The Ateneo Blue Eagles looked nothing but spectacular as they won the UAAP Season 85 Men’s Basketball Championship. But to get there, they had to conquer a slew of different challenges.
The Ateneo Blue Eagles have regained the UAAP crown from the UP FIghting Maroons after losing it to them in last season’s finale. This time, with masterful performances in Games 2 and 3 of the Finals, Coach Tab Baldwin and his boys left no doubt as to which school owns the best college basketball team in the country.
At the beginning of Season 85, however, it was a different story. Ateneo wasn't perceived as a shoo-in to make it back to the top.
The reasons behind the uncertainty made sense at that time. Winning the chip wasn’t guaranteed, let alone dominating the competition. So, how exactly did the Blue Eagles overcome the odds and won it all in style? Let’s have a quick lookback.
Ange Kouame had an injured knee < He gutted it out
Ateneo fans sure were worried when news of Ange Kouame partially tearing his ACL broke out in June. For sure, an injury like that to the Blue Eagles’ most important player will weaken the team in a major way. But miraculously, Kouame gutted it out and helped his squad take the top seed, and eventually the championship. Now, Ange is leaving his UAAP career as a Finals MVP.
A lot of great talent had left the team < Ildefonso, Padrigao and Ballungay stepped up
Ateneo lost a lot of good players after Season 84. Some believed that the talent gap left by Gian Mamuyac, SJ Belangel, Tyler Tio and Raffy Veterano may have been too big to fill. But, Dave Ildefonso, Forthsky Padrigao and Kai Ballungay thought differently. Ballungay, while erratic, came up big at times when his team needed him. To clinch the No. 1 seed, Ballungay posted 18 points and 14 boards against Adamson. And in Game 2 of the Finals, he scored 15 points after being a non-factor in the opener. Ildefonso and Padrigao, as we now know, both made it to the Mythical Five for their stellar play all season.
Slow start to Season 85 < Peaked at the right time
In a previous article, we mentioned how Coach Tab Baldwin had to adapt to his rookies by changing the playbook a month and a half before the season began. This caused the Eagles to struggle with their new primary offense, which showed in their first round campaign. Come Round Two, it was clear that the Eagles had found their rhythm. Going into the Final Four, they already looked a well-oiled machine, and UAAP's best machine at that.
Losing Game 1 of the FInals < BEBOB
The Blue Eagles looked to be in trouble after getting overwhelmed by a highly determined Maroons squad in Game 1. Fortunately for ADMU, the BEBOB or Blue Eagles Band of Brothers came to the rescue. A surprise visit from several Ateneo legends during practice had the current team all fired up for Game 2, which resulted in a huge momentum swing in favor of the eventual champs.
UP had too much starpower < Ateneo team effort
Going into Game 3, even with Zav Lucero out, many UAAP fans still believed that the Fighting Maroons were deep enough to repeat. As a response, Gab Gomez, Matt Daves and Sean Quitevis aka the Ateneo bench mob came out and quickly changed the narrative. Gomez drilled three triples to finish with 12 points in their wire-to-wire victory, Daves scored a timely and-1 on highly touted Carl Tamayo, and Quitevis relentlessly disrupted UP’s offensive sets.
With new talent expected for Season 86, led by the likes of Lebron Lopez and Mason Amos, count on the Blue Eagles to continue flying high in the years to come.