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Ateneo Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin. Photo from UAAP Media.

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Romwel Anzures

ABS-CBN News

<div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);min-height:13.8px"><span></span><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1728206278806UAAP S87 MBB - ATENEO-0808.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="The Ateneo Blue Eagles with head coach Tab Baldwin. Photo from UAAP Media."/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">The Ateneo Blue Eagles with head coach Tab Baldwin. <em>Photo from UAAP Media.</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Ateneo de Manila University is dealing with its worst start ever in the Final Four era of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament. </p><p>Following their 68-58 loss against National University on Saturday evening at the Mall of Asia Arena, the Blue Eagles, who, just less than two years ago were at the top of UAAP hoops, fell to 1-6 in the six standings as the Season 87 first round ended. </p><p>&quot;Obviously, our record right now is unprecedented in our era. But you know, it&#x27;s just, it is what it is,&quot; Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin said as he reflected on their performance in the first half of the year. </p><p>The four-time UAAP champion coach did his best to point out the reasons for his struggles, with Baldwin mentioning the age of the young Blue Eagles as well as their lack of runs, but he also was quick to stress that these are not excuses.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/10/5/figueroa-padrones-star-as-national-u-adds-to-ateneos-woes-2110">READ: Jake Figueroa, Ken Padrones star as National U adds to Ateneo&#x27;s woes</a></div><p>&quot;We can talk about being inexperienced and young and all of that, but they&#x27;re not now. You know, they&#x27;ve had half a season to become seasoned and become more experienced. We&#x27;ve got to play better basketball,&quot; said the former Gilas Pilipinas head coach. </p><p>&quot;The temptation is to say yes, [that age is a factor], but the reality is no. There are a lot of young players playing well in the UAAP. Some other young teams are playing better than us. And even if we can say it&#x27;s a contributing factor, there are many, many other factors. Maybe not many, many, but there&#x27;s several other factors.&quot; </p><p>&quot;We&#x27;ve shot the ball abysmally in the first round, our free throw shooting has been embarrassing. And, you know, we work at it every day in practice. Our interior offense, as it was today, when you look at the points and the paint, is a real sign of weakness. Again, personnel has something to do with that. But also, you know, not allowing our opposition to cover the perimeter with so much pressure and we can&#x27;t hurt them inside,&quot; he added. </p><p>&quot;There are no excuses for it. We&#x27;ve got to find ways. We&#x27;ve got to find players that are going to assume that responsibility and counter what the defenses are doing to take away whatever perceived strength that we have,&quot; emphasized Coach Tab. </p><p>Baldwin also challenged his team to live up to the expectations of their fellow Ateneans and repay the support that their community has been giving despite their shortcomings in Season 87 so far. </p><p>&quot;I&#x27;m super happy with the support that the Ateneo community continues to give, but our players must realize that when they raise their fists for the Song for Mary, they&#x27;re representing the school. When our fans raise their fist, it&#x27;s not for us,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s for the school, and we want to do that in victory. When we have consistently not done that, it sort of puts a different psychology of pressure on an Ateneo team. We do not want to hear the line: &#x27;Win or lose, it&#x27;s the school we choose.’ We don&#x27;t want people coming to us and saying that.&quot;</p><p>&quot;We both want the pressure, but we want to handle the pressure better. And I think that as the season matures, that is the area where we have to mature. We have to handle the pressure of being Blue Eagles in a not-great year.&quot;<span></span></p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);min-height:13.8px"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1728206331083UAAP S87 MBB - HC TAB BALDWIN-0990.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Ateneo Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin. Photo from UAAP Media."/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Ateneo Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin. <em>Photo from UAAP Media.</em></span></span></span></div><p>&quot;We have to rise to the expectations of ourselves, of our community. We have to rise to the level of the league, and establish that we should be respected for the quality of play that we put on the court. So far, we haven’t done that.&quot;</p><p>To do this, Baldwin said that the only solution that he could offer right now was for them to just keep on trying.</p><p>&quot;This is a real challenge, and it&#x27;s one that we don&#x27;t like being in the thick of, but it is what we have. And we&#x27;re going to continue to try and find and accentuate the positives and try to improve on the negatives and hope for that process,&quot; he said.</p><p>And much like what they have been preaching since Season 87 started, this must come with patience as there is no shortcut for Ateneo to succeed. </p><p>&quot;Our players care so much. And you know, this is where coaches have to be mentors, have to be friends with them, and have to be tough,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;We have to be demanding, we have to be all of those things, and in an amateur team, in an amateur environment, the feelings are more raw. So the pressure has more impact. And as I said, maturing through that process, you hope you can do it quickly. We need to do it more quickly.&quot;</p><p>&quot;But it is a process. And you can&#x27;t, you can&#x27;t wave a magic wand and wish it to be a certain way. It takes a lot of work and it takes some tough guys to be able to handle that,&quot; said Baldwin. </p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);min-height:13.8px"><span></span><br/></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-color:rgb(0, 0, 0)"><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_uFv5hSWD2A?autoplay=1&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Ateneo de Manila University is dealing with its worst start ever in the Final Four era of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament. </p>

Ateneo de Manila University is dealing with its worst start ever in the Final Four era of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament.

‘No excuses’: Tab challenges Ateneo to rise above unprecedented showing, embrace pressure with pride

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‘No excuses’: Tab challenges Ateneo to rise above unprecedented showing, embrace pressure with pride

Romwel Anzures,

ABS-CBN News

Published Oct 06, 2024 06:45 PM PHT

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Updated Oct 08, 2024 09:14 PM PHT

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