Red Lions’ Top Gun Daniels Out For Season?

Defending National Collegiate Athletic Association champion San Beda Red Lions will be hard-pressed in its aim to retain the senior crown they won via a sweep last year.

The biggest stumbling block will be the absence of Afro-American player Sudan Daniels, last year’s Most valuable Player of the league due to an ACL injury he suffered at the opening game between San Beda College and Ateneo in the Filoil tournament.

“It is confirmed. He will be out for the whole season. In fact, his operation is being arranged now to be done here in Manila. We tried to see if we could address the problem without the need of an operation, unfortunately, hindi daw puwede,” said Red Lions coach Frankie Lim, who is eyeing a 4th NCAA title to tuck under his belt after winning back-to-back crowns in 2007 and 2008 and last year’s victory at the expense of San Sebastian College.

“Definitely, Daniels’ absence will have a big impact on the team, particularly on our defense, now I have to work on new defensive patterns without him. Honestly, our chance of winning has been lessened by maybe 25%. Mawala ba naman ang MVP mo? Sayang, dahil last year na niya sa team,” added Lim.

Lim also believes all the other teams, with the exception of Emilio Aguinaldo, have upgraded their teams.