After winning their first championship in the 1939 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)season, the De La Salle Green Archers have been established as a basketball powerhouse aiming to dominate every season of every college hoop action.
During the Green Archers’ NCAA stint from 1924-1981, the ballers from Taft have collected five championships through Kurt Bachmann, Lim Eng Beng, Eddie Decena and Tito Eduque.
Then, in 1986, with DLSU’s shift to the UAAP, it took the Green Archers only three years to win their first UAAP title, the shortest period that an expansion team has achieved to this day.
Moreover, the Green Archers hold the distinction of having the most consecutive Finals appearances since the Final Four format was introduced. It stretched to 12 seasons, from Season 57 to Season 68.
The Archers have their modern day success attributed to Pumaren brothers, Derrick and Franz.
Derrick, the elder of two brothers, led the Taft squad to two consecutive titles in 1989 and 1990, while Franz amassed five championships during the 1998-2001 seasons, and a 2007 crown that vindicated the men in green, who came from a league suspension.
Professional players Jun Limpot, Noli Locsin, Renren Ritualo, Mike Cortez, Macmac Cardona, Rico Maierhoffer, JV Casio, to name a few, were under the Pumarens’ tutelage during their collegiate hoops career.
Ten years after, the Lasallian community has been disappointed with the performance of the Green Archers.
The competitiveness of the Archers is seemingly becoming invisible, brought by a four-year UAAP title drought.
Many hopes turned to tears when the Green Archers, one of the preseason favorites, wound up sixth, with a record of five wins in nine losses—the worst that La Salle did in the UAAP since its debut season.
The DLSU basketball team, after missing the Final Four twice in the last three seasons, has been taking much criticism, especially with regards to its reputation as a serious title contender.
Is this the present brand of Lasallian hoops?
According to current Archer Luigi Dela Paz, the struggle is attributable to teams that have been bolstering their lineups such as Adamson and National University, which were nowhere near the Final Four caliber ten years ago.
As part of the new Green Archer program, Coach Gee Abanilla aims to build a good foundation. “Having a good foundation really spells a difference in any basketball program. If you lay down a good foundation, you’ll have good years ahead of you.”
Now with a revamped roster, coaching staff, and almost all the tools for a championship, the Archers just have to prove that they are a force to be reckoned with.
But they should not settle to be a contender on paper; they must prove their strength in the nearing games.
Where are the Archers now? Are the arrows up above and hitting the targets, or have the arrows fallen back on the Archers?
