HONESTLY speaking, Adamson did not expect to be in this position.
Winning two of their first three games, the Soaring Falcons have been the biggest surprise of the UAAP Season 87 men's basketball tournament.
But coach Nash Racela admitted that this isn't new for this team, that from their buildup to their games, this team just keeps on surprising him.
"Every day ganoon eh. I don't know what to expect from these players but they just continue on surprising me," he said after the team's shock 69-56 win over University of Santo Tomas behind the efforts of transferees AJ Fransman and Royce Mantua.
That's probably the beauty of Adamson's position: with little to no expectations on their shoulders, and some even thinking that the San Marcelino-based dribblers were bound for an eighth place or even winless finish, the room for growth and overachievement is very large.
And it's exactly what they've done.
Racela knows that they have turned a lot of heads and now, the weight of expectations will start to get heavier for Adamson starting on Saturday against the 0-3 Ateneo.
"Syempre yun ang tendency ng tao, maging kampante. Akala nila magagaling na and then all of the sudden the next game, you face a tough team," he said of that 6:30 p.m. clash at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
"But something we realized is that every game is different. From FEU, La Salle, to UST, every game is different. Yun yung preaching namin sa kanila, na every game will give us a different look so wag kayo maging masaya doon sa resulta ng isang game. We have to move forward kasi it's gonna be a different [team] when we play the next game."
Bulldogs, Tigers fight over bounce back win
National University (1-2) and University of Santo Tomas (2-1), meanwhile, aim to get back to their winning ways at 4:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs are reeling from a painful 89-62 defeat to UP and coach Jeff Napa urges his wards to shape up as they don't want to fall behind midway through the first round.
On the other hand, the Growling Tigers want to recapture their offense after shooting sourly in that loss to the Soaring Falcons where they shot a poor 25.9-percent from the field.
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