My thoughts about the Ateneo-NU first round game

My thoughts about the Ateneo-NU first round game

by rick olivares

Anytime you pick up your first win, you hope continue that. It helps one’s confidence especially when you’re implementing a system and/or building character.

The worst it to have the seeds of doubt take root.

The 72-46 win by Ateneo over National University was a huge win by the former and a painful loss for the latter.

Let’s look at both sides.

Ateneo Blue Eagles.

This was this a huge win.

For starters, they have won two straight after losing their first. As we said, a win streak is positive. Even if there were moments when the execution, decision-making, and shot selection were awkward. Some I will chalk up to the defense of NU, some not. But a convincing win over a good foe (notwithstanding their record) will add to the belief and confidence.

Plus, it places Ateneo behind streaking Adamson which is at 3-0.

The Blue Eagles played flat out great defense.

They held NU to 10 points in each of the first three quarters. The Blue Eagles surrendered 16 in the fourth but that was because of a sloppy start once more and towards the end, the bench was emptied.

	FG%	Rebounds	Steals	Opponent Turnovers/PTs off Turnovers	Blocked Shots
Ateneo	40%	53	7	16 TOs – 14 pts	6
NU	28%	42	8	13 TOs – 10 pts	4

Of the 16 players Jarin sent in, only two (with at least three shots attempted) shot 50% or better and that was Enzo Joson and Jonas Tibayan. The two opted to drive that take outside shots – higher percentage, right?

The outcome also says something about Thirdy Ravena’s game.

Not only did Thirdy led Ateneo in scoring with 13 points to go with 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1 assist, but he also put the clamps on NU’s best player, Dave Ildefonso.

Dave has been averaging 17.5 points per game and in this match, he was held to a measly four points. He only got off 8 shots and that was because he couldn’t drive against Thirdy. Furthermore, he found all the lanes shut down that he couldn’t take it inside at all.

Against, UP, Ravena was matched up against Paul Desiderio and he did well. Against Adamson, his assignment was Jerrick Ahanmisi and Thirdy wasn’t the only one who was burned, but the entire team.

But this move – putting Thirdy on the opposing team’s best scorer has been a bold move. In the summer, in addition to the opposing team’s top guns, he did a great job on San Beda’s Robert Bolick Jr. during the finals of the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup.

The bench delivered.

It was good to see the bench sent in today. Outside Ravena who played close to 23 minutes, the others were pretty balanced.

Adrian Wong played well as did Aaron Black. The latter scored two quick buckets when NU cut the lead from 21 to 15. Matthew Daves got in some playing time and even scored. At one point, I thought he was going to reverse dunk that ball and in hindsight, I am sure he wished he did. That would have got him going.

National University Bulldogs.

It was a painful 72-46 loss to the Ateneo Blue Eagles. Now at 1-2, they are lucky that they aren’t 0-3 because they faltered during the late stretch against UST in their season opener. Had there been a few more minutes, the Growling Tigers could have possibly come away winners as they played much better in the fourth period but ran out of time as N faltered.

Why is this NU team struggling? Again… I will say my opinion on this based on what I know and see… they have a young team. But I said that last year and during the final year of Eric Altamirano? So technically, shouldn’t they be ripe?

Let’s backtrack. During the final season under Coach E, they had a few holdovers left from their title team – Alf Aroga, Gelo Alolino, Kyle Neypes, Diputado, and Dave Yu. They had some young talent in Regie Morido, JV Gallego, and Meds Salim. Ralph Tansingco left for Lyceum. They lost players to graduation and the players they brought up are still young. Today, the only remnants from their title team are Yu and Diputado.

It didn’t help that during Jarin’s first season Gallego and Salim were taken out due to disciplinary action. Joshua Sinclair was injured. That hurt the team last season (not to mention starting point guard Chino Mosqueda was lost due to a knee injury). The change from a more half court team to a pressing one under Jarin was difficult because this team was young and maybe did not have the talent for that.

It helps that now they have John Lloyd Clemente, John Galinato, Enzo Joson, and Dave Ildefonso. They showed that hounding defense that Jarin likes – one he employed while at Ateneo High School, Talk ‘N Text, and San Beda – during the summer. They were up and down, but I thought that they showed promise.

Am I surprised that they have not really performed well? Not really, it is a young team. Jarin told me that late addition Troy Rike had an up and down pre-season with them. Not having enough meaningful games with the Bulldogs has affected their chemistry more so since the bulk of the pre-season, NU played without Rike.

