ATENEO was left flat-footed when University of the Philippines unleashed its might in the first ‘Battle of Katipunan’ of UAAP Season 88 on Wednesday.
Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin was the first to admit being gobsmacked by the Fighting Maroons at various points of the game.
For instance, by the halftime break when the Blue Eagles trailed by just two points at 38-40, Baldwin thought State U played an uncharacteristic ‘hero ball’ approach with mainstay slasher Harold Alarcon.
“I went into the dugout at halftime and, you know, I was wondering, 'Did they really, really prepare well for us?” the Ateneo mentor said.
“Harold took over in the second quarter and a team that's functioning on all cylinders doesn't really need that,” he added on Alarcon scoring 15 of his 17 points in the first half.
The last 20 minutes had Baldwin take his words back as the Fighting Maroons demonstrated something the Blue Eagles lacked all-match long.
“They [UP] came out in the third quarter and they showed how good their preparation was, so full credit to the coaches,” Baldwin said.
“The adjustments we made just weren't effective in the second quarter but then you just saw a really, really good UP team in the second half and I don't think it's a letdown on our part.
“It was just that UP really elevated their game while we were still sort of lacking composure and not disciplined to the degree that we needed to be. And we paid the price for that.”
Pragmatism plus emotion
Most of Baldwin’s criticisms on Ateneo’s loss to UP were tactical in nature, but his postgame postmortem went beyond the Xs and Os.
The 67-year-old shot-caller wanted to hear it straight from his players on what went missing in their first loss of the season.
The team’s answer revolved on a common theme.
“I asked the players what they thought were the lessons that they should learn from this game. Some of it was how we've got to stick together,” he said.
“That’s right. We can't lose our composure. We've got to find ways and find leadership on the court when things start to go south, as they did in the third quarter, and pull together and don't fall apart.”
In order to build the team he desires, giving pats on the back and sweet nothings won’t be his way to go.
Since Day One, Baldwin has been a firm believer of pragmatism as the central dogma of his coaching acumen.
“I'm a pragmatist. I'm not a very emotional guy. You might not think that's true, or the referees at least probably don't think that's true,” Baldwin said.
“The answer shouldn't be, ‘Oh, we've got to have a kumbaya meeting in the middle of the court and everybody's got to hug and love one another and then we'll play better. No.
“My thing is, ‘What does the damn scouting report say? What's the job you were given?' And it's time to do that job when things aren't going well, and everything else should go out the window.”
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