The 1993 UST Growling Tigers men's basketball team represented University of Santo Tomas in the 56th season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. The men's basketball tournament for the school year 1993–94 began on July 17, 1993, and the host school for the season was Far Eastern University.
The Tigers went undefeated with a 14–0 record, in the year that was supposedly the first time that the Final Four semifinal playoff format was to take place in the UAAP tournament. Existing league rules stipulated that a team that wins all their games in the double round-robin eliminations is declared automatic champion, making UST the winners for the first time since their shared championship with the UE Red Warriors in 1967.
They had an average winning margin of 15.8 points with five blowout wins over the Ateneo Blue Eagles, the NU Bulldogs, and the UP Fighting Maroons. UST won twice over Ateneo by 27 and 28 points in each elimination rounds. They also defeated NU in both rounds with deficits of 31 and 27 points, and had a 32-point lead in their win against UP in the second round.
Dennis Espino was named Season MVP, and together with Rey Evangelista and team captain Patrick Fran, they were selected to the Mythical first team. Udoy Belmonte was included in the second team.
Roster
Depth chart
Roster changes The Tigers' starting point guard Binky Favis and national team members Rene Cabaluna and Jay Torres have already graduated and are replaced by two rookies, a transferee, and a returning player. UST has managed to recruit point guard Taddy Ramos from the Mapúa Cardinals, the 1991 NCAA champions for a one-and-done season. The 6-6 center Chris Cantonjos, out of the Letran Knights juniors basketball team was scouted by the Tigers' assistant coach Mady Tabora during one of his PBL team's tune-up games. Tabora, who was the coach of the Burger Machine team invited Cantonjos to try out with UST and is now included in this season's lineup.
Subtractions SG 10 Romel David 5' 10" 2nd Mapúa Institute of Technology Academic deficienciesPG 18 Vincent Kenneth Favis 5' 11" 4th La Salle Greenhills GraduatedPF Joaquin Dindo Torres 6' 4" 5th University of Santo Tomas GraduatedPF Renato Cabaluna 6' 3" 5th University of Santo Tomas GraduatedPF Ernesto Ballesteros 6' 4" 2nd Mapúa Institute of Technology Academic deficiencies
Additions SF 4 Francisco Guinto 6' 3" 1st RookieSG 13 Danilo Abugan 6' 1" 2nd Returning from Season 54C 15 Christopher Cantonjos 6' 6" 1st Colegio de San Juan de Letran RookiePG 18 Rizaldy Ramos 5' 9" 5th Mapúa Institute of Technology Transferred from Mapúa Institute of Technology
Coaching staff Assistant coach and team trainer Mady Tabora died from a heart attack in the offseason while on vacation in his hometown in Cebu City. The former Glowing Goldie who was also the head coach of UST's high school basketball team was replaced by the recently graduated Binky Favis as Aric del Rosario's deputy.
Schedule and results Preseason tournaments
UAAP games
Elimination games were played in a double round-robin format. All games were aired on RPN 9 by Silverstar Sports.
Postseason tournament
Awards Team UAAP champions18 Sep 1993Dennis Espino Season MVP Mythical first team Rey EvangelistaMythical first team Patrick Fran Rudolf Belmonte Mythical second team
Players drafted into the PBA Rey Evangelista was chosen second overall in the 1994 PBA draft by the Chot Reyes-led Coney Island Ice Cream Stars team on January 16, 1994. Udoy Belmonte also got selected in the same rookie draft and was picked 16th overall in the second round by the Yeng Guiao-coached Swift Mighty Meaties team. Patrick Fran and Siot Tanquingcen, meanwhile applied for the 1996 PBA draft on January 21, 1996, with Fran getting picked in the second round by the Purefoods TJ Hotdogs and Tanquingcen going undrafted. The Sunkist Orange Bottlers, however, signed Tanquingcen late in the 1996 PBA season to a one-month contract to replace the injured Boybits Victoria.
1994 1 2 2 Rey Evangelista Coney Island Ice Cream Stars 2 8 16 Rudolf Belmonte Swift Mighty Meaties1996 2 2 10 Patrick Fran Purefoods TJ HotdogsSigned as a rookie free agent Siot Tanquingcen Sunkist Orange Bottlers
References