It’s like Ateneo when they had Pat Maagdenberg. He got playing time during the pre-season and in the William Jones Cup. Now he isn’t in the lineup due to some eligibility issue, it’s Matthew Daves in his place. But Daves hardly played as he came in really late after finishing his schooling in Canada.

I think any team will struggle when their big man or their bigs aren’t playing well. Issa Gaye, who I first got to know when he was pals with former Reedley and Ateneo Team B center KG Gueye, had a difficult game. He was outperformed by Ateneo’s Ange Kouame and didn’t score a point. Furthermore, I thought that they gave up on Matt Aquino pretty early in the game. He wasn’t sent back at all after the first period.

The small ball will help but only if you can rebound and run and if the opposing team doesn’t have very good ball carriers.

Having said all that, I hope team management will be patient. However, blowouts like these do not help at all. The last three times these Ateneo and NU squads played each other including the summer games, the Bulldogs got creamed.

I think in losing there is a lot you learn. I am not being an apologist for Jarin or even Eric Altamirano (whose teams showed promise, fell short, and finally bagged a title when no one expected it). I think I have been watching or been involved in basketball for a long long time now to know about being patient and trusting the process.

There is one other thing… after the match during the post-match presser, I was surprised that Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin talked about wanting to send a message to Dave Ildefonso that he made the wrong choice. Coach Tab told me that about three hours before the game, and I was certainly surprised he mentioned it to the media. It is an unspoken word about sending messages of this sort. Or is it?

One school of thought is you just don’t say it because you don’t want to give the other guy motivation for next game. During the past summer league, Mapua totally did a number on former center Will Gozum who opted not to stay in Intramuros and instead returned to UP. They went right at him on the offensive end and punished him physically on the defensive end. And it was ugly, I tell you.

La Salle did the same to Nico Elorde when he moved to Ateneo. Ditto with FEU when Jerie Pingoy played in a charity game after he left the Baby Tamaraws for the Blue Eagles. The Tams really shut him down and put a hit on him.

Ateneo, of course, did the same when BJ Manalo went to Taft. Not only did Blue Eagle Jean Alabanza shut him down, but Wesley Gonzales got into his former teammate’s face after rejecting a Manalo lay-up. That’s normal.

Conversely, it works the other way too. Shaun Ildefonso played well in his summer games against Ateneo where he played in high school and up to first year college. Robert Bolick Jr is 3-0 with San Beda against La Salle.

The other school of thought, is… you say what you want to say and damn the torpedoes. Mind games, maybe?

So was Dave ever going to move up to the senior Blue Eagles?

Based on what I know and my conversations with the Ildefonsos during Dave’s final year with the Blue Eaglets… NO.

That was sealed the moment older brother Shaun moved to NU to get more playing time when their father Danny Ildefonso was lured back. It was a career move because Dave is seen with a bigger chance to move up to the pros, but the father wanted to give Shaun a playing chance.

Do I begrudge his moving? Not at all. You go where you want and need to go. You go to what you feel is the best situation for you. I am sure that factored into the equation for Dave’s former Ateneo teammate Joaqui Manuel (now with La Salle), Will Gozum, and even Germy Mahinay who played for Lyceum during the summer leagues but when he learned was going to be placed in Team B opted to go to UST. San Beda knows this all too well when not all their Red Cubs move up to the Red Lions. Even before their last decade of dominance, that was particularly the case. College ball is way different. Recruitment is on another level and many high school players suddenly find the basketball pyramid which is shrinking.

You do what is best for you.

Dave pointed out to former high school teammate SJ Belangel bleeding for minutes. I think that is normal for many rookies unless they are wunderkinds like him. John Galinato isn’t exactly getting minutes on that NU team. Galinto, who won a bunch of titles with the Chiang Kai Shek Blue Dragons, is playing 20 minutes less than Dave. Miguel Oczon, who was a star with CKSC but moved to NU mid-way in his high school career didn’t even make it to this UAAP line-up. I recall during the recent NBTC All-Star Game when I asked if anyone was recruiting him. Oczon, at that time, said no. So I pointed him in the direction of UST and someone helping out their program. They had openings, but he opted to stay with NU.

Would Dave have sat on the bench had he stayed with Ateneo? He would definitely get playing time. But how much is anyone’s guess. It is a loaded line-up that will be together for one more season after this.

Now for NU… they are in a tough place. I hope people aren’t too much in a hurry because they have a good young team. Eric Altamirano didn’t win it right away. Just trust the process and know that this is a young team with a lot of studs. But they do need to compile some wins. The ultimate barometer at the end of the day is the ones in the win column. Unfortunately, their next match is against streaking Adamson.