A season that has been more exciting than anything else seen in recent years is slowly coming to a climax. After 56 regular season games and two grueling Final 4 matches it has come down to the two teams everyone said would dispute the UAAP Season 73 basketball championship – reigning champion Ateneo De Manila and consensus Number 1 seed Far Eastern University.

This is being touted as a rematch of the 2003 Finals when Ateneo, then also defending the title, faced a powerhouse FEU side. Ateneo had LA Tenorio, Larry Fonacier, Wesley Gonzales and Rich Alvarez. FEU had Dennis Miranda, Jeff Chan, RJ Rizada, Arwind Santos and Mark Isip. All of these great players are now stars in the PBA. Brothers Joel and Koy Banal were the coaches for either side, giving the press all the excuse to call those Finals a “Holy War”. Ateneo yielded its title to the Tamaraws thanks to the hot shooting of Chan and Rizada. Ironically, Chan originally wanted to play for Ateneo coming out of high school in Bacolod; Rizada came from Ateneo De Davao. “That championship was really for FEU to win. They had a powerhouse team,” remarked one long-time assistant coach.

A lot of experts had thought Ateneo would have faced FEU already in at least one of their back-to-back titles. FEU was at least the Number 2 seed coming into the last two seasons. Things however that had little or nothing to do with action on the court just conspired to make thing turn out a little different. In 2008 Ateneo beat archrival La Salle. In 2009 they turned back a surprising University of the East. In both 2008 and 2009 FEU figured in the Final 4 only to falter both times. Last season was particularly prickly considering they were highly touted to get rid of their university belt next door neighbors. There is thus some unfinished business for both sides.

Ateneo completed a back-to-back championship last season, their second in the UAAP senior division. They wrapped up this year’s elimination rounds at 10 – 4. In both of their back-to-back championships they were 13 – 1. Life has not been as easy for the Blue Eagles this season. Essentially playing center by committee, the reigning champions have had to reengineer their game. From pounding the ball in the post, the Blue Eagles have gone to the high screen-roll and the transition game to try and get their points.

Rabeh Al-Hussaini, the 6-foot-7 light-footed behemoth who dominated the paint in his last two years for the Blue Eagles, was no longer around for this campaign; ditto 6-foot-5 defensive demon Nonoy Baclao, who sent back many enemy shots and altered even more with his uncanny timing and albatross-like wingspan. No longer able to get the easy points inside and take chances on defending the opposing high pick-and-roll, Coach Norman Black turned to the perimeter to try and pick up the pace and beat backpedaling defenses. “Things have been difficult lately because Ateneo was spoiled with having the two best big men in the UAAP in their last two campaigns,” observed one veteran sportswriter.

FEU remains the only team Black and his Blue Eagles have not beaten this season. Although the average winning margin of the Tamaraws is only at 2.5 points per contest, at the end of the day it is still about getting the precious W. Ateneo would naturally not only want to exact some payback but also to retain their title and complete that precious grand slam. This would be the first grand slam championship of the post-World War II era, and the also the first ever for the Blue Eagles in the UAAP should they turn the trick. FEU of course will have something to say about that and maybe make some history of their own.

Both elimination contests fought between these two teams were defensive struggles. Being the best defensive teams in the league, that was not at all surprising. It took heroic games from the likes of newly-crowned MVP Ryan Roose Garcia and Rookie of the Year Terrence Romeo to literally bail FEU out of trouble against the reigning champions. In both games Ateneo even had a lead going into the end-game, but it was the heroics of the two Tamaraw sentinels that saved the day for FEU. More of the same is to be expected once these Finals roll around.

FEU loves to run and exploit their advantages in speed, quickness and ability to finish strong on a break. Although they have two fine post options in 6-foot-5 Reil Cervantes and 6-foot-6 Aldrech Ramos, their halfcourt game is not as fluid as their transition. Their halfcourt normally consists of Garcia or Romeo looking for screen-roll opportunities first and then feeding the post as a second option. Dominating the ball as much as they do, both Garcia and Romeo are the points at which the FEU offense starts and stops. If they get jammed the halfcourt becomes a test for Paul Sanga’s shooting or JR Cawaling’s driving game. While Sanga has shot well against Ateneo, Cawaling has had a subpar season across the board.

Ateneo also loves to run but have found the goings tough against FEU. With Ramos and Cervantes controlling the boards, there has been little to fuel the Ateneo transition. This is where the quick hands of Eric Salamat, Eman Monfort, Ryan Buenafe and Kirk Long come in. No longer able to heave outlet passes off defensive boards, the Blue Eagles now look for transition opportunities coming from the steals and stops up high by their match-up zone. Salamat remains the sultan of swipe, and can either run the break himself or hurl the outlet pass to a streaking teammate, normally Long or Buenafe.

Monfort might be the real key to this series. Not only has he been playing better as the season has progressed, he has also provided leadership on the court. In their Final 4 encounter against Adamson University, the diminutive pointguard had a game-high 22 points and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field. If he gets anywhere near that hot in these Finals he could be the next great Finals MVP for the Blue Eagles.

Game 1 will be critical. Whoever wins Game 1 will most likely win the championship. Ateneo lost Game 1 and then their title to FEU in 2003. That means history is on the side of FEU. All the Tamaraws need to do now is focus on basketball and hope the semi-annual sideshows that have ruined their last two seasons do not return.