Baldwin reflects on 'tough' UAAP season for Blue Eagles

MANILA, Philippines -- Despite “a year of adversity,” Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin said that there are no regrets for the Blue Eagles’ season as they bowed out early from the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball wars.

The Blue Eagles finished their season with a loss against the Final Four-seeking Adamson Soaring Falcons, 69-55, Saturday evening at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

They ended the tournament with a 4-10 win-loss record, exiting without a semis berth for the first time since 2013.

After the game, Baldwin acknowledged that indeed, they had a “tough season.”

“You’re right, it was a tough season. It was a season that we can look at honestly without a lot of regrets because we understand the circumstances that put us where we ended up and the battles we had to fight,” he told reporters.

“And they aren’t things that you wanna carry around and talk about all the time but they’re also real. They’re also things that factor in when they happen to any team,” he added.

Before the season started, Ateneo saw key departures from the team.

Key members Kai Ballungay and Jared Brown decided to turn pro, forgoing their respective collegiate playing years.

The biggest departure, however, came a few months before the new season started – big man Mason Amos jumped ship to rival La Salle.

With this, the team had to rely on a young core of Jared Bahay and Kristian Porter, as well as veterans Chris Koon, Sean Quitevis and Joshua Lazaro, for the season.

“My respect for the team to have to battle through that adversity, players having to accept roles that they honestly weren’t prepared for, players having to step into positional responsibilities that frankly they didn’t come to Ateneo, to the Blue Eagle program to have to play in those positions, that doesn’t garner anything but respect from me,” Baldwin said.

“But also in doing that, it highlights a lot of deficiencies that encumber us when we go out and play games and even in training sessions. So it was a year of adversity, no question about it. I don’t really have any comment on getting four wins, and whether that’s a good performance, or having 10 losses and that’s a bad performance. People will make their own assessments,” he added.

He also tipped his hat to Koon and Quitevis, who led the team through the difficult time.

“You know, having to step into a leadership positions which were at best not very enviable, and yet, I don’t think ever did a team need leadership like these two guys provided more than this team,” he stressed.

“Because, I think we had something like nine first year players, another 4 or 5 second year players and they’re talented but without their direction, this season would’ve been a hell of a lot worse,” he added.

“And it would’ve been a hell of a lot more frustrating so, the job that these two guys did, as I said, in a very unenviable scenario, commands my respect and I’m sure, as you saw from the response of our community after the game, the respect of our community.”

Meanwhile, the veteran tactician said that he is “excited about next year.”

“I think that when you have a dip in the standards that you believe should be part of how you work and who you are, when there's a dip there, there's an immediate reaction to that, to get back in the saddle. And I've always been a person driven by challenges, and certainly this is a big one, and it's never a bad thing to be humble, never. And we are,” he said.

“Definitely, we are humbled, but I've got a great coaching staff. They're all chomping at the bit. And I think maybe the players returning, they're a little bit nervous. And that's okay, too. But I just hope that they're up for the challenge. And I'm certain that most of them will be.”