In line with the ongoing University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Men’s Basketball Tournament, this weekly series will analyze the state of the Ateneo Blue Eagles in their quest for the three-peat.

Recap of the week/s (October 5 to October 16)

The Ateneo Blue Eagles continued their winning ways in the second round of the UAAP Season 82 Men’s Basketball Tournament, adding four more victories to inch closer to a perfect 14-0 season. First on Ateneo’s second round slate was the highly anticipated rematch against the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers, who they handily defeated, 66-52. The Adamson University (AdU) Soaring Falcons were the next team that stood in the way of the Blue Eagles. While the Soaring Falcons came close, they failed to pull off the upset, 74-80. 

Following the tough test against Adamson was their second rivalry matchup of the season against the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers, which saw the Green Archers go toe-to-toe against the Blue and White before ultimately running out of gas in the final quarter, 69-77. Ateneo’s latest game was a 65-55 triumph against the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws, in which they overcame their largest halftime deficit of the season to keep their record unblemished.

With an 11-0 record, Ateneo has already secured the number one seed in the event that they don’t end the season undefeated. The Blue Eagles are three wins away from going straight to the finals.

Next games:

Sunday, October 20, 2:00 PM, vs University of the East at the Ynares Center, Antipolo City

Saturday, October 26, 2:00 PM, vs National University at the Ynares Center, Antipolo City

Wednesday, October 30, 4:00 PM, vs University of the Philippines (UP) at the Mall of Asia Arena

1. Will Navarro has been the unsung hero

Neal: Will Navarro has been an integral part to the team’s 11-0 start as he has consistently made an impact each game not by stuffing the stat sheet, but by doing all the little things that go unnoticed. The San Beda College transferee has started every game this season at the four, even moonlighting as a small forward when he played alongside Ange Kouame and Isaac Go. But for Navarro, slotting down a position is nothing new. 

“In Greece I used to play the three,” Navarro, who grew up in Greece, said after their first-round win over UP. “It’s something new here in the Philippines because I’m tall so I have to play power forward.”

Like every other player in the team, Navarro understands his role, which is to be the so-called “glue guy,” and he plays it to perfection. He isn’t leading the team in multiple raw statistical categories, but he is actually leading the entire UAAP in the plus-minus category with a +162 total in 11 games. This is because of a combination of many factors that aren’t seen in the stat sheet: Navarro sets hard screens to set up teammates for open shots, fights for loose balls, and gets offensive rebounds for putbacks or other momentum-building second chance opportunities.

Navarro is also a big reason why Ateneo is the best defensive team in the UAAP. The 6-foot-5 forward has shown versatility on defense as he has shown time and time again that he is capable of guarding multiple positions. In pick-and-roll situations, Navarro has been successful in switching and defending quicker guards such as FEU’s LJ Gonzales and UST’s Mark Nonoy. 

Navarro has also proven to be an adept rim protector. In the game against the Growling Tigers, Ange Kouame had to sit out most of the first two quarters due to foul trouble, but his absence did not matter as UST was still held to just 17 points in the first half. Navarro had a big hand in Ateneo’s stellar defense performance as he altered several shots around the basket—which, in true Navarro fashion, isn’t reflected in the stat sheet but clearly impact the game.

“[Navarro] understands the little things that have to be done,” Head Coach Tab Baldwin said after their first-round victory against FEU, where Navarro recorded a +30 in the plus-minus column. “They’re the things that make the team play better.”

Will Navarro isn’t the player that gets the most fanfare because of the way he plays. He’s almost never flashy, and it rarely translates to racking up big numbers. But this shouldn’t be a reason to overlook his contributions: His presence is as indispensable as anyone else in the team.

2. Close calls

Gio: As the elimination round slowly draws to a close, there is a looming sense of urgency for Final Four hopefuls. A maximum of two games seperate UP, UST, FEU, DLSU, and AdU with three games left in the elimination round. This is why the targets on Ateneo’s back has grown bigger than before; snatching a win from the Blue Eagles would definitely boost their semi-final chances while ensuring that there actually will be a Final Four. 

