The defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles won’t be underestimating the Far Eastern University Tamaraws when they meet in the Final Four today of the 84th University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament.
Both teams, who are almost in the same situation the last time they met in a Final Four setting back in 2018, will clash at 6 p.m. today at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The second-seeded University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons will also have a twice-to-beat incentive like the Eagles, when they confront the La Salle Green Archers earlier at 2 p.m.
The Eagles were also the top-seeded squad four years ago as they came into the fight exuding confidence, following a seven-game winning streak the end of the elimination round.
But this time, the Blue Eagles enter the court feeling humbled from their single defeat in the eliminations, an 83-84 edging handed on them by the Maroons last Sunday.
Denied an outright finals’ berth that comes with a 14-game sweep, the Eagles and coach Tab Baldwin hope that their Final Four series with the Tams will not go the distance.
“We don’t expect anything less, you know (FEU coach) Olsen (Racela) just does a great job, and they’re gonna be ready, they’re gonna feel like, they gave us hard time in the last game, and then we separated in the second half, but they’re gonna fancy their chances for sure. But we will regroup and we have to make sure this loss (vs UP) is useful for us, and there will be lessons taken and lessons learned,” said Baldwin.
Four years ago, the twice-to-beat Blue Eagles quickly dealt with FEU, 80-61, to reach the finals with the Fighting Maroons.
But this time, Baldwin is cautious given their recent experience with the Maroons, and with noted improvements in FEU’s game.
“This is a good humbling experience for all our organization, for me, for the team. And I told the team after the game, I said in large part ‘this loss is on me’ so they gotta play better too. But that’s just the way it is, so the truth is you don’t win them all, and now it’s just a case of re-grouping and bouncing back, getting ready for a tough FEU team,” added Baldwin.
The Tamaraws come into their encounter in high spirits after their 109-65 smothering of the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers.
The outcome was the second-biggest margin in UAAP eclipsing the La Salle Green Archers’ 99-56 smashing of the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers on Oct 23, 2016.
Racela said they will need to play 40 minutes of good basketball to be able to outperform the Blue Eagles.
“Una, hindi natatapos ang laro after 20-minutes, so ‘yun sinabi namin sa kanila (in game against UST) na kailangan.
We have to sustain that for 40-minutes, it’s not going to be offense, but defense ang magpapanalo sa amin,” said Racela.
