NEW names, familiar faces, same old classic.
For the 94th time in the UAAP men's basketball tournament, one of the most storied rivalries in Philippine sports will break cover on a promising new chapter with plenty of unknowns.
And in 93 previous UAAP meetings, Ateneo holds the all-time head-to-head series lead over La Salle, 55 to 38, before the esteemed schools meet for their first Season 86 clash on Wednesday, 6 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Tale of the tape
Multi-titled tactician Tab Baldwin will parade Ateneo's blazing young guns against UAAP coaching debutant Topex Robinson's tight-knit core of La Salle aces.
Albeit victorious in eight of their last nine matches over the Taft side, an uphill battle awaits for the defending champs if they won't make amends fast for their season-opening defeat to NU.
On the flip side, a vengeful Green Archers side made an early statement of intent to reutrn to championship contention with a masterful start to the Topex era over FEU.
With contrasting first acts to the new season, which side will have more fight and hunger in them ahead of the forthcoming marquee matchup?
Finding the 'fight'
"The words that mean so much to Ateneans, ‘one big fight,’ the word ‘fight’ was left out today and that’s inexcusable."
These were Baldwin's excruciating words shortly after the Katipunan side was dealt its first defeat on opening day since 2018.
The champion coach underscored what went wrong for the Blue Eagles and what went seamlessly right on the Bulldogs' end.
"We didn’t execute our offense as well but when you give up 51 percent shooting to your opposition and get outrebounded as bad as we did, you’re not gonna win," Baldwin bared.
But as the Blue Eagles look to dust off a shaky opening salvo, Baldwin demands to see his wards 'exhibit a little more pride' — particularly from the likes of his ace rookies in Mason Amos and Joseph Obasa who were held to just two points apiece.
"The expectation of us was that they step up and do their job, which they didn’t do a good job of, but that’s what rookies do. It probably will happen again. It just better not happen often for the sake of our team," the Ateneo mentor said.
"Now if they don’t grow, it’ll be a hell of a long year."
However, it most certainly won't come easy with an in-form La Salle side eyeing a 2-0 start.
Too hot to handle?
There was no stopping La Salle in game one of its long climb back to the Final Four after missing out in three of the last four seasons.
Departing senior Evan Nelle and reigning rookie of the year Kevin Quiambao did not miss a single beat in the opening win, with Nelle just two boards shy of a triple-double and Quiambao dishing out 14 points and 14 rebounds.
Nelle, however, was notably critical of his and the team's performance upon citing areas of improvement to further build on.
"As a team, we have a lot to improve on pa. Lalo na come endgame, I wasn’t executing the plays. I was doing whatever I wanted to do and I wasn’t following the system. So I just have to work on that, control the team, trust Coach (Topex Robinson), and we’ll be alright since it’s just game one," Nelle said.
And ahead of the Ateneo game, despite their Katipunan counterparts' early woes, the senior Green Archer is not letting his guard down by any stretch.
"We faced (Ateneo) in the preseason, but I’m telling you it’s different when the UAAP starts. Of course, they’re gonna be prepared and they’ll want to bounce back. And Coach Tab (Baldwin), no words for Coach Tab. Their players, for sure, want to beat us and likewise, we want to beat them," Nelle said.
For Robinson, who will be coaching his second-ever UAAP game by the time they face Baldwin & Co., sticking to his system and not getting caught up with the underlying narratives of the rivalry clash remain his utmost priority.
"It’ll always be the same. It’s all about us, we, and ours. Obviously, we know who were gonna be up against but we’ll just focus on what we have and that’s us," Robinson explained.
"Obviously, there’s a lot of hype and a lot of stories behind the game. At the end of the day, Ateneo’s a worthy rival. That will never change. Coach Tab is a worthy rival. We’ll always compete against each other and it’s just an opportunity for me to get better learning from Coach Tab and Ateneo," he added.
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