NINE games into life as a UAAP head coach, Sean Chambers has learned more than a thing or two on what it’ll really take to win games in a competitive collegiate field.
READ: As he soon leaves dream school, Royce Alforque vows to fight to the finish for FEU
His rookie-laden Far Eastern University side has nine new players that are still finding their footing in the league just like him. And in that pursuit, they’ve picked up three wins - just enough, at least for now, to remain in the hunt for a Final Four spot at sixth place.
Over the last few weeks since the first round ended, Chambers was vocal about the Tamaraws’ potential to ‘pose problems’ for opposing teams the rest of the season.
But the multi-titled PBA import, however, acknowledges how there still lies a few loose ends he’s yet to tie up altogether.
Chambers 'acclimated,' but still learning
FEU’s on-court learning process isn’t just confined to the players.
Chambers admit he’s yet to fully grasp Fiba rules, one that presents a few key changes from how he experienced Philippine basketball under professional rules in aspects such as individual fouls and timeouts among other technical specificities.
However, he has already warmed himself up to how the game is played in the local college scene, pace and style-wise, with the help of Tamaraws mainstays Royce Alforque and Jorick Bautista as the team’s longest serving players.
“I’m going to say konti pa lang. I'm not quite there. There's still some nuances of the game, of the Fiba rules, that I'm not quite there with (in terms of understanding),” Chambers said.
“But thank goodness for the two kuyas here (Alforque and Bautista) that they're saving me in certain moments of the game.”
Despite a dismal one-win campaign in the first round, Chambers has seen an ample amount of competitive spirit that’ll serve as a firm foundation of what the Tamaraws can still bring to the table.
“In fairness, I don't think it was a rough first round. I think it was all learning lessons. We were in every game and I think that's the beauty of it all, that we were competitive and actually we were leading every game at one time besides [against] UP.”
Slow start, strong finish?
Only FEU and defending champion La Salle have won their first two games of Round 2, with four teams having played just once as of writing.
Two close victories over Adamson and NU gave Chambers’ side its first win streak of Season 87.
While a 3-6 record per se isn’t all too promising late in the season, it remains something to be proud of given the circumstances of how this campaign started.
As Chambers put it, “We're in a very unique situation. Like we were 2-6. Now, we're 3-6, and we're happy to be where we're at.”
“Most teams that are 3-6 are not happy to be where they're at, but we feel that our momentum is going the right way.
“There's one thing that we say in education: it's not how you start but it's how you finish. The way we're finishing it, it's good. We're gonna celebrate this game, then after that, it's on to the next one.”
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