With the first round of eliminations officially coming to an end with the games played yesterday, it is time to take a look at how each team has fared after 56 games. Although some outcomes were expected, the first round did produce some surprises, much to the delight of the general basketball public. Reigning champion Ateneo swept the first round and remains above the rest of the field.

For the three schools bunched in the middle, the race to the Final 4 will be tight, and that assumes there will be a Final 4. The Ateneo may very well sweep the whole elimination and simply await the outcome of that meat grinder called the Stepladder. If the Ateneo completes a regular season sweep they just need to beat their Finals opponent twice to complete that 4-Peat. The opponent on the other hand must beat the Blue Eagles three times.

Ateneo De Manila (7-0) – As early as the end of Season 73, a lot of people were already saying that the Ateneo would have an even stronger team for Season 74. After completing a difficult grand slam title campaign last year, it seems everyone was right after all. Two super rookies are leading the way for the Ateneo as it seeks an unprecedented fourth straight UAAP Title. Greg Slaughter and Kiefer Ravena are running 1-2 in the season MVP race as of August 7, the first time two rookies have turned this trick. “Our goal is really to win the championship. Individual awards are nice, but the championship is the most important thing,” Ravena said in one interview. Once completed, this will be the longest title reign to date for the Blue Eagles in the country’s premiere varsity league.

Adamson University (5-2) – They almost did in the reigning champions on opening weekend, and they had a hiccup against a struggling team, but everything is going just as planned for head coach Leo Austria and the Soaring Falcons. This is their best start ever in the last 10 years as a team. Living up to expectations is difficult as it is, and these Falcons had pretty high expectations coming into Season 74 after impressive showings throughout the offseason. Lester Alvarez, Jeric Canada, Alex Nuyles, Jan Colina, Eric Camson, Austin Manyara and Janus Lozada are all either in their fourth or fifth years in the UAAP. Their collective experience and year-on-year development are all beginning to show this season. They made their first-ever appearance in the Final 4 behind Austria and Ken Bono a couple of years ago. At the rate they are going, they might make their first Finals appearance this year. “If the other teams want us to just beat them we can oblige,” a smiling Austria said half in jest during one conversation at the Araneta Coliseum.

Far Eastern University (4-3) – All is not really well for the Morayta squad. They wrapped up their Round 1 with a blowout loss to the Ateneo after a fourth-period meltdown. Their second-best player, second-year guard Terrence Romeo, has struggled, averaging just a little over six points per game after being named Rookie of the Year last season. They lost African import Pipo Nuondou to injury before the summer even ended. Swingman and former national team player JR Cawaling went down with a knee injury to end the first round. Center Aldrech Ramos has not seen the ball enough on the entry pass. They simply have not been the dominant Tamaraws of the last couple of seasons. Superstar guard Ryan Roose Garcia will be enough to make them a Final 4 team, but they need to figure out how to get more production and more consistency from everyone else to return to the Finals.

De La Salle University (4-3) – After losing their first two games to last year’s Finalists, the Green Archers went on a three-game winning streak. They split their last two game of Round 1, including an escape act over Santo Tomas in their last assignment. La Salle however has yet to beat any of the other teams pegged as Final 4 locks. The Ateneo, FEU and Adamson all had their way with the Green Archers. Sitting in tight zone defenses and outrunning La Salle proved highly effective. La Salle also needs to address their third-period droughts. They went without a field goal throughout the entire third period versus NU, and went nearly as dry against UST. Had they not built such imposing first half leads, both the Tigers and Bulldogs could have turned the tables on the Archers.

University of Santo Tomas (3-4) – It is the sixth year of the Pido Jarencio era, and the Growling Tigers have yet to reprise their magical 2006 title run, or even return to the UAAP Finals. This first round has been shown that the Tigers are still not quite ready to hang with the contenders. Both the Ateneo and Adamson walloped the Tigers. And while FEU needed a last-second trey from Chris Tolomia to pull out that win, UST had only itself to blame for squandering several double-digit leads. That game-winner by Tolomia was only the third time the Tamaraws led in that game. UST has also shown that they are ill equipped to handle any sort of full court pressure. The absence of a true pointguard is telling when opponents press the UST backcourt on the first pass. Without a press break to help share the responsibility of bringing up the basketball, UST has often had to rely on guard Jeric Fortuna’s shooting to bail them out.

National University (2-5) – Talk about surprises and the Bulldogs will most likely come to mind first. A lot was expected of the team after their many successes in the offseason. Starting late last year they won the University Games and two Fr Martin Cup titles. They bested Adamson for the Uni-Games crown. Then they bested La Salle for the Fr Martin Open championship, and then ousted the Ateneo in the semifinals en route to an overtime victory over Mapua for the last Fr Martin Cup summer title. But in the ongoing Season 74 campaign they’ve beaten UP and a then-listless Adamson. All of their other losses were mostly blowouts, most notably a near-30 point beat-down from the Ateneo. Bobby Rey Parks was expected to be in the running for the Mythical 5 and MVP honors. But at the rate NU is going, they might miss the Final 4, scuttling the chances of Parks for those individual accolades. Speaking of Parks, he missed two crucial freethrows that allowed cellar-dwelling UE to steal a win for Round 1.

University of the Philippines (2-5) – After a winless year in Season 73, any improvement would have been worth something for State U. Beating UE in their opening game was nice. But sticking it to contender FEU by 13 points was a pleasant surprise. Coach Ricky Dandan and his crew have done a wonderful job improving the overall team defense and the early offense for the Fighting Maroons. They should also be credited with the personal improvement of 6-foot-6 African center Alinko Mbah. Mbah has no plays called for him, and yet he leads the league in rebounds and is among the leaders in blocks and field goal percentage. Jet Manule has also emerged for UP, and should be the most improved player this season. From his measly 1.6 points per game last year, he leads the Maroons with over 14 points per game this season. If Dandan can get anymore out of his other boys, they may easily ambush one or two more teams in the second round.

University of the East (1-6) – Just two years removed from the UAAP Finals, life has not been easy for the new-look Red Warriors. Sporting many newcomers on their roster, making adjustments has proven difficult for the boys from CM Recto. Their lone victory was a one-point squeaker that came against a struggling NU side. All of their losses have been blowouts. New head coach Jerry Codinera isn’t exactly a newcomer to the UAAP. He was an assistant coach for UP the previous couple of seasons under Aboy Castro. A lack of size has proven difficult to overcome though, as opponents routinely took it strong against the undersized UE frontline. Codinera and his Warriors will be hard pressed to steal another win in the next round.