Pumaren brothers: We’re the same, we’re different

By Jasmine W. Payo
Inquirer
Last updated 03:59am (Mla time) 10/03/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- More than just a family feud, the 2007 UAAP Finals will be a testament to the winning system of this band of basketball brothers.

The Pumaren siblings -- Franz of De La Salle University and younger brother Dindo of University of the East -- will go to the best-of-three championship series toting similar game strategies that have revolutionized local collegiate basketball.

“If you’re going to dissect the team profile, one thing you’ll notice that ... there’s discipline,” said Franz of his Green Archers. “We [place] emphasis on defense. The players have their respective roles. There are no superstars in our team.”

“We’re always well-prepared and well-organized,” said Dindo of his Warriors. “Our defense creates our offense. The emphasis in college basketball is to have the most number of possessions. Our trademark is [giving the enemy] 40 minutes of hell.”

Franz and Dindo may try to outwit each other using familiar plays, but both plan to throw in surprises of their own.

“If you scrutinize it, there’s a difference [in style],” Franz said during the PSA Forum Tuesday at Shakey’s UN Avenue. “Looking [from] outside, you will say what we’re doing is almost the same. We have different philosophies lately. We adjust [according] to the materials that we have. There’s a variation, I guess. But what’s always the same is the aggressive pressing defense.”

On his “loaded lineup,” Dindo said: “We have a balanced team. Even our second group can start. Our players’ playing minutes are well balanced. No one plays more than 22 or 23 minutes. Unlike La Salle, their key players average about 29 to 30 minutes.”

Yet both credit their successful systems to their father Pilo and elder brother Derick, who also steered Talk ‘N Text to the PBA Finals in the last conference.

Before Franz took over in 1998, Derick mentored the Archers from 1986 to 1991, a stint highlighted by back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990.

And three decades before Dindo steered UE back to the spotlight, Pilo called the shots for the Warriors, who bagged the UAAP championship in 1975, 1976 and 1979.

“Modesty aside, I think the program that I put up at La Salle -- whether the other schools will agree or not -- became the barometer of college basketball,” Franz said in the forum sponsored by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and Shakey’s UN Avenue.

“The mere fact that we’re consistently in the top four every year is already a validation of the program.”