After beating fancied teams, the University of Sto. Tomas Tigers fell to the unheralded National University Bulldogs in their last outing.

It wasn’t even close.

But the Adamson Falcons, who beat the Bulldogs by 24 points, have no reason to underestimate the Tigers when they meet today at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

After all, these are the same Tigers who defeated defending champion Far Eastern U Tamaraws and handed pre-tournament favorites University of the East Warriors their first loss.

The unpredictability of games had six of the seven participating teams separated by no more than two games midway in the first round of elimination.

The Falcons and the Tigers are in the middle of the pack with similar 2-2 cards, good enough to land a spot in the top four.

The winner of today’s double-header will share second spot with idle UE while the loser may find itself below the cutoff for the Final Four depending on the result of NU’s match against the skidding University of the Philippines Maroons.

At 2-3, the Bulldogs can break into the top four with their third win in the last four games.

The Maroons, on the other hand, are hoping to snap a three-game losing spell.

Jervy Cruz, the monster slotman of the Tigers, is also wanting to break out of a spell.

The Bulldogs exposed the super rookie’s kryptonite — a wide body to push him out of the lane.

Joseph Lingao-Lingao and Howard Flor took turns to keep Cruz out of his comfort zone in NU’s stunning victory, holding him to only 13 points, more than 10 below his average in UST’s twin victories. Ken Bono, the 200-plus pound Adamson superstar, is expected to take care of Cruz on the defensive end.