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    UAAP preview: First step for rebuilding UE is to bring back 'Warrior mentality'

    UAAP preview: UE Red Warriors
    Aug 31, 2018

    [Editor's note: This is the second of an eight-part special preview of the UAAP men's basketball season]

    Last Season: 7th Place (3-11)

    Key Holdovers: Alvin Pasaol, Philip Manalang, Mark Maloles, Jason Varilla, Wilson Bartolome

    Newcomers: Jojo Antiporda, Ric Gallardo

    Departures: Clark Derige, Mark Olayon, Derrick Pumaren (coach)

    Head Coach: Joe Silva (1st season)

    UNIVERSITY of the East has brought in a successful coach from a winning program, kept a core led by the prolific Alvin Pasaol. But don't expect too much from the Red Warriors in the coming UAAP season.

    The coach said so himself.

    Joe Silva has set modest goals in his first year in charge at UE, admitting that a Red Warriors side that has not been to the Final Four in nine seasons is on rebuilding mode after he took over from Derrick Pumaren.

    Silva is coming off a championship with the Ateneo Blue Eaglets in the UAAP juniors, but is willing to start rebuilding from the ground up at UE after Pumaren posted a 21-35 record and failed to reach the postseason in four years in charge.

    Silva said a resurgence won't happen overnight.

    “For this year, expectations are low. Nobody expects us to really contend or compete for a Final Four slot. We just want to take it one game at a time but of course we want to prove that we belong in the UAAP,” Silva said.

    “Well, to tell you honestly among all the other teams, kami siguro ‘yung isa sa madaming nawala. But no excuses, we’re going to try to compete, we’re going to try to at least sneak in some wins,” he added.

    Silva won two championships and posted a 77-20 record in seven seasons as Blue Eaglets coach, so taking over a struggling program won't be easy. Yet he has no hesitation starting afresh at UE.

    “It’s different kasi sanay ako sa winning program, sanay ako na mga players ko okay eh. My main task was to rebuild this program and to build it from the ground up so yun talaga. It’s going be a rebuilding process, a rebuilding team this year.”

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    Alvin Pasaol scored a record-setting 49 points in one game and earned a Mythical Five spot last season after averaging 20.6 points and 7.1 rebounds. But Silva said the prolific scorer will not be tasked to carry the team this year.

    “I told this team that it shouldn’t be an Alvin Pasaol team anymore, it should be the UE Red Warriors,” he said. ”We won’t rely heavily on Pasaol but of course, he’s still our main man. We’ll put him in spots that he’ll be efficient and he’ll try to score but at the end of the day, it’s not about him.”

    Silva is confident Philip Manalang, Mark Maloles, Jason Varilla and Wilson Bartolome - players who he said are 'sick and tired of losing' - will come to the fore.

    “They’re sick and tired of being called the whipping boys, they’re sick and tired of the fact that when they go to the venue, it’s 1-0 for the opponent. So at least the mentality is there, the attitude is there,” he said.

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    “It can only do so much but at least we have some motivation, some drive to prove to the other schools, to prove to ourselves, to prove to the UE community that we belong, that we can compete,” he added.

    More than the win-loss records, Silva's ultimate goal in his first year is to awaken the 'warrior mentality' in the team.

    “Like I always say, when I entered here, gusto ko lang balik yung mentality ng warrior. ‘Yung kahit ano, dehado, sa giyera kahit dalawa lang kayo, tatlo basta — kahit hanggang kamatayan — you’ll offer yourself for your family, for your schools, for your brothers,” Silva said.

    “‘Yun ‘yung gusto ko palag lang kami, 40 minutes, the first buzzer to the final buzzer ano lang kami give me a chance to coach in the fourth quarter na dikit then we’ll try to see, the results will follow.”

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