A LITTLE over a month ago, Ateneo sent off the seniors of the men’s basketball team with a storybook ending for the ages. The Blue Eagles finished the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 82 Men’s Basketball Tournament undefeated, capping a pristine 14-0 elimination round with two more wins in the Finals to seal a three-peat. Leading the charge were graduating players Isaac Go and Adrian Wong, but the swan songs of Thirdy Ravena, Matt Nieto, and Mike Nieto moved the Ateneo community in a special way. For these three, Season 82 was a farewell to the school that raised them from 5-foot prodigies to larger-than-life figures that delivered a standard of excellence collegiate basketball has never seen before. 

However, one senior seldom in the spotlight is Mike Nieto, who has been as integral to the Blue Eagles’ championship runs as anyone. As this year’s team captain, “Big Mike” produced modest numbers of 4.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, and one assist per game during the elimination rounds. While his numbers do not jump off the page, his presence has been instrumental throughout Ateneo’s unprecedented success and his name synonymous with true blue-bloodedness.

Blues brother

Big Mike is the son of former UAAP champion and Blue Eagle Jet Nieto and the twin brother of Ateneo’s starting point guard Matt. Both brothers spent all of their grade school, high school, and college lives in Ateneo’s hallowed halls. From a young age, the Nietos have teamed up to deliver multiple championships to the Blue and White. This success translated to the UAAP Juniors division, where in their senior year, they led the Blue Eaglets to an elimination round sweep and the UAAP Season 77 Championship. 

Individually, Nieto made a name for himself as a stellar up-and-coming big man in the youth ranks of Philippine basketball. Aside from making the UAAP Juniors Mythical Five in his junior year, Nieto took home the Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award to go along with a title. Nieto went on to captain the 2014 U17 RP-Youth squad, the first Philippine team to qualify for the Fédération Internationale de Basket (FIBA) World Under-17 Championships.

Nieto’s accolades indicated he was primed for more success in the Seniors division. However, as with many high school prodigies, the next level brought glaring challenges that threatened to weigh down Big Mike’s basketball career.

Changing sizes

Nieto obtained his moniker “Big Mike” from his burly stature, tenacity, and space-eating presence in the paint. His bulk, soft-touch, and uncanny rebounding instincts helped him dominate the grade school and high school levels with ease.

However, pundits were skeptical about whether Nieto’s game could translate to the action in college. At 6’1” and 200 pounds, his stature did not demand the same attention it once did given the size and caliber of opponents he would suit up against. Shedding weight and remodeling his game were necessary for him to become a reliable, let alone a playable, college wing. Learning to be effective on the perimeter on both ends of the floor is much easier said than done, especially because Nieto has lived in the paint for most of his life. A SLAM article in 2014 projected him to be, “At best—a Tonino Gonzaga-like defensive stopper at the wings. At worst—undersized big battling for spot minutes.”

“When I didn’t get to play much during my first year, I knew I had to lose weight, first of all, and change my game from becoming a big man to a guard,” said Nieto when asked about the transition from high-school to college. “Good thing Matt was there, who for me is the best point guard in the league, to teach me how I can transform my game,” continued Nieto.

If Nieto needed any further convincing, he only needed to look at his former Juniors rival, Mark Dyke, who was struggling to play effective minutes for the De La Salle Green Archers as an undersized big man. By his second year on the Blue Eagles, Nieto was ahead of the curve. He became a consistent starter for Coach Tab Baldwin’s Season 79 runner-up roster, notably ahead of current back-to-back Finals MVP Thirdy Ravena. He morphed into a solid defensive stopper, standing his ground against perimeter stars like King Archer Jeron Teng and the University of the Philippines’ cult hero Paul Desiderio. Nieto’s rebounding instincts and shiny new perimeter jumper also made him a reliable plug-and-play option for Ateneo.

Big brother 

In his third and fourth years, Big Mike became Medium Mike and became a crucial piece in Ateneo’s back-to-back title run in Season 80 and 81. By this time, he had fully embraced his role in the team’s rotation as a steadying presence on both ends of the floor and a guiding voice on a roster full of young talent.  “Mike is a natural leader. Mike is a communicator. Mike is a thinker,” said Ateneo’s Tab Baldwin about his captain.

Even before his time with the Blue Eagles, his leadership already stood out amongst his many basketball skills. “Mike may not be the quickest, most athletic, or tallest [player on the court] but he is the hardest worker on the team… Mike, as captain, always elevated the level of the rest of the team. His peers were forced to play better, work harder and push themselves more,” said Joe Silva, Nieto’s former coach in the Juniors division. 

His body of work in the UAAP speaks volumes about his leadership. Some fans might remember game two of the Season 80 finals, where Nieto dove to the ground late in the game to deny an entry pass to DLSU’s Ben Mbala in the post. This play spurred the underdog Blue Eagles to a down-to-the-wire win and perfectly captured the kind of leader Nieto is—one who leads by example and leaves everything on the floor for his team. 

Nieto cites former captain of the 2014 Philippine Gilas squad Jimmy Alapag as the man who shaped his mindset. “He started teaching me when I was part of the Batang Gilas team back in [High School] and I really learned a lot from him. All the stories that he shared and all of the things he did to unite his team, it was incredible. That’s what I’m trying to copy now as the team captain,” shared Nieto.

Final flight

Season 82 presented the final chapter of a career defined by passion and sacrifice and a chance for the Ateneo community to send off one of its favorite sons. Mike and his twin brother Matt have become synonymous with Ateneo and have blessed the community in trophies and lifelong memories.

Beyond the accolades, perhaps Nieto’s most significant contribution is instilling a culture of discipline and brotherhood that will anchor the success of the next generations of Blue Eagles. “I want to be remembered as one of the best leaders of an Ateneo basketball team. That’s [been] one of my goals ever since,” he said. 

After signing off Season 82 with a title and a perfect record, Baldwin praised his captain one last time. “Look at all of us up here and think about where we’re [going to] be in 10 or 15 years. You’ll forget most of us but you won’t forget Mike Nieto. He will make a mark on this world that the rest of us may try to do in sport… in terms of touching people, making lives better, giving of himself, and making sure that everybody around him has a better chance than what he has, that’s our captain,” Baldwin said.

Throughout his basketball career with the Blue and White, Big Mike changed his game, his role, and the size of his uniform. But what never wavered was the size of his heart that he offered to the Ateneo community, his coaches and teammates, and to the game that raised him.