WHEN Cyrus Baguio left the University with still a year of eligibility left in the UAAP to turn pro, questions as well as eyebrows were raised.
“I never really wanted to leave UST,” the 24-year-old Iligan City native recalls. “When I got drafted by Red Bull, I thought I could still play out my last year in the UAAP like Don Allado did with La Salle, but the rules changed so I had to make a choice.”
The decision stirred up a controversy. He received a lot of criticisms about his departure, but he’d rather not mind the issue.
“Hindi mo rin masisisi ang mga fans ng UST,” says Baguio. “Nasasayangan kasi sila na may one year pa ako sa UAAP.”
Nevertheless, Baguio pursued his dream.
UAAP Season 66 rolled in and the Growling Tigers were left without a go-to-guy. Baguio had already joined the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Annual Draft, while his “dunking duo” partner Niño Gelig had played out his UAAP eligibility. Sans Baguio, the team finished a disappointing fifth. That year, the beleaguered team lost not only a Final Four ticket but also a mentor in the legendary Aric del Rosario, who decided to call it quits.
It was, however, not the first time that the Growling Tigers failed to enter the semi-finals with Baguio’s absence. In Season 64, then Tigers head coach Aric del Rosario suspended Baguio because of academic deficiencies, resulting in the España-based squad’s first bitter taste of a UAAP Final Four non-attendance.
But the explosive Baguio’s reappearance in Season 65 made UST a force to reckon with. Players and coaches from other teams expressed both fear and admiration of his offensive and defensive intensity.
“We know that UST is a formidable team especially with Cyrus Baguio back in the lineup,” said former Ateneo de Manila University coach Joel Banal in an interview with Newsflash.org two years back.
Although UST was robbed by De La Salle University of a finals berth, the Tigers, bannered by Baguio, Gelig, and big man Alwyn Espiritu, raised the level of their game to make a more gallant exit than before.
Joining the pros
It was not until the second round of the 2003 PBA draft that Baguio officially joined the elite line of Philippine basketball’s finest. He came in as the second pick of Red Bull after AdMU’s Enrico Villanueva and was ranked 14th over-all.
Baguio started his professional career dribbling behind his more illustrious teammates. The 6’2” slasher mostly spent his rookie year warming the bench as a third stringer. If he was the top banana in the Tigers’ roster, he knew his role in the pro ranks would be different.
In the 21 games that he played in the last Fiesta conference, Baguio only averaged 2.8 points in 11.6 minutes an outing.
“Maraming superstars sa Red Bull. Alam ko sa sarili ko na kailangan ko talagang galingan yung game ko,” he admits.
But slowly, Baguio is finding his way into the Barako rotation. In the ongoing Philippine Cup, Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao has been tapping him to start at the small forward position. After only seven games, his numbers more than doubled to seven points an outing and is now getting more playing minutes even with the presence of Lordy Tugade and 13-year-veteran Vergel Meneses.
“Masaya ako na nabibigyan ako ng ganong minutes. Ibig sabihin may pag-asa ako, kasi marami pa akong gustong ma-achieve,” Baguio says.
Like Meneses, whom he looks up to as a player, Baguio has been seen generating more excitement in his offense by driving toward the hoop with greater ease and so much poetry in motion.
It did not come as a surprise to many, or to Thomasians at least, that Baguio emerged victor in the PBA All-Star games’ Slam Dunk competition last August, beating other high-flyers such as Brandon Lee Cablay and Joey Mente, winners of the event’s previous stagings.
And more like his UST days, Baguio seems to have earned the license to be more aggressive while serving as a strong offensive option for his team, almost close to saying that it won’t be long before the PBA crowd would witness the same Tiger-like form that has stunned UAAP fans.
