With this year’s University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Men’s Basketball Tournament in full force, this weekly series will track the performance of the young and hungry Ateneo Blue Eagles as they aim to capture a seat in the Final Four.
DESPITE PREVIOUSLY reviving hope within the Ateneo community, the Ateneo Men’s Basketball Team once again find themselves in danger of missing out on the Final Four for the first time in the Tab Baldwin era. Falling victim to an unpredictable and competitive UAAP season, the Blue Eagles suffered costly back-to-back rivalry game losses, causing them to drop from fifth place all the way to the bottom of the standings.
The Katipunan-based squad first conceded their two-game winning streak against the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers after failing to contain Kevin Quiambao on his career night.
Continuing to show interior defensive weaknesses, the Blue Eagles were then dealt their worst loss of the season in a 47-75 drubbing against the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons.
The pair of putrid outings dropped Ateneo to a 3-8 record, significantly decreasing their odds of making the semifinals. However, with a slim path to the championship with three games remaining in the eliminations, the Blue Eagles are determined to make one last push as they seek to play their best brand of basketball.
Rude awakenings
Ino: Ateneo fans were on cloud nine after the Blue Eagles started off the second round with exciting wins over the National University Bulldogs and the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers.
Nevertheless, after the pair of wins, the Blue and White faithful were correct in holding cautious optimism in the team’s succeeding encounters against juggernauts DLSU and UP.
In what could only be described as a rude awakening, the games showed how far the team still is from being championship-ready—with Ateneo’s defensive lapses and offensive woes failing to contain La Salle’s firepower and overcome UP’s suffocating defense, respectively.
The team’s play can be forgiven knowing that they were seen as underdogs against the two contenders, but the Loyola Heights-based unit continued to be plagued by their season-long rebounding and efficiency struggles.
Increasingly seeing the dangerous habits from the young and developing Blue Eagles, Baldwin verbalized the team’s frailties, attributing them to timidness after the recently concluded Battle of Katipunan. “When your mentality gets undermined by a lack of toughness, a lack of assertiveness, you become tentative in a lot of things,” he said.
Looking deeper, the team’s poor offensive execution was visible against both DLSU and UP, with Rookie of the Year contender Jared Bahay’s breakout game against La Salle making him the only Atenean to score in double digits throughout the two-game stretch. The team as a whole continued to be inefficient, shooting 35.5% from the field against DLSU and 26.9% versus UP.
Further speaking on percentages, Ateneo’s defense seemed sieve-like in the past two games, allowing DLSU and UP to shoot at 45.8% and 44.9% clips from the field, respectively, further displaying the current reality on the defensive end that this season’s iteration of Blue Eagles is facing.
With the losses further dwindling the Final Four chances of the once-dynastic Ateneo, one silver lining remains: the team has three more games to close out their season—and their Kiwi-American head coach is intent on finishing strong. “We have three games coming up […] [and] we wanna make a positive impression for our players going forward,” the tactician chimed.
Regardless of their postseason prospects, it is high time for Ateneo to finally come together and provide fans with the positive impression Baldwin is looking for. Fighting both the external struggle of salvaging their season and the internal dilemma of navigating their youthful inexperience, the ailing Blue and White are given the perfect proving grounds with these next few games.
The rookie race
Rav: Heading into the Blue Eagles’ Saturday matchup against the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws, one storyline sticks out among the murmurs—a standoff that could dominate the narrative of that afternoon: Bahay versus Veejay Pre.
As of writing, both players are the strongest contenders for the Rookie of the Year (ROY) award in Season 87. In terms of scoring, the two rookies have definitely shown that they are a cut above the rest in this year’s freshman class. Ateneo’s Bahay is currently ranked tenth (10.45) while FEU’s Pre is ranked fourth (13.83) in the entire league in points per game.
Moreover, in an unofficial MVP race tracker, Pre positions himself at eighth place with 52.9 statistical points (SP), while Bahay stands at 13th with 49.7 SP—seven spots ahead of FEU’s Janrey Pasaol. Even more impressive is that both have surfaced as the crème de la crème despite coming from teams that have generally floundered in the first round.
For instance, Bahay has firmly established himself as one of the elite playmakers in this year’s UAAP basketball, averaging 4.5 assists a night with an impeccable 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio.
