HEAD COACH: Tab Baldwin (eighth season)
LAST SEASON: 7-7 (lost to UP in Final Four)
HOLDOVERS: Sean Quitevis, Chris Koon, Josh Lazaro, Ian Espinosa, Shawn Tuano, Andrew Bongo, Lebron Nieto
SUBTRACTIONS: Mason Amos, Kai Ballungay, Jared Brown, Geo Chiu, Gab Gomez, Jason Credo, Raffy Celis
ADDITIONS: Jared Bahay, Kristian Porter, Michael Asoro, Waki Espina, Femi Edu, Tim Broth, Victor Balogun (CEU)
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IN only a short period of time, Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin has seen his team grow from whipping boys of the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup to a squad that has the potential to shock basketball fans who've conveniently written them off even before UAAP Season 87 begins.
But Baldwin isn’t about to hinge the Blue Eagles' future on potential alone.
“You know, potential is a dirty word. It talks about what you haven’t done yet - and we haven’t done anything yet,” Baldwin told SPIN.ph after one practice inside Moro Lorenzo Sports Center in Ateneo.
One thing, though, that he can confidently say is that this team – for all the shock departures and blowout losses they’ve endured in probably the most tumultuous offseason for the blue and white – now has a fighting chance when the premier collegiate league tips off this September 7 at Araneta Coliseum.
“I’m excited about what’s happened over the last month or so. We’ve played better. We’re coming into the UAAP, I think, as prohibitive underdogs, but certainly, we don’t feel like we’re going out on the court without a chance,” Baldwin said.
“In sports and in competition, that’s really what you ask for – a chance. And we certainly have that.”
Regaining their footing
For a team that lost both Kai Ballungay and Geo Chiu to the pros, then Mason Amos to archrival La Salle, buying into Baldwin’s system would be critical.
In his now-eight-year stint with Ateneo, perhaps Baldwin’s biggest strength is building a team that plays for each other and for the community.
Their battlecry BEBOB - Blue Eagles, Band of Brothers - isn’t just a pretty catchphrase, it's pretty much the way of life for players who brought on the One Big Fight under the tutelage of the brilliant American-Kiwi coach.
It’s also the very mindset that won Katipunan four titles in a seven-year span.
Slowly but surely, Baldwin is finally seeing glimpses of that philosophy in his current wards as exposure in Australia and Taiwan helped them get back in the saddle after a rough few months which saw them go winless in the Filoil Preseason and lose arguably their brightest star in Amos.
“I feel that the team has sort of turned the corner right before we left for Taiwan, when we got back from Australia. Australia was good, but we didn’t feel like we had the right culture, the right chemistry, and there were just gaps in being who we wanted to be,” the tactician stated.
“Whatever the reasons are, we came back from Taiwan with wins in our pocket, momentum, and just a different feeling among the team.”
All hands on deck
Leadership will be much more crucial for Ateneo this time around, and Baldwin believes that his captains in Sean Quitevis and Chris Koon have grown leaps and bounds from last season, taking all the heartbreaks they’ve experienced to make them better leaders.
But Baldwin knows leadership isn’t based purely on how long one’s been on the team, or the experiences one has had.
He marvelled at the maturity of his young guys like Jared Bahay and Kristian Porter, two players who starred in their respective high school teams and are now carrying that mentality over to the seniors division.
Quitevis said it best in his own interview – everybody’s got to chip in. And Baldwin agrees.
“I think this team is very close. This team is very focused right now, and they’re getting good supplemental leadership too. Young guys like Jared Bahay and Kris Porter that are sort of natural leaders,” he shared.
“They’re smart players. They know how to talk. They know how important they are to the team this year. When you get people around your leaders who strengthen the leadership, Josh Lazaro is another one, it makes leadership a strength,” he added.
“We have two very good leaders and I think we have a good leadership group around them, and it’s gonna be important for us because this year is going to be tough.”
As tough as the year might be, Baldwin isn’t really focusing on projections and things he can’t control.
He believes they’ve got the talent. Exposure and experience, however, are another matter altogether.
He also believes he’s got players who'll fight and bleed for every possession, but who may be a bit smaller compared to their highly-touted counterparts – especially after losing their three potential bigs entering this season in Amos, Balunggay, and Chiu.
No matter the situation, however, the most important thing is Baldwin believes – and his team does, too.
“I don’t live my life in the world of rathers and ifs, you know, because it is what it is. We get what we get. I’m not going to be wishing for something different. I wouldn’t waste what little energy reserves I have left in dreamland,” he said.
“So we are what we are, we’ve got what we’ve got, and we’re gonna go to war with that as our mentality: that we will be underdogs. But it’s not like we’re scared of it. We still have to put performances on the court; that’s all that really matters.”
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The Ateneo Blue Eagles' first assignment in Season 87 is against the UP Fighting Maroons on Saturday, September 7 at the Araneta Coliseum.
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