How the battle for UAAP Rookie of the Year was won
This early, the UAAP’s battle for the Rookie of the Year award has been already won. Consider it a bold prediction from me, but if you look at it more closely, you’ll see why I closed down the race already. No rookie has been this dominant and such a game-changer in my memory. Save for a first game cough-up, Kiefer Ravena has justified the hot recruiting treatment he has recieved here and in the United States. No rookie, I repeat, no rookie has been able to dominate a game not just by scoring, but being an all-around beast.
While many may point out that first game fluke against Adamson, it was my hunch, that sooner or later, “The Phenom” would catch his bearings and be that dominant basketball player he was in high school. Seriously, we cannot judge a freshman just by a single game, that’s just too small of a sample size. Pundits proclaimed that you just need to put a bigger guard on Kiefer and you can shut him down. Take note: shut him down. That means totally stopping a star player from performing well. Well, six other teams did that and failed. So much for calling him the “Phantom” according to one genius in the blogosphere. Yeah sure, he was hardly felt in that opening-day win against Adamson. Then again, it was just opening-day game, hardly worth citing.
If my guess is right, not many remember how Kiefer fared during his first-ever UAAP Seniors game. Why so? Well, just look at his performance in the 9 games since. Everybody is raving how a rookie can lead a champion team in scoring and provide an all-around performance at the same time. Not only is he averaging around 14.5 points, he’s also hauling down close to four rebounds and dishing out three dimes a game. And that 24-point torching of De La Salle University just makes it sweeter, where he also snared 10 rebounds, for a guard. A guard who’s height is generously listed at six feet flat, but more closer to 5’11”. And those scintillating shows of all-around basketball with impressive defense is what’s marked in the haters’ nightmares. “Phantom” indeed. “Phantom of Nightmares.”
While Bobby Ray Parks keeps on challenging UAAP rookie records with his scoring outbursts, Kiefer is good enough piling up wins without fanfare. Not to mention, he is the most consistent rookie scoring-wise. While Parks had 30, 31 and 32 points to his name, when defended well, his scoring just becomes that of a role player averaging out to around seven a game. Same goes with UST rookie Kevin Ferrer. At the start of the season, he was on fire, right on qeue in everything. But as teams adjusted, they negated his ability to sneak in defenses, snare rebounds and score putbacks and even closing out on him as he gets the ball behind the arc. Kiefer? He’s proven he can handle bigger guards than him, being matched up with Ferrer at times. He’s proven he can handle the other team’s best defender (calling Ping Exciminiano!) and even if he gets a bad first half, he’ll put on a show in the second half just like what he did in Ateneo’s gutsy win against FEU. And stat-wise, he hasn’t scored below 10 points since that first game. That is solid consistency.
One thing, in my eyes, that also separates the “The Phenom” from the rest, is his ability to win. Or rather, his drive to win. Take that FEU game for example. Most teams with star rookies would be hanging their heads and just chalk it up to experience after getting down 57-63 with a little over a minute left to play. Not this kid. It is evident that losing is not in his culture, or vocabulary for that matter. He did not give up, even if they were short on time. And in that game, I saw something else, the clutchness of a Kiefer Ravena. Two times he called his number in the dying seconds of the game. Two times he drove and scored on lay-ups over the big men of FEU. The last one, the tying lay-up that made the 6th Man of Ateneo go wild. It was an impressive display of willpower, and god-given talent. It was the “it” sauce that fellow rookies like Parks and Ferrer are lacking in mine eyes.
Kiefer Ravena is a tough act to follow for the rookies. Game in and game out, he’s one of the players shouldering Ateneo to victories. He does it in consistent fashion and without much fanfare on his end, to him he is just playing basketball. Thank goodness for us fans, he’s putting up a hell of a show. Barring any injury, Kiefer Ravena is the Rookie of the Year of Season 74 of the UAAP.
