The last championship in the late 1990s came in 1997 with the trio of Magtulis, Oliver and Mendoza, defensive stopper Manabat and three-point assassin Edwin Bacani against the Maui Roca-led Green Archers.
In Season 66, it was a quick turn around for the Tamaraws, who had their core intact with key players Rhagnee Sinco, Gerald Jones, Cesar Catli, the emergence of Arwind Santos and James Zablan returning from injury, FEU dominated the eliminations and gained the top two seed.
Without any remaining timeouts for both teams, Jeff Chan was forced to do a Hail Mary shot from the half court and hit only the front rim as time expires.
With the core of Santos, big man Mark Isip, RJ Rizada, Villanueva and Chan, FEU, once again, were picked by analysts as title favorites prior to the season.
FEU breezed past the UE Red Warriors via blowout and advanced to the Finals for three straight years where they faced their long time rivals, De La Salle Green Archers, once again in the championship.
Arwind Santos, made some key plays including five straight points in the final forty-nine seconds to complete a 75–73 comeback win in game one.
Villanueva sealed the championship for FEU after making a crucial free throw with a few seconds left and Isip blocked a Junjun Cabatu desperate three-pointer and the Tamaraws won its 18th title overall after a sweep against the DLSU Archers, 73–71.
The Santos-led Tamaraws also won back-to-back championships in the PCCL during 2004 and 2005 beating the UE Red Warriors and San Sebastian Stags respectively, making them the best collegiate team in the Philippines.
With Santos, Isip and Rizada departing due to graduation, the Tamaraws were expected to defend their championship with Chan and Villanueva returning for their final playing year.
Due to the team's dismal performance in Season 69, FEU has planned to bring the Baby Tamaraws core of Socrates Rivera, Mark Lopez, Aldrech Ramos and Ian Sanggalang to represent the men's basketball team for Season 70 but Rivera and Lopez decided to play for the UP Fighting Maroons and Sanggalang went to San Sebastian-Recoletos.
This prompted the school to elevate most of its players from Team B along with Ramos and Baby Tamaraws key holdovers JR Cawaling and Jens Knuttel.
Thanks to Barroca, Benedict Fernandez, big man Reil Cervantes and Aldrech Ramos' improved play, the team was recognized as a title contender for the season.
The second was against the Bulldogs' 84–81 victory in overtime after a controversial 77–75 win was ordered to be re-played by the UAAP Boards because of the "inconclusive and unclear" video evidence of RR Garcia's buzzer beating layup.
The Tamaraws hired former San Beda Red Lions coach Nash Racela and assigned former mentor Bert Flores as the team's consultant.
FEU great Johnny Abarrientos was retained as assistant coach while former UST King Tiger Gilbert Lao and Josh Reyes were added as Racela's deputies.
The team dropped Arvie Bringas and added Josh Aguilon, Christian Lee Yu and Jason Delfinado who were key players from last season's Juniors Champions FEU-FERN Baby Tamaraws.
FEU managed to win 10 games in 14 outings and settled for a second-place finish and faced the De La Salle Green Archers in the Final Four.
Before the start of Season 78, the Tamaraws were picked by the analysts to win the championship because of their intact line up and experience with only Carl Cruz being subtracted from the roster and the team showing good chemistry during the pre-season tournament.
With Tolomia, Belo, Escoto, Pogoy, Inigo, and Tamsi playing their last year for the team, the Tamaraws started strong and were very consistent up until the end of the eliminations losing only to the league-leading UST Growling Tigers twice and defending champion NU Bulldogs.
FEU also had a big game in their last match of the eliminations and let their bench players play all throughout but still managed to defeat the De La Salle Green Archers that kissed their Final Four hopes goodbye.
With Tolomia, Tamsi, Achie Inigo, Pogoy graduating, the Tamaraws lost most of their core players that helped the team bring the title back to Morayta.
However, FEU won big in the off-season by acquiring the services of former Ateneo Blue Eagles prized players, Season 77 Rookie of the Year Arvin Tolentino and 2014 Juniors Finals MVP Hubert Cani.
[21] Both players were temporarily cut from Ateneo because of not meeting the school's grade standards but rumors sparkled that both complained of lack of playing time and both decided to move on from Katipunan to Morayta.
Some analysts and even from the FEU camp itself, have doubts[23] that the Tamaraws would have a hard time defending their crown since most of the core players have graduated and half of the team being newcomers.
With veterans Raymar Jose and Monbert Arong graduating, prized recruits Arvin Tolentino and Hubert Cani became eligible to fill their role.
Despite also losing the Holmqvist brothers, who opted to return home in New Zealand, the Tamaraws remained contenders with new cagers Alec Stockton, Jasper Parker and RJ Ramirez bolstering their back court.
Veterans Wendel Comboy, Barkley Ebona, Axel Inigo and captain Ron Dennison stepped up and FEU managed to qualify with a 7–7 record, enough to be included in the Final Four.
They gave the eventual champions Ateneo Blue Eagles a scare and forced a do-or-die game but bruiser Isaac Go provided clutch shots to escape the Tamaraws in an overtime thriller.
Veteran Wendel Comboy graduated and with new recruits Patrick Tchuente and former baby Tams Ljay Gonzales as their new on-court general, FEU kept up with the other contenders in the UAAP.
With UP's emergence as a championship pursuing squad and Ateneo, who swept the elimination round, as the powerhouse of the league, the Tamaraws managed to finish in third place and qualify in the Final Four step ladder format.