The UP Fighting Maroons fell short of winning the UAAP championship last season after absorbing a grueling, heartbreaking loss to the La Salle Green Archers in a winner-take-all Game 3. In Season 89, the Katipunan-based squad is looking to finish the job and has taken an “Every day is a championship day” mantra, according to Jacob Bayla.
Bayla Opens Up About the Championship Mindset
During the UAAP Season 89 press conference on Tuesday, Bayla shared that UP coach Goldwin Monteverde wants his players to take on the mindset of playing like champions and maintaining the desire and hunger to win it all.
“We know that’s where we wanna be at, and [we] have that mindset every day that ‘Every day is a championship day,’ and we should live like champions. That’s what Coach Gold [Monteverde] always says,” Bayla said.
“And it’s a lifestyle, to be honest,” Bayla added.
A Fighting Champion Poised for a Bigger Role
Bayla should have no problem living that mantra. He is, after all, a champion already, having won a title in Season 87 with Gerry Abadiano, Harold Alarcon, Terrence Fortea, Reyland Torres, and Janjan Felicilda.
However, every one of those guys—mainstays of the powerhouse UP squads of past seasons—isn’t returning for Season 89, which leaves Bayla among the longest-tenured Fighting Maroons. And that means he’s likely to take more of a leadership role for the team as they look to get back to the mountaintop.
Bayla won’t be alone. Guard Rey Remogat and big man Francis Nnoruka are back, along with Chicco Briones, Miguel Yniguez, Gani Stevens, and Sean Alter. This should be a solid core for UP, and with Veejay Pre set to make his Fighting Maroons debut, alongside transferees James Payosing, Elliot Dimaculangan, and Rainer Maga, and rookie Sean Franco, UP should have enough to continue being one of UAAP basketball’s true contenders.
But they will need to take every day as a championship day.
