playoff, only to meet SBC or JRU in the next round. The guests would probably never make it this far, and Mapua will give Letran and SSC the only significant opposition. And JRU and San Beda might play each other for #1. Or SSC can bag a playoff for #2.

Semifinals:
#1 San Beda vs. #4 Letran -- rematch of the inaugural final four semifinals matchup, only that SBC will clinch their fourth consecutive finals appearance rather easily.
#2 JRU vs. #3 SSC -- this will be the juggernaut since it will be very much possible that this will become a virtual best-of-3. If this happens, either JRU or the Atomic Bomb will implode (pun not intended) that will make them lose the series. I'd expect JRU to win this in two. Or three.

Finals:
Ah, so it's the rematch. Like in the Stanley Cup this year, I'd expect a different result, with JRU finally vanquishing the ghosts of 1999, 2001 and 2008 with a 2–0 in the finals series. Yes, you've read that right. JRU would win in the finals. They'd sweep.

In other news, the UAAP may have finally read the articles here referring to their crappy tournament system (which I never got to finish since I had bronchitis). And expect less updates on this blog this year. Sad but true, due to screaming Lakers fans, the boss cut off the TV for the rest of the month. And probably a lot longer.