La Salle basketball has been synonymous to excellence. Bar none, the Green Archers have been the most prominent collegiate basketball team in the last two decades, starting from the Dindo Pumaren era down to now, the JV Casio era. Replacing Jong Uichico, who was a disappointment in the collegiate coaching ranks but eventually found his mark in the pro league, Franz Pumaren's installation as head coach in 1998 has enshrined La Salle as the most successful UAAP team in the 1990s and 2000s. (Sorry, Thomasians and Ateneans).

In fact, we can still count the number of times the Archers missed the UAAP finals in the last two decades on our fingers, which is a remarkable feat considering the new talents year in and year out.

Year in and year out, sports pundits always expect La Salle to be a contender in the UAAP, as it has brought home the crown to Taft Avenue for already NINE times since joining the UAAP in 1986. (Nine because we sincerely believe the 1991 and the 2004 jewels are still rightfully ours).

For all you Lasallian members out there (especially for the older ones), which is the sweetest UAAP championship for you, and why?

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1990 - The Jun Limpot-led Archers torched UE for back-to-back championships

1991 - La Salle did not show up for the controversial re-match championship game, relinquishes 3-peat

1992 - La Salle settles for third place; FEU led by Johnny A downs Adamson in the Finals

1993 - La Salle, by virtue of UST's sweep, settles for second place

1994 - UST wins crown over La Salle (aka the Henry Ong Massacre 1)

1995 - UST wins crown over La Salle (aka the "ghost spirit" championship game)

1996 - UST wins crown over La Salle (aka the Henry Ong Massacre 2)

1997 - FEU wins crown defeating La Salle by 2 points and 1 point respectively in Games 1 and 2 of the Finals (aka the "Robin Mendoza you're too old to be still playing in the UAAP" year)
(THIS WAS ALSO MEMORABLE BECAUSE LA SALLE FINALLY SLAYED THE UST GHOST BY DEFEATING THE TIGERS IN THE F4.)

FRANZ PUMAREN ERA


1998 - La Salle FINALLY wins crown, this time over FEU, after defeating UST again in the Final Four


1999 - La Salle wins crown over UST (by virtue of Dino Aldeguer's miracle shot; good thing UST's Jeff Valeriano, who started a free-for-all rumble against ADMU, was tamed in the Finals; aka the controversial BJ Manalo suiting up for La Salle year)


2000 - La Salle wins crown over FEU



2001 - La Salle wins crown over Ateneo (aka the "They Believed, We Achieved" year, aka Mac Cardona's rookie year)

2002 - La Salle loses to archrival Ateneo in the Finals (aka the Gec Chia miracle shot vs. UE year, aka the Ateneo foiled La Salle's sweep year, aka the no more Ren Ren year)

2003 - La Salle loses to archrival Ateneo in the Final Four, Ateneo gets beaten by FEU in the Finals (Cardona did not suit up in the Final Four, spraining his ankle in the last game of the eliminations, but YEO "THE MAN" SUPERMAN carried the Archers)


2004 - La Salle beats FEU in the Finals, championship later nullified because of the Mark Benitez brouhaha

2005 - La Salle loses to FEU in the finals

2006 - SUSPENDED

2007 - VINDICATION

1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 or 2007?