NOT having a pre-season tourney where it could have sized up the opposition told heavily on Ateneo’s drive for a four-peat.
Blue Eagles coach Tab Baldwin said his charges could not afford to be in the same situation in its bid to regain the crown in the 85th UAAP basketball tournament likely to start in September.
“We suffered from the fact that we didn’t have a proper preseason and our program depends on that. I can’t coach any other one. Maybe I shouldn’t,” Baldwin said.
“If a scenario like that presents itself again, maybe I’m not the right man to coach the team because we didn’t have the time to build these young men as better basketball players and it showed,” he added.
The last cage wars that saw University of the Philippines end Ateneo’s three-year reign was played in a bubble.
Teams began their training early this year, but no preseason matches were played due to the outbreak of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the pandemic.
The season kicked off last March, with all squads playing during every playdate.
Ateneo dropped a 74-81 loss in overtime in the finals opener last May 8 before getting back at UP 69-66 in Game 2 last May 11 to forge a knockout match.
The Eagles fell short in another overtime thriller 69-72 in Game 3 last May 13 as the Maroons ended a 36-year title drought.
“It’s a lesson that I already knew, that if you don’t prepare properly and you don’t take care of the fundamentals of the game, you gotta have two losses where you had 51 turnovers and you can’t expect to win with that,” Baldwin said.
“We didn’t have good composure, we didn’t handle UP’s pressure defense very well, and we made way too many turnovers for a team which aspires to be a champion.”
