IMMEDIATELY after Ateneo’s surprising loss to Adamson to open the champions’ UAAP Season 81 campaign, Tab Baldwin posed a question to his players.
On Wednesday, his players gave him the answer he wanted.
The Blue Eagles finally lived up to their billing as top favorites as they clobbered title challenger University of the Philippines 87-79 on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“I asked the team after the other game, 'Who are we? Is that who we want to be?' Cause that’s not who we prepared to be. Everytime we go out, we have to answer that question, cause that’s what our opponents ask. Who are you?” Baldwin shared after the match.
“If the answer we give is like the one we gave last week, all of you people will label us as losers. Rightfully so. When we give an answer like we gave today, we have a good chance of you people to label us as winners,” he added.
Baldwin believes that the Blue Eagles ‘abandoned who they were’ against Adamson and now he poses his next challenge to players.
After a surprising run to the UAAP title last year, the next step for the players is sticking to who they are amid heightened expectations and the constant pressure they’ll get from their opponents, Baldwin said.
“We have to learn to stick to who we are, irrespective of the pressure. We’re gonna get pressured from anybody,” Baldwin said.
“I think that’s the next challenge to this team, to turn no matter what the conditions are, no matter who we play, to turn our practice effort into game performance. I think that was the takeaway we had,” he added.
Baldwin said that he’s seeing glimpses of the team that he prepared in the offseason, and he’s confident that they’re just gonna continue to improve as the season progresses.
“Whether that was the wake-up call from Adamson or whether it’s the realization that the UAAP is a different animal than what we’re seeing most of the summer and offseason, I guess it doesn’t matter. Fact of the matter is, I thought our intensity today was far of a reflection as to where we want to be, but our execution is still lacking,” Baldwin said.
“But I’m now more confident that as we face the UAAP intensity more and more that our execution will become better and settle down.”
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
