University of the Philippines will be bannered by a core that its athletic director happily calls the Maroon 5, named after a very popular singing group and whose makeup for the coming UAAP season certainly pales in comparison to the title-winning nucleus of before.

The ensemble of Harold Alarcon, Gerry Abadiano, Terrence Fortea, Janjan Felicilda and Reyland Torres will be bannering the Fighting Maroons’ bid for a second straight UAAP title, and they will have to outdo themselves after the departures of three key players.

Quentin Millora-Brown, who made waves over the weekend because of his classification from naturalized to local player for the Gilas Pilipinas national team, has moved on from his one-and-done year with UP.

JD Cagulangan, who exhausted his collegiate playing years with a Finals MVP to cap it off, is already in Korea with the Suwon KT Sonicboom.

Then Francis Lopez, who was expected to play at least three more seasons for the Maroons, chose to forgo his collegiate years and sign with the Japan B.League’s Nagoya Fighting Eagles.

Millora-Brown was primarily brought in to give the Maroons an intimidating inside presence they can use to battle the other elite big men in the league led by La Salle’s talented Kevin Quiambao

He gifted the Maroons the title they wanted and the 6-foot-10 banger is now going to be playing for Gilas Pilipinas.

Seeing Lopez leave was the only thing that was unexpected after last season, and Bo Perasol, the former PBA coach who is now his alma mater’s athletics boss, naturally believes that his ‘Maroon 5’ has turned in the time and effort to get the job done for UP this season.

“The confidence has always been there, it’s never gone,” Perasol told the Inquirer. “The core of this team is the same one that started our championships. We call them the ‘Maroon 5.’ They’ve been building that confidence. They’re the keys to keeping that confidence intact.”

The Maroons saw action in the last World University Basketball Games in Tokyo and wound up winless, a stint that obviously hardened the core even more as they got to see firsthand where improvements are needed.

In a loss dealt by Korea University, Fortea scored 14 while Torres and Felicilda scattered six and five points, respectively, in the low-scoring 75-71 defeat.

Then, in UP’s last game, Fortea did all he could with 18 points in its 96-77 loss at the hands of the University of Sydney.

“There’s going to be a lot of growing. The personnel were affected by the departures of our players, but the good thing is, they’re never afraid of heading into a game no matter who they face,” Perasol proudly stated.

“You can beat them but they’ll never be intimidated. They’re not as formidable as two years ago or last year, but they’ll fight it out,” added Perasol.

The UP faithful will have some getting used to when they see their Maroons take the court without the fantastic trio that led them to two titles in the last four seasons.

But everyone loves the darkhorse, and it’s safe to say that UP is that this season.