Consider this as Isaac Go’s breakout year.
Though Ateneo fell short in the UAAP Season 79 Finals after being swept by La Salle, the 6-foot-7 big man can only speak of praises with how the Blue Eagles fought through the course of the season.
“Looking back, we had a great season. It’s not the ending we wanted, but overall, we achieved a lot,” he said. “At the start of the season, people were counting us out because we had eight guys out with eligibility issues. A lot of people had us outside the Final Four. I don’t think a lot of people expected us to make it this far and even in the Finals, going toe-to-toe with La Salle.”
Against all odds, Ateneo broke the conventional wisdom and came out of nowhere to snag the second-seed before toppling Far Eastern University in the semifinals.
“Looking at where we’ve come, we’ve come so far. We had one hell of a season and we’ll look to improve next year,” said the sophomore,
And a huge reason for that run was Go, who provided the muscle down low as he averaged 6.6 points and 4.9 rebounds en route to being named as the league’s Most Improved Player.
The Xavier product admitted that he never envisioned being in this position to start with.
“I didn’t expect to be where I am right now,” he said. “At the start of the year, we had Gboy (Babilonia) and (Chibueze) Ikeh still. I didn’t see myself getting this far in the season, but I guess the way I’ve been playing is just because of the trust my teammates had in me, the coaching staff had in me. And I also repaid that by trusting the system. I still can’t believe I won because honestly, I had no expectations of winning.”
But Go, who was affectionally called “Fat Isaac” by coach Tab Baldwin during the summer, doesn’t have plans of slowing down and is looking to sustain his conditioning in the offseason.
“I want to improve on everything. I think the first one would be my body. That would be the first one I have to work on this coming offseason. We don’t know what coach Tab’s plans are next year, so might as well broaden your skill set and get your body ready.”
Go is looking forward to next year when Ateneo brings this almost intact lineup as they seek redemption for this season’s heartbreaks.
And there’s no other goal he has in mind but the championship.
“Winning the championship is always the end goal,” he said. “What drives you to come back another year is you want that championship, you want to bring back that trophy to Katipunan. That’s going to be my number one factor in helping me continue to improve.”