It took me quite a while to write this long-overdue article. I felt I needed to first verify certain things that I had been hearing.
I followed the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) games closely from the United States, courtesy of The Filipino Channel.
There was no doubt in my mind that Ateneo would easily take home the championship. This was due primarily to the coaching prowess of coach Tab Baldwin.
The system he has put in place has created a team so formidable that it defeated teams which may have more individually talented players. He also has a few experienced and talented players, whom he uses more sparingly.
It appears that Baldwin prefers to use players whom he thinks he will be able to mold into his style of coaching and play.
The emphasis he has put on team defense has made Ateneo stand head and shoulders above the entire league. He may well be on his way to repeat the feat of Norman Black, one of the country’s best coaches, in giving Ateneo another five-peat.
Coach Tab’s coaching style really reminds me of that of the late Ron Jacobs, whom I had the pleasure of coaching against during my career as a coach. He is not an ordinary college coach and in my opinion, it is a bit unfair to pit him against the other college coaches. His experience and pedigree place him in another league altogether.
In the Philippine Basketball Association, there is a ban on foreign coaches. It makes me wonder why the UAAP has not followed suit.
He was originally brought in to help the Gilas program. For some reason, there were problems that arose along the way, which ended up with him coaching Ateneo.
In my opinion, with what he has shown us thus far, he may be able to vastly contribute to the Gilas program or at least the Gilas Cadets team.
The coaching decisions made by the MVP Group appear to be laden with corporate politics, which makes for another article altogether that I hope one day I will have the courage to write.