FAR Eastern University may have beaten two ‘San Miguels’ in a row, but head coach Sean Chambers still does not believe the Tamaraws have arrived.
After FEU stunned defending champion La Salle a week ago, Chambers recalled a belief he carried from his Alaska days: the Milkmen needed to beat a powerhouse like the Beermen to know they had truly made it.
READ: Beating La Salle just the first step in FEU's rise, says Chambers
Fast forward to today, and his Tams have just done that twice.
First came La Salle, then came the University of the Philippines, another SMB-esque powerhouse, making it back-to-back statement wins for the green-and-gold in UAAP Season 89.
Yet Chambers is refusing to let Morayta get carried away.
“I told them in the locker room, a favorite phrase in Alaska: 'Good enough, never is.' Like, this is good, but this is not where we want to be at the end,’” he said.
That philosophy, Chambers said, was reinforced by Tim Cone, his mentor at Alaska and now someone he still keeps in touch with as Gilas Pilipinas colleague.
“In the UAAP, it doesn't matter if you've won or lost this game, the next game is just as big. It doesn't matter; you have to continue to win to make sure you get to that Final Four,” he said.
“But at the end of the day, we're going to enjoy it. One of the things I learned, had a conversation with coach Tim the other day, was like, 'Enjoy it, but you've got to move on right away.'”
Long season ahead
And that, for their tactician himself, is the danger of reading too much into FEU's recent surge.
The Tamaraws can savor beating both the Green Archers and the Fighting Maroons, but neither victory changes the reality that the season still has plenty of runway left.
“At the end of the day, it's still so early. If we had lost these last two games, we'd still be saying the same thing: it's still early. Same for UP, it's still early. There's plenty of time for everybody to bounce back,” he said.
Two 'San Miguels down,' then.
But for Chambers, he and his wards have yet to reach the destination they hope to head towards.
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