Humblebola

By: Dr. Eriko C. dela Cruz

Four games into UAAP season 88, the Ateneo Blue Eagles have matched their win output from season 87.

It looks like Ateneo fans are still traumatized from the nightmare of the past season. After the first three wins against FEU, UE, and Adamson, many were still unsure about whether the Blue Eagles have regained their championship contender form, wary that they might just hanging onto false hope. It did not help that the first two games were escape acts, and the other was threatening for three quarters but pulled away in the fourth. A lot of people said that the game against the DLSU Green Archers would be the first true test, with Ateneo surviving 81-74.

So, are the Ateneo Blue Eagles championship contenders now?

Ateneo is a stacked team. Team captains Jared Bahay and Kymani Ladi may be head and shoulders above everybody, but beyond that everyone has the ability to have an explosive game. One game it might be Dom Escobar, the next it might be Jaden Lazo. Other veterans like Shawn Tuano, Ian Espinosa, and Josh Lazaro have shown they can take over when necessary. 

More than being a stacked team, the current crop of Blue Eagles are executing and buying into the system that coach Tab Baldwin has put in place. You could see glimpses of this identity in the fourth quarter against the Adamson Soaring Falcons, and the first three quarters against the DLSU Green Archers (which in hindsight, makes a complete game put together). The offensive and defensive sets are more robust than seasons past, and it shows the growth and development of the players.

Strong as this team may be, there is a glaring hole that the team needs to be filled.

The signature of a Tab Baldwin championship team is the consistency in their mentality. In the Ateneo Blue Eagles teams that won the championship, from tip-off until the final buzzer, the Blue Eagles’ relentlessness stayed the same, no matter what happened in the game, whether they were down 10 or up 20. In the fourth quarter against La Salle, the referees’ calls were not exactly going their way. They were a bit rattled, and understandably so. Most of the players in the team are quite young, and the one-and-done crew were not necessarily used to these kinds of calls back in their hometowns. Of course those are not excuses (for the elite teams at least), but fortnunately it’s something they can still improve on as they gain experience.

Unfortunately for the Blue Eagles, it gets tougher as they face three teams that are seeking some form of redemption to end the first round in the UP Fighting Maroons, the UST Growling Tigers, and the NU Bulldogs. All three teams are also coming off slow starts and statement losses, looking to make their mark as contenders this season.

Unfortunately for the league, Ateneo will only get better.