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Mark Nonoy, UAAP’s 82nd season rookie of the year, said goodbye to the University of Santo Tomas (UST) to complete the disintegration of a once-promising college cage power while professing his loyalty to resigned coach Aldin Ayo. and not the school that took him in.
“I will always be in debt to him,” Nonoy wrote about Ayo in Filipino in an Instagram post, confirming that his loyalty is with his coach and not with Santo Tomas. “I won’t be where I am now if it weren’t for him.”
Ayo has been indefinitely suspended by the league’s board of directors from holding any league position due to the Sorsogon training “bubble” that he ran. That also makes it a mystery why Nonoy would leave UST since she cannot follow Ayo to another UAAP school.
“I need to prioritize the certainty of my career so I can get back to focusing on basketball,” Nonoy said, citing the uncertainty of the UST athletic program recently caused by the Sorsogon bubble. The school’s participation in the upcoming UAAP season has also not yet been determined and the board is yet to act on it.
However, the astute guard said he has not yet consulted with his family to determine his next steps, although the media confirmed on Sunday, citing solid sources, that he and Deo Cuajao will be joining perennial contender La Salle.
Derrick Pumaren, the head coach of the Green Archers, has yet to respond to the Inquirer’s request for comment.
The pair are the last to leave the Growling Tigers’ lair following the revelation of that bubble in Barangay Capuy sustained amid the quarantine restrictions set by the national government.
That camp, which was brought to light after the sudden departure of Captain CJ Cansino, has sparked multiple investigations and has since been referred to the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior and Local Government for review.
Rhenz Abando, Brent Paraiso and Ira Bataller have already been greeted by NCAA champion Letran.
The increasing number of departures has reduced a side of the UST that reached the final of last year’s UAAP against the powerful Athenaeum. Soulemane Chabi Yo is the only one left from the core of UST. Dave Ando, Sherwin Concepción and Miguel Pangilinan are the others who chose to stay.
Cuajao also made an announcement and also thanked Ayo, who was responsible for the “breaks” that were presented to him.
“It was Coach Aldin himself who recruited Mark to play at UST High School,” the pair’s coach, Jax Chua, said in Filipino on Sunday. “Deo, meanwhile, was drafted two weeks before the season started.” INQ
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