The disparity between Ateneo and University of the Philippines in the UAAP basketball landscape is as clear as the summer’s sky and no amount of arguments can change that.
Ateneo holds nine titles while UP has one and the Blue Eagles have become the dominant power of the decade winning six championships from 2008 until 2017.
This great divide between the two teams obviously puts Ateneo in a pedestal but Fighting Maroons head coach Bo Perasol said they will enter the UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball finals with all the fight in the world.
“Everybody thinks we’re the underdog and that we don’t stand a chance but I know we are going to fight for that title,” said Perasol. “I know there’s no doubt in my mind that we can still compete in the championship.”
Ateneo was hardly challenged throughout the course of the season with only two defeats against 12 wins while the Fighting Maroons had to prove themselves for much of the tournament.
The Fighting Maroons were below .500 in their first nine games with a 4-5 record, including three straight losses at the start, but were able to recover in the later part to finish with an 8-6 record and take the third seed.
UP then took no.2 team Adamson University, which finished the preliminaries with a 10-4 card, to the distance and overcame its twice-to-win disadvantage to set up its finals duel with Ateneo.
The Fighting Maroons edged the Soaring Falcons 73-71 in the series opener and made history in the next one when it took an 89-787 win to go their first championship round since winning the title in 1986.
Perasol said their gut-busting wins against Adamson would be his team’s stepping-stone en route to the finals.
“We need to treat this as a milestone, enjoy it, and be proud of what we just did,” said Perasol. “This is something we can capitalize because we went up against a strong team in Adamson and now we’re going up against a very strong team, the no.1 team, in Ateneo.”