THE CHAMPIONSHIP team of yesteryear may be gone, but the drive and hunger lives on.

Very few people gave the Ateneo Blue Eagles more than a puncher’s chance in Game 1 of the UAAP Finals, after all they were matched up against the FEU Tamaraws—a team that boasted not only the best record and the most talented rotation in the league, but who also swept the season series; holding a considerable mental advantage over the defending champions.

The FEU organization has waited five years to return to the pinnacle of Philippine collegiate basketball—that five year drought has seemed to stretch on for much longer. Entering Game 1, the Tamaraws were the prohibitive favorites who wanted the championship that much more.

But from the opening tip, the Blue Eagles showed that they would be the ones who would push and scrap their way for every loose ball, jumping on their hapless opponents from the get go.

Playing what Head Coach Norman Black described to be “probably the best game of the season,” very little can be said to have gone wrong for the Blue Eagles.  The FEU defense put up very little resistance against the Blue Eagle transition barrage, totaling 15 fast break points, while the Katipunan side did not concede a single transition basket from the Morayta side.

Allowing a minimal number of points in the paint, the Ateneo defense collapsed on penetrators behind Game 1 revelation JP Erram—who was quick to swipe away opportunities.  After getting outrebounded by an average of 12.5 boards during the elimination sweep, the Blue Eagles won the battle of the boards 46-40, an indication of the turnaround in Ateneo play.

What to look for

Saturday’s game notwithstanding, FEU should bounce back from their worst game of the season.  All credit given to the Blue Eagle defense, the Tamaraws should see their offensive efforts produce much better results. It would be foolish to count on players like Reil Cervantes (0-5) and Paul Sanga (0-6) to be held field goal-less for a second game.  Given five days of preparation, Coach Glen Capacio will have made defensive adjustments to slow down the Ateneo attack and most importantly prevent the Blue Eagles from creating an early run.

The Blue Eagle offense will have to respond to any defensive adjustments. Coach Norman will be likely to execute more post up isolation plays for either Eric Salamat, who has a distinct size advantage over Terrence Romeo and RR Garcia, or Ryan Buenafe, whose post game is one of the best in the league at the small forward position.

Expect the Blue Eagles’ starting line up to remain intact as Emman Monfort’s defensive efforts impressively held Garcia scorless in the decisive first quarter.; bringing Salamat and Nico Salva off the bench gives the second unit offensive options that will be difficult to match. In Game 1 despite Capacio unleashing Aldrech Ramos from the bench, the Blue Eagles enjoyed a 32-12 advantage from in bench production.

In spite of the return of back up big man Jason Escueta, coach Norman Black will give some burn to JP Erram. As he said in the post game interview, “I think he [Erram] just bought himself more playing time.”

If the bean pole center can recapture some of his Game 1 magic, and match Defensive Player of the Year Aldrech Ramos to a relative draw, it will be hard not to favor the Blue Eagle’s chances to capture the elusive three-peat.

The Tamaraws are not going to show up on Thursday as the dazed and shell-shocked team that coasted through Saturday’s rout. Their season long dominance in the UAAP and their numerous come-from-behind wins—powered by the clutch heroics of Garcia—show that they are a mentally strong unit. For such a potent rotation, the game is never out of reach, and the Morayta outfit will not bow quietly.

The continuation of the UAAP best-of-three Finals series will take place on Thursday, September 30, 4pm at the Araneta Coliseum.