Carl Tamayo

His arrival led to premature comparisons to center Benjie Paras, who led UP to a UAAP title in 1986.

Several weeks later, their high school coach Monteverde resigned from NU, who was supposed to be the head coach for the senior team of NU.

Another former teammate, Cyril Gonzales, left Mapúa to join them at UP.

In 2021, two more of Tamayo's former teammates reunited with him at UP, with guards Fortea and Harold Alarcon also committing to UP.

That year, Coach Monteverde was named head coach for the Maroons, reuniting him with many of his former players.

Tamayo made his UAAP seniors' debut in Season 84 in a loss to the Ateneo Blue Eagles with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Carl Vincent Cabellon Tamayo (born February 13, 2001) is a Filipino professional basketball player who last played for the Ryukyu Golden Kings of the Japanese B.League.

He played college basketball for the UP Fighting Maroons of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).

He has won championships in the juniors and seniors division of the UAAP, and has played for the Philippine national team multiple times.

He is listed at 6 feet 8 inches (2.02 m).

Tamayo was born in Talisay, Cebu, to Simpoy Tamayo, a former basketball player for University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) and Hermenia Tamayo (Cabellon), a former volleyball player for Southwestern University (SWU).

Days after he was born, his father died of a heart attack.

He studied at Southwestern University for his primary education.

Before basketball, Tamayo's sport was billiards.

When he was 13 years old, he was discovered by coach Goldwin Monteverde, who recruited him to play for Adamson High School in Manila.

Monteverde did this by promising him a photo opportunity with his favorite PBA player, June Mar Fajardo.

Tamayo won Juniors Rookie of the Year for UAAP Season 78 as he averaged five points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks.

In the first game of Season 79, he had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Unfortunately, most of their wins that season were forfeited as they fielded an ineligible player in guard Encho Serrano.

In his final game for them, he had 13 points and 13 rebounds.

After that season, Tamayo, along with his teammate Gerry Abadiano, followed Coach Monteverde in transferring from Adamson to Nazareth School of National University.

Him and Abadiano had to serve residency for Season 80.

In Game 2, he had another double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds, and NU won the juniors' championship for the first time since 2016.

He was awarded Finals MVP.

Before the start of Season 82, NU successfully defended its ASEAN School Games title, in which they defeated Indonesia for the gold medal.

During the season, they swept the elimination rounds, earning an outright spot in the Finals.

The Bullpups then swept the Baby Tamaraws in the Finals, with Tamayo leading them in Game 2 with 26 points and 22 rebounds.

He finished his high school career with another Finals MVP.

He also finished second in the NBTC 24 rankings, with only San Beda forward Rhayyan Amsali ahead of him.

The NU Bullpups then won tournaments such as the NBTC League, the 2018 Palarong Pambansa (in which he made the Mythical Five along with his teammates Abadiano and Terrence Fortea), and the 2018 ASEAN School Games.

The Bullpups opened their Season 81 campaign with a win over the FEU Baby Tamaraws, in which Tamayo scored 18 points, 10 rebounds, an assist and a block in 14 minutes off the bench.

All season long, he played through a right ankle sprain.

In his winning return against the Ateneo Blue Eaglets, he had 13 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks.

In their rematch in the second round of eliminations, he made a clutch and-one off a putback to give NU the lead and they eventually won again.

They went on to sweep the second round.

It was also during this time that he found himself on top of the NBTC UAAP 24 high school rankings.

They met Ateneo again in the Finals, where in Game 1, he had 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead NU to the win.

With Kevin Quiambao, they combined for 29 points and 25 rebounds and limited Ateneo's star center Kai Sotto to just 16 points.

On August 1, 2020, it was announced that both Tamayo and Abadiano had committed to the UP Fighting Maroons.

He cited his aunt, a University of the Philippines graduate, as one of the reasons he chose UP.