But games against Ateneo are not only difficult on the court, they are also psychologically taxing because of the Blue Eagles’ “untouchable” image. However, by the looks of the Blue Eagles’ past few games, we are witnessing quite the opposite phenomenon: For the first time in the season, there were instances wherein it seemed that Ateneo’s day of reckoning had finally arrived. Lately, the Blue Eagles have appeared increasingly vulnerable. 

Following this week’s matches, Baldwin has expressed that more and more teams have been catching up with the Blue Eagles’ defensive schemes. In their second-round meeting against DLSU, it was clear that the Green Archers prepared extensively for the highly anticipated rivalry rematch. Had it not been for the hot shooting of Adrian Wong, who opened the match with a fiery 3/3 shooting from the floor with two coming from deep, La Salle would have claimed an opening 12-0 lead over Ateneo. While it is unfair to say that Ateneo would have lost that match if it weren’t for Wong, an early 12-point advantage for the Green Archers would have definitely changed the game—especially when you consider that Ateneo only entered the fourth quarter with a slim five-point margin. 

More recently, the Blue Eagles found themselves trailing by double digits for the first time in the season in their Wednesday matchup against the pesky FEU squad. Considering that a full 11 games had been played by that point, that stat is crazy. After a corner three from Tamaraw Brandrey Bienes to end the second quarter that extended FEU’s lead to 11, the difference in Ateneo’s body language was clear. It had been a long time since the Blue Eagles were placed in that precarious position. 

“We looked like we wanted to be snails out there with our movement. It was pedantic, it was slow, it was purposeless, it was robotic, [and] it was everything you train to not be and yet it was,” Baldwin said on his team’s first-half performance against FEU. “In the second half, we went back to having energy and intellect in our offensive actions so we were able to produce much more.”

Perhaps these past few matches were the wake up calls Ateneo needed to prove to themselves that they can never rest on their laurels, especially in a league filled with a myriad of contenders waiting for them to let up. But the fact that the Blue Eagles were able to overcome these hurdles is a testament to their own greatness. True to the team’s nature, they will definitely learn from these past games in the hopes of exceeding what they have already accomplished this season. 

3. The Next Man Up mentality in full effect

Jaime: As we have so often seen, the Blue Eagles looked to a plethora of different heroes for this week’s triad of wins. In each victory, a different Blue Eagle had their own coming-out party. 

Against the Soaring Falcons, Matthew Daves broke out for Ateneo with a career-high of 10 points and three offensive rebounds—all of which came from a single play. This included crucial buckets which stymied an Adamson run in the first half. Versus La Salle, Wong led the Blue Eagles to victory by nailing four three-pointers en route to 18 points. Wong’s aforementioned hot-shooting first quarter kept Ateneo at bay while his teammates struggled. Lastly, amidst a shaky performance against the Tamaraws, Pat Maagdenberg set a new career-high with nine points on a perfect 4/4 shooting from the field, boosting Ateneo to eleven wins.

If it hasn’t been made clear yet, it doesn’t matter to Coach Baldwin who produces, as long as someone does. Earlier in the season, we wrote about how Baldwin’s inconsistent rotations could either be the bane of the Blue Eagles’ offensive rhythm or a genius tactic to keep the opposition guessing. Right now, it looks like it’s paying off. Any one of the 16 Blue Eagles have proven to be capable of exploding and changing the game.

The way the Blue Eagles play makes this system of rotating players so effective. Everyone on the team has an equal chance to make an impact on offense. All perimeter players on the team have the greenlight to use ball-screens; all the bigs have the ability to put the ball on the floor, while everyone has the go signal to launch from beyond the arc. This gives opposing coaches such headaches, as their constant movement and balanced opportunities make it so hard to devise defensive schemes against Ateneo. 

With three games left for the Blue Eagles in the eliminations, don’t be surprised if we see a Tyler Tio, BJ Andrade, or even Jason Credo breakout game for the Blue Eagles. Expect the unexpected.