It was a most unexpected turn of events. Even in their wildest dreams, surely the San Sebastian Golden Stags could not have expected the season they had last year, winning the NCAA Season 85 championship against a highly favored San Beda side. There was enough about this team to make people think they could not have gone all the way. They had a new head coach in Renato “Ato” Agustin, a man who had never coached in the major college leagues before. They had a slew of new players that people outside the hardcore hoops circuit had never heard of. Who the heck was Calvin Abueva for crying out loud? Didn’t Ronald Pascual’s career end when he injured his ACL as an Adamson junior player?

They had stronger, bigger, more talented lineups before and couldn’t win it all, surely they would not be able to get it done with this crew. Last season they still had Jason Ballesteros and Jim Viray, two of the best players to ever come to CM Recto, and they couldn’t pull it off. Ballesteros became an honoree of the national sports writing association. Viray continues to be a commercial league mainstay. They did not have anyone coming in who had those credentials. Pamboy Raymundo wasn’t gopod enough to lead this team with those two aboard, plus they still had Jimbo Aquino and Gilbert Bulawan, and they still could not get it done. They wound up with a smaller team in Season 85. And yet, somehow, it all came together for them.

This is where Agustin, a former PBA MVP, came in. For his apparent lack of big time coaching credentials, he found a way to turn a good team into a great one, and bring the best out of players who used to be underachievers. Agustin wanted to maximize Aquino’s superior shooting, so he gave Aquino all the staggered screens and freedom to move and shoot. He wanted to maximize the amazing athletic prowess of Abueva and Pascual, so he did not box them into positions but allowed them to freelance from perimeter to post and back. He wanted to turn Bulawan into a defensive enforcer and ease the pressure off then-rookie Ian Sangalang, so he let the two of them play off each other, alternating at the 5 and 4 spots. Finally, he wanted Raymundo to become the court general he knew he could be, so he gave him help in advancing the ball and distributing it, conserving him for finding the seams in opposing defenses, playing both Raymond Maconocido and Anthony Del Rio on the floor with him. When all was said and done, they were hoisting the championship trophy high overhead. If anybody deserves the credit for San Sebastian’s success, it would have to go to Agustin. The best second round pick ever in pro ball history took his ragtag crew and turned them into champions.

Everyone of note returns this season, except for Aquino. Were it not for a silly mistake during the eliminations, Aquino might have been named MVP of Season 85. He still had the only hardware that mattered though, the championship trophy. And he got bonus bling: he was named Finals MVP, after hitting all the crucial baskets as his hot shooting opened up the San Beda defenses and allowed all the other Stags to operate and exploit mismatches.

San Sebastian’s incredible four-year title reign was halted in the junior division last season when San Beda returned to greatness. This is a new San Sebastian high school team, with the last of the 4-Peat stars finally graduating, as Jerome Delgado and Jeric Estrada now move up to the college game elsewhere. Swingman Gino Juamo-as, the next great college prospect will try to lead them back to prominence.