{"id":107398,"date":"2025-08-24T21:28:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T21:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/107398\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T21:28:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T21:28:09","slug":"blazers-star-gozum-declares-for-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/107398\/","title":{"rendered":"Blazers star Gozum declares for draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1032_NCAA-99-mens-basketball-final-four-CSB-Mapua_Will-Gozum-scaled.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-541768\" class=\"size-full wp-image-541768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1032_NCAA-99-mens-basketball-final-four-CSB-Mapua_Will-Gozum-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"CSB Blazers NCAA\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-541768\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">CSB Blazers during a agame against the Mapua Cardinals in the NCAA Season 99 men\u2019s basketball Final Four.\u2013MARLO CUETO\/INQUIRER.net<\/p>\n<p>Count Will Gozum in.<\/p>\n<p>The former NCAA MVP has declared for the PBA Season 50 Draft next month, formally signaling his intent to join the rookie pool despite a rocky path since his collegiate peak.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tArticle continues after this advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m excited for him,\u201d said College of St. Benilde coach Charles Tiu, who molded Gozum into a dominant force in NCAA Season 98. \u201cI still think he\u2019s a first-round pick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to have him work out with some teams,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Currently signed with the Quezon Huskers in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League, the 6-foot-4 bruiser is on a minutes cap, playing about 10 per game and averaging 5.3 points and 2.5 rebounds. It\u2019s a far cry from his MVP season, but necessary, Tiu said, after Gozum suffered a torn ACL and MCL in an MPBL game last year.<\/p>\n<p>That injury derailed Gozum\u2019s original plan to join the 2024 PBA Draft. It took months of rehab to get back to full strength\u2014a painful detour after a college finale that had already left him unsatisfied.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after this advertisement\t\t  <\/p>\n<p>Hand injury<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, Gozum averaged 16.9 points and 9.8 rebounds to win the NCAA Season 98 MVP and led the Blazers to their first Finals appearance since 2002. Though Benilde fell to Letran in a three-game series, Gozum\u2019s breakout season established him as a legit big man prospect.<\/p>\n<p>But pain came quickly after. A hand injury followed the Finals loss. Then, in his final NCAA season, he couldn\u2019t replicate the magic. The Huskers gave him a lifeline\u2014but it came with risk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe really planned to stay in the MPBL for a year anyway,\u201d Tiu said. \u201cHopefully, he worked on the things we talked about\u2014what he needed to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tArticle continues after this advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Now, the draft is finally within reach.<\/p>\n<p>Gozum joins a growing list of Blazers eyeing the big league. Teammates Robi Nayve and Jake Gaspay are also expected to declare, according to Tiu.<\/p>\n<p>                          Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.<\/p>\n<p>                          Your subscription has been successful.<\/p>\n<p>The PBA Season 50 Draft is scheduled next month. INQ<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nFor the complete collegiate sports coverage including scores, schedules and stories, visit <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sports.inquirer.net\/varsity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Inquirer Varsity.<\/a>&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CSB Blazers during a agame against the Mapua Cardinals in the NCAA Season 99 men\u2019s basketball Final Four.\u2013MARLO&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,398,400,401,99],"class_list":["post-107398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}