The Cebu native has also shown himself to be a threat off the pick and roll, serving as Ateneo’s primary and most exceptional conductor on offense. A clear example of this occurred in the opening minute of Ateneo’s bout against La Salle, when Bahay—after the initial screen—identified the open passing lane to Kristian Porter for an easy layup.
Despite Bahay’s finesse with the ball, one area that has remained as a bane to his game is his less-than-stellar shooting splits of 27.4/19.5/65.8. Nonetheless, when the Blue Eagle rookie does find his groove, he transforms into an offensive powerhouse, as evidenced by his 22-point outing against DLSU. With the additional context of sharing minutes with other veteran guards, Bahay’s performance at the UAAP level is nothing to scoff at.
On the other hand, FEU’s highly touted rookie Pre has lately been on a scorching hot streak. Prior to his match against DLSU, the 6’5” forward had scored at least 20 points in back-to-back games, which includes his career-high of 31 against UST.
Inside Pre’s sudden glow-up is a surge in the young player’s confidence, especially in nailing his catch-and-shoot attempts from deep, as well as his proficiency inside the arc. All of these factors combined have resulted in the emergence of a budding superstar who has now entered the conversation even for this season’s Most Valuable Player title.
With the two players colliding in the upcoming Ateneo-FEU matchup, fans eagerly anticipate a clash for supremacy that will ultimately define Season 87’s ROY race for years to come. Will Bahay’s graceful ball control command an Ateneo victory, or will Pre’s scoring proficiency take the win for the Tamaraws?
Nonetheless, in the underbelly of this highly-anticipated storyline lies another incredibly important narrative that centers on the Blue Eagles’ fate.
One Final Fight
Ravi: Although gloomy skies cloud the once-prosperous house of the perennial championship contenders, the Blue Eagles are far from surrendering their adversity-plagued stint in Season 87. Holding their heads high, Ateneo still has a mathematical chance of making the Final Four, but that would require winning out their remaining games against FEU, University of the East, and Adamson University.
In the scenario where a sweep of the aforementioned schedule materializes, Baldwin acknowledges that his team’s destiny will not be completely in their hands.
“We can go win all three of these games and still miss the playoffs. At this point, results will have to go our way for us to even have a chance,” admitted the four-time UAAP champion coach after their match against UP.
With the third-seeded Red Warriors and fourth-seeded Growling Tigers seated at 6-5 and 5-7, respectively, the Blue Eagles will have to bank on any of the squads losing two or three games. If they are to tie with the eventual fourth placer in such a scenario, Ateneo will be forced to compete in a knockout match for the final slot for the second-straight year.
Another complication is that the four other teams outside of the Final Four picture could also earn the same opportunity if they sweep their games and end with a higher quotient than the Blue and White. The different possible playoff scenarios highlight the impact of Ateneo’s last two outings on their shrinking postseason odds, especially with those losses being blowouts.
Nevertheless, Ateneo should—as the old adage goes—focus only on what they can control. External results will be seen as non-existent to the Blue Eagles’ semi-finals bid if they are unable to make adjustments, including solving what has been their Achilles heel all season long: matching the opponents’ intensity and rebounding efforts.
“I think that’s up to the players. They have to make a commitment to, if nothing else, stand your ground,” Baldwin expressed when asked if his players can respond to the uphill climb they face.
The tactician’s challenge will call for the Blue Eagles to leave everything they have left on the court, no longer allowing opposing frontcourts to outwork them. Facing teams bolstered by rebounding savants in Mo Konateh and Precious Momowei, the Atenean cagers must display a collective effort in crashing the boards if they wish to be competitive in the Final Four race.
With six teams still in the hunt for the last two playoff spots, Ateneo will have to conjure a near-perfect two weeks as they are one loss away from being eliminated from Final Four contention. Despite their backs being against the wall, one thing certain about the Baldwin-led squad is that they will wage One Big Fight for the Ateneo faithful until the season’s final buzzer sounds for them.
This week’s games:
Saturday, November 9, 3:30 PM, vs. Far Eastern University Tamaraws at the Smart Araneta Coliseum
Wednesday, November 13, 6:30 PM, vs. University of the East Red Warriors at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion
