FEU coach Racela saw UST coming when no else did

MANILA, Philippines – When most people wrote off the UST Growling Tigers after a forgettable UAAP Season 77, one person thought different.

FEU Tamaraws head coach Nash Racela knew even before the season began that UST was a dangerous team. He never overlooked them, nor judged them based on one poor year and a quiet pre-season. 

“It’s going to be tough playing UST because of their veteran core,” Racela said in August, one sweltering afternoon of practice as UAAP Season 78 loomed. 

“I don’t think they’re in the bottom 4. I think they will challenge everybody. You still have (Karim) Abdul, (Kevin) Ferrer, (Jamil) Sheriff, (Louie) Vigil and those are tough veterans. They always talk about us having a veteran core, but UST is another team that’s really heavy on veterans.” 

Fast forward 3 months to the present, FEU and UST are set to lock horns in a best-of-3 Finals for all the marbles starting Wednesday, November 25. (READ: UST shuts down defending champion NU to reach UAAP Finals)

“We see ourselves in them,” Racela tried to explain in a mix of Filipino and English Monday night, November 23, what he saw in the Tigers then, who missed the Final Four last year as key players battled injuries. 

“The team is composed of veterans and at the same time, a team that is hungry. That’s what we saw in them. We look at different factors that’s why we recognized them as one of the tougher teams to beat this year.”  (READ: Mac Belo: The selfless heartbreak kid)

Racela said he based his assessment of UST and other UAAP teams on their composition, rather than prior performances. 

“For most people, their basis is the last season of UST. A lot of them used the pre-season tournaments. For me, it’s not the right basis. We look past that and by doing so, we saw UST.” 

Racela’s instincts and judgments were dead on as the Tigers swept the Tamaraws in the elimination round. FEU’s España-based neighbors – as Racela predicted – barreled through the Final Four and took the top seed. His squad from Morayta came in as the second seed. (READ: Belo buzzer-beater pushes FEU past Ateneo into UAAP Finals)

The soft-spoken coach, who led FEU to the finals last year but fell short, admitted though that he never had a specific gut feel UST would be the last team standing in the way of their potential 20th championship.

“Part of my vision was seeing FEU bringing in the championship. But the other team was a bit vague. I couldn’t see exactly who it would be,” said Racela, also one of the unsung heroes for national team Gilas Pilipinas in his role as assistant coach. 

“Now I know it’s UST. Our eyes have always been set on the championship, regardless of who the other team is.” 

Racela’s foresight calls to mind another similar instance from Season 75 in 2012, when Norman Black – then Ateneo Blue Eagles coach and now also a Gilas Pilipinas assistant coach – was the lone person to forecast UST as one of the top teams that year. 

Black ended up facing the gritty Tigers – also known as the “Comeback Cats” then – in the Finals and Ateneo prevailed to complete its 5-peat.

Three months of sweat, hard work, and patience since that one afternoon, Racela’s vision is now clear. UST is the team to beat. What remains to be seen is whether or not FEU can fulfill the vision of holding up the trophy. – Rappler.com