Fire and ice to decide UAAP king
In our college final exams or presentations, we are required to come up with grown-up solutions to complex human problems.
Our youth does not matter. Regardless of discipline, the goal is to remain poised and intelligent while being grilled by a panel or while grappling with a financial solution or essay question.
The UAAP basketball finals that starts tomorrow will have the same feel and context. Young men will be asked to carry the torches for their respective alma maters, to perform over and beyond their years in terms of basketball savvy and human poise.
Unfair as it may seem to the youth of the players, the slightest mistakes could be crucial and the difference between a school’s name being etched into the scroll of champions or being forgotten as the runner-up. Immediate forgiveness will be difficult for those who err and time will be the only balm to heal the pain of a basketball shortcoming.
Fire and Ice will determine this year’s champion. The young men in the finals will need to heat it up when necessary and stay poised and collected when the kitchen becomes too hot. They will be asked to perform like adults by their demanding communities, to be mature in a chaotic arena while attempting to win a championship.
For fire, Ateneo does not need inspiration anymore because a fourth straight title is motivation enough.
Far Eastern U showed in the Final Four series against Adamson that it can look at adversity in the eye and come out with all guns blazing. A team that stops an opponent with the twice-to-beat edge is a ready, fired-up foe.
Ateneo has the frontline edge with hardly any real threat coming from FEU at the post. If Greg Slaughter gets rid of the ball quickly to beat the expected double teams and rolls easily to the basket, FEU will have its hands full managing personal fouls and rebound totals.
The Eagles’ back-up big men have also contributed of late with Justin Chua and Frank Golla filling in ably when Slaughter gets into early foul trouble.
The question will be whether the Blue Eagles can switch it on when they have to when they fall behind in any of the games. During the eliminations, they were able to rally back against Adamson, University of the East and FEU but could not do it against the Falcons in the second round when their offense was shattered by an unforgiving defense.
FEU can rip apart Ateneo’s vaunted defense with the derring-do of Terrence Romeo, RR Garcia and Michael Tolomia. If FEU gets an early huge lead and Ateneo’s guards are unable to respond, the Tamaraws will have half of the job done.
Also, the Tamaraws’ big men love to shoot from the outside and if they hit their targets, the Blue Eagles will have a defensive dilemma to deal with.
For FEU, however, the question is whether it can stay cool as ice if the Eagles wax hot and again nibble away at any lead the Tams have. Fueled by emotion, FEU has the propensity to shoot treys wildly when it begins to lose a lead.
In the second game against Adamson in the playoffs, the Falcons clawed at the Tamaraws in the endgame and FEU opted to shoot threes like they were going out of fashion. It was just such a big FEU lead that saved the Tamaraws and proved too large for the Falcons to overturn in one quarter.
Whoever wins, the players will mature very quickly in this final exam. But the team that mixes fire and ice well to calm their players’ youthful nerves while unleashing their natural exuberance will wear the crown in a week’s time.
