After a roller-coaster of a regular season where many teams looked like legitimate championship contenders, in the end, the UAAP Finals will once again feature the DLSU Green Archers and UP Fighting Maroons.

It’s the first time since 1995–97 that the same two teams have squared off in three consecutive UAAP Men’s Basketball Finals. The budding rivalry with these two teams is fueled further by the split result of their first two series–the veteran Green Archers won in 2023, and the retooled Fighting Maroons answered in 2024.

La Salle’s road to the finals was far from easy. In their first season without two-time UAAP Most Valuable Player Kevin Quiambao, they overcame a colorful elimination round that was sidetracked by various injuries and suspensions to several key players. 

They started off the season slow, losing three of their first five games, then hit a rough patch in the second round where they lost three consecutive games–two of which were by just one mere point.

Ultimately, these two challenging periods of the season turned into character-building experiences for DLSU. They entered the Final Four as the fourth seed and despite facing the customary twice-to-win disadvantage, they beat the NU Bulldogs in two tightly contested contests.

Jacob Cortez gradually emerged throughout the season as the new King Archer, proudly wearing the mantle that his father Mike once bore over two decades ago. The team’s remaining holdovers from their 2023 title team–Mike Philips, Earl Abadam, JC Macalalag, and EJ Gollena–have been essential to this team’s resilience too as they have ably stepped into larger roles that were once filled by their elder teammates.

Furthermore, second-year guard Vhoris Marasigan has been quite the revelation for the Green Archers in recent weeks, providing them with a consistent offensive threat who is not afraid of getting physical and attacking the basket. 

Amidst all of the ups and downs of this La Salle campaign though, the one thing that was constant was their focus when facing UP. The Green Archers swept the Fighting Maroons in the regular season, winning two high-intensity match-ups that naturally had a finals atmosphere.

As a matter of fact, DLSU is the only team that UP has yet to beat this season. This is something that the Fighting Maroons aim to change in this best-of-three finals series because outside of their two losses to La Salle, this season has been nothing short of brilliant for them.

UP overcame an 0-2 start to finish the double round-robin eliminations with a 10-4 record that earned them the second seed. With the departure of point guard JD Cagulangan and one-and-done center Quentin Millora-Brown, the Fighting Maroons forged a new identity, relying on an equal-opportunity offense that highlighted the many different talented players on their roster. 

They beat the UST Growling Tigers in one game in the Final Four to book the first ticket to the finals.

UP’s remaining five NU Bullpups alumni brought in by head coach Goldwin Monteverde–dubbed the Maroon 5–will, for one final time, be at the center of attention for their team. The Fighting Maroons will rely heavily on Harold Alarcon, Gerry Abadiano, Terrence Fortea, and Reyland Torres while some spot minutes from cerebral guard Janjan Felicilda could be in play to swing the momentum of a game.

Centers Francis Nnoruka and Gani Stevens will play a crucial role against the Green Archers too. They will have to contain the high-energy Philips whose ability to generate second chance points is one of the pillars of DLSU’s attack.

If the last two finals are any indication, the third act of this trilogy should go down to the wire as well. Although La Salle swept the regular-season series, both games came down to the breaks of the game and truly could have gone either way. This final should be no different—and will likely be decided by which side keeps its composure down the stretch.

La Salle enters with a battle-hardened roster while UP, the defending champion, brings the swagger and confidence that have carried them all season. Each side has already won a title at the other’s expense, and this third act will serve as the tiebreaker–for the time being at least–giving them a chance to seize the upper hand in this on-court feud and stake a claim to this current era of UAAP basketball.