DISCONSOLATE after a 72-66 loss to the UP Maroons in Game One of the UAAP Season 85 men's basketball Finals, the Ateneo Blue Eagles' morale was lifted following a pep talk by members of past champion teams.
Some of the players that led the Blue Eagles to three straight titles from Seasons 80-82 dropped by the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center last Monday to offer words of encouragement, which also moved head coach Tab Baldwin.
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"I think that the impact was extraordinary. Each one of them spoke. And you know, I said to the team the next day, I think, these guys aren't speakers," quipped Baldwin after their 66-56 win over UP on Wednesday.
"The theme was consistent. It was, there is a legacy. The legacy was built on brotherhood. It was built on, you know, we few, for he today who will shed his blood for me is my brother," he continued.
"We just haven't embedded it, and it came to life on Monday night. It was real. It was alive. It was personified by the exact people who built it. Powerful. Powerful. I was overwhelmed."
Among the former Blue Eagles that talked were Matt Nieto; William Navarro, who is nursing a knee injury; and G-Boy Babilonia, who is now working concurrently as an assistant coach under Baldwin.
Backed against the wall, Ateneo leaned on its defense to force a winner-take-all Game Three on Monday.
Ange Kouame, who was teammates with most of the visitors, said the talk still moved him.
"I was part of the process in some point, you know. Parang, I really see what they were about. From them to come from the ground to become something. They built this team, and me right now, I'm a senior, so I also look up to them," said Kouame.
"Because I was part of it, and I try to bring that lessons to the young ones, so they'll know what we're really all about."
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