IT’S not official just yet, but there’s a very big chance for Ateneo to miss out on the UAAP Men’s basketball semifinals for just the first time in the Tab Baldwin era.
This comes after the 75-47 loss to the mighty UP Fighting Maroons last Wednesday evening to conclude what has been a one-way battle of Katipunan in the UAAP Season 87 as they dropped to 3-8 for the season.
And as the Blue Eagles navigate this nightmare in the circadian rhythm that dynasties usually go through, these next three games might just very well determine whether they wake up from this slumber with renewed vigor.
“We have to finish this season strong. We can go win all three of these games and still miss the playoffs. At this point results will have to go our way for us to even have a chance,” Baldwin said, referring to his games against FEU, UE and Adamson to round off the season.
“It’s not likely that that’s gonna happen. We have to put that out of our minds. We have to go play three positive basketball games,” he added.
“We have to do everything to win those games, we have to have players understand that their future in the program is in part being measured by how they stand up to these three games.”
READ: Ateneo in danger of worst finish in Final Four era
After a glimmer of hope mid-season with back-to-back wins over NU and UST, the Blue Eagles were sent crashing back to the ground with humbling blowout losses which started with an 80-65 loss to archival La Salle before this UP game where they suffered the worst loss in the Baldwin era.
Those ups and downs were certainly expected, especially with the Blue Eagles parading a young crew following a string of departures in the offseason.
But with all things said and done, these three games might just very well dictate if this tough season is just a phase in this rebuilding program to its eventual return to title relevance, or a preview of the bleak things that are about to come in the future.
“You know the story about this team. There’s so many young and inexperienced players in this team and I just told them, they have a choice now. They can work their tails off to finish this season on a very positive season, and going into the offseason feeling like the development curve is a positive thing for them, or they can tuck their tails and be defeatist,” Baldwin said.
“Certainly that’s not in our nature, and hopefully we have that character in that dugout to step up to the adversity and toughness that we have to [face], and move forward.”
If Nothing Else, Stand Your Ground
Baldwin referred to absorbing his worst loss as a UAAP coach as ‘irrelevant,’ but he certainly knows a humbling loss when he sees one.
He acknowledged this UP game as a ‘disappointment,’ a game where they absolutely got dominated and Baldwin’s convinced that it’s not even because his players lacked the will or the effort.
What they did lack, if Baldwin’s to be asked, is the necessary toughness and the belief that they can go toe to toe with a powerhouse squad like UP.
“You saw us tonight miss easy shots and this is a sign of a team that is losing belief in those moments cause those guys are more than capable of making those shots,” Baldwin shared.
“But when your mentality gets undermined by a lack of toughness, a lack of assertiveness, you become tentative in a lot of things. I think we play better if we approach the games with a more assertive mentality,” he added.
“I think that all of them have to have a hard look at themselves and they have to look at how they respond to this tough, adverse game and they have to make a commitment to, if nothing else, stand your ground.”
Young Eagles’ character will be tested
With the hopes of being this season’s ‘miracle team’ slashed early on in the first round, and the pressure of stealing that fourth and final semis ticket late in the tournament all but mathematically official, this season now boils down to a test of character for Ateneo.
With nothing to fight for, at least in this year, how will they handle themselves on the court?
“It doesn't mean that there isn’t talent there, that there isn’t personnel there, that there isn’t gonna be any key player in the future but every day now is a test of their character, a test of their resolve to bring back this program to where it belongs, with no guarantees that we’re going to achieve anything in that regard this year,” he said.
“They still have to fight everyday in practice, and in every game to bring as much honor and as much pride to that uniform as they’re expected to.”
That pressure isn't on the players only. Baldwin knows that they, as coaches, will have to step up their game as well.
"The coaches will have to do their job too. We’re all under the gun. We all have to feel like there’s a knife in our throat and the only way to take that pressure off is to be successful at everything that we do.”
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