Week 2 Top 10: Dominance, and exceptions

A week of college basketball has passed and we're treated, for the most part, a rather predictable slate of results, except for a couple of games. So we have a somewhat predictable Top 10 this week, except for a couple of teams.

#1: Ateneo Blue Eagles
This week results: Defeated NU 86-62 and UE 73-61
In a normal week, a game against NU should be easy and against UE to be tough; this year, it's the other way around. But for the defending champs, it's just like the old days when they had an easy game against the Dawgs and had not-so-blowout win over the Warriors. Don't put the blame solely on Parks: Mbe has shown no improvement.

#2: Adamson Falcons
This week's result: Defeated UST 81-71
Adamson gave UST a dose of reality when they gave the Tigers their first loss of the season. While the Falcons did it on both ends of the court, you'd have to give credit to their offense as they surpassed the 80-point barrier. The boys from San Marcelino can shoot from anywhere from UST's side of the court.

#3: San Beda Red Lions
This week's results: Defeated Arellano 92-67 and CSB 79-78
You can say all day that Frankie Lim is a bad on-game coach. He and staff deserve credit for their full-court defense against the Blazers that ultimately wasted enough time to deny CSB a decent crack at the basket. Traditionally an NCAA team belongs to the top 2 but CSB put up a good fight, hence the Lions, that massacred the hapless Chiefs earlier in the week, go to #3.

#4: San Sebastian Stags
This week's results: Defeated Letran 71-62
What was supposedly the real big bad rivalry of the NCAA was a bummer. The Stags led from start to finish, and Kevin Alas fouling out sealed the fate for the short-handed Knights. Kevin's dad Louie should really find a big man now or else the Intramuros faithful would go impatient.

#5: FEU Tamaraws
This week's results: Defeated UE 66-47 and NU 62-59
Last year's finalists had the same opponents this week, although they had contrasting wins. FEU bounced back from a colder-than-ice-cold start against UE to blow them out convincingly, while they had to muster all of their energies to push off NU at the final play of the game.

#6: Lyceum Pirates
This week's results: Defeated Mapua 76-73, Arellano 84-74
Lyceum coach Bonnie Tan has a system, and if they'd face any NCAA team not directly named after a saint, they have a decent chance of winning. All of their games aside from San Beda and San Sebastian were either wins or a competitive loss (against EAC, of all teams).

#7: De La Salle Green Archers
This week's result: Defeated UP 79-67
The gremlins expectedly won against UP. So that means they're #7 because I hate them with deep passion (LOL). However, you gotta look at coach Dindo Pumaren if he can carry this team to the Finals. Is it time to bring back Bigote?

#8: JRU Heavy Bombers
This week's result: Defeated Mapua 70-69
Surprisingly, the teams on the JRU-Mapua game entered the game with only one win from either side. Unsurprisingly, it ended close, and unsurprisingly, Mapua let go a huge lead.

#9: CSB Blazers
This week's result: Defeated by San Beda 78-79
Only eight teams won this week, so that means I'd have to add 2 teams that lost this week: one of them is the B-team of Taft. The Blazers now have swagger. I dunno if it's the coach (Richard del Rosario) or their fans wearing La Salle shirts, but any CSB game from here on out should not be taken lightly.

#10: Mapua Cardinals
This week's results: Defeated by Lyceum 76-73 and JRU 70-69
How can a winless team get in the top ten? In a week where only eight teams won, you gotta let a losing team get in. It's as if I'd let UE, UST or even NU get this last spot. So I just spent 3/4 of the paragraph justifying this entry so I should just stop.

The trash heap:
#11: UST Growling Tigers: Sorta good offense, defense needs adjustments.
#12: NU Bulldogs: Hey Mbe, Sy is paying big bucks for your scholarship and other amenities (such as escalators on your school) you gotta improve your game somehow.
#13: UP Fighing Maroons: You sorta expect them to lose against La Salle, at least they did not lose by twenty.
#14: Letran Knights: This looks like last season where they'd beat all teams that won't make it to the Final Four, and lose all games against Final Four-bound teams.
#15: UE Red Warriors: You can't really call this team shallow, when their bench and starters are practically the same in quality.
#16: Arellano Chiefs: Sudan Daniel was not the biggest loss in a team this season. It's Isaiah Ciriacruz.

Outside the barrel: (Did not play a game this week)
UPHSD Altas, EAC Generals

Player of the week: Chris Cayabyab of Lyceum
Cayabyab scored 20 points, in 4/9 shooting from beyond the arc, plus 7 rebounds and 5 dimes to lead the Pirates in their win against Mapua.

Games to watch (excluding Monday):
No marquee NCAA games this week, but the UAAP has two must-see games: UP vs. Ateneo, and La Salle vs. NU

See also: Team standings, and magic & tragic numbers -- NCAA, UAAP.