NU Bulldogs – Alfred Aroga

The normally defensive-minded NU Bulldogs will reportedly put more of a premium on offense this season. And why not? The team is set to bring in several big name transfers (Matt Aquino, Michael Pate, Matt Salem), plus a pair of Batang Gilas standouts (JV Gallego, Josh Sinclair). A more up-tempo game should give more opportunities for these guys to shine.

However, Alfred Aroga, the squad’s defensive stalwart, will likely be the barometer of this team’s success. National U’s man in the middle was #2 in rebounds (13.0 a game, 0.4 behind the #1 guy), and #1 in shot-blocks (1.7 a game) in Season 78. His new status as team captain means he’ll likely be a lot more vocal on D. Sure, NU will likely score more, but having Aroga there means they won’t stray too far from their shutdown-ethos.

UE Red Warriors – Bonbon Batiller

Bonbon Batiller is certainly an interesting player. He exploded onto the UAAP scene last season by averaging 20 big points in his first five games. Combined with his playmaking skills and penchant for thievery (3.4 steals a game), he was a sexy dark-horse MVP candidate, and UE was looked at as a possible Final Four squad. Unfortunately, things went downhill for him after that. Over the remaining nine matches, he only scored more than 10 points once, and his field goal percentage plummeted from 47.4 percent in that hot start, to 21.7 percent. You could say teams figured him out, and shut him down.

Heading into Season 79, Batiller won’t be a surprise anymore. He’s a known quantity now, and teams will try to play him like they did in the latter part of Season 78. But if Batiller spent the offseason refining his game and adding new moves, he makes UE so much better, giving them a go-to-guy who can take over when their press isn’t working. Otherwise, it could be a long season for the Red Warriors.

UP Fighting Maroons – Jett Manuel

The UP Fighting Maroons were on top of the world a year ago. Not only were they the host school, they opened on top of the standings with a 2-0 record. The euphoria didn’t last long though, and UP went on to win just one more game, finishing tied for last place in the standings.

Once again, UP enters the season with a new head coach, with Bo Perasol, himself a former Maroon team captain, taking on the job. Perasol, from his time in the PBA and his recently-concluded stint with Ateneo, is known to be an offensive whiz, and he’ll look to improve UP’s schemes, as the Maroons finished dead last in all of the shooting categories. The player who stands to gain the most from the change? Veteran Jett Manuel, who has shown in stretches that he can catch fire. If Perasol can get the former Most Improved Player more open looks, then maybe UP can avoid going winless in another election year.

UST Growling Tigers – Louie Vigil

Three times in the past four seasons, UST has finished as the runner-up in the basketball tournament. While in the past, they usually managed to hang on to enough pieces to still be competitive the next season, that doesn’t appear to be the case for this year’s hosts. With the exits of Kevin Ferrer, Ed Daquioag, and Karim Abdul, UST doesn’t have a ton of pieces to make a realistic run back to the Finals.

That said, they do have former NCAA Jrs. MVP Louie Vigil. Entering college, he was projected to be a tremendous scorer, but more often than not, he was relegated to a reserve role, save for a wild stretch in Season 77. In Season 79, Vigil can go back to his high school days, as he’ll have the green-light to launch shot after shot. The Tigers might struggle in the wins column, but they’ll be competitive in the actual games thanks to Vigil’s scoring prowess.

Did we leave anyone out? Tell us your Top Picks for MVP this season in the comments section below!

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