6 Points: AdMU vs. UP (Round 1)

Ateneo 72, State U 64

-The final score of this game does not tell anything at all, except that the Blue Eagles are on their way towards salvaging their first round. It does not tell how the team has mounted another third quarter storm against the Fighting Maroons, extending the lead to as far as 19 points, thanks to the efforts of Kiefer Ravena and Ryan Buenafe. It does not tell how, when the head coach Bo Perasol decided to call it quits in the early fourth quarter, it was then that the offense of the Maroons, which involves putting former Green Archer Joseph Marata as the first option with nothing else after, maybe involving rookie Kyles Lao, clicked and brought the lead down to eight. But also it did not tell how a Katipunan chess match became exciting at the beginning and at the end (never mind the in between), with both teams playing almost the same offensive styles, only that the defense tipped in favor of the Blue Eagles.

-However, as with all the wins against UP in the last few years or so, this first round game should be taken with a grain of salt. Yes, the Blue Eagles played perfectly well, with Ravena leading the way alongside Buenafe and Newsome; however, this team does not feature any import at the frontcourt, leaving Chris Ball and Raul Soyud to take care of the paint, therefore making it easier to score from inside as compared to the past four games (NU with Emmanuel Mbe, FEU with Anthony Hargrove, DLSU with Arnold Van Opstal and Jason Perkins, and UE with Charles Mammie). It's a good thing that the Blue Eagles secured the win by taking advantage of its absence, by trying to score from the inside at first in order to leave the wings and the perimeter open. Moreover, they did pretty well on defense, as they were able to control the interior, forcing the Fighting Maroons to take the game outside, while forcing turnovers frequently during entry passes and kickouts. And given the still miserable record that the Blue Eagles have after six games, then count this one as a good effort.

-Looking at the development of the team after six games, it would be proper to say that the team's overall chemistry is at about 70%, considering that Kiefer Ravena has just returned and is at about 70%. Ravena's presence indeed is a boost for the Blue Eagles, but with controlled minutes, Coach Bo Perasol has to shuffle the rotation either with Von Pessumal or Gwynne Capacio (or, at times, going for a double-PG combo with Juami Tiongson as number 2 and Nico Elorde to play the point). But despite this, the result showed signs of almost-superb teamplay: the Ravena-Buenafe-Newsome trifecta scored 41 of their 72 total points, with Tiongson (as the plus-one) adding 9. The bench garnered 16 points, while 14 of the 16 Blue Eagles entered the game. Perhaps the biggest improvement that will happen here in a while is when Ravena will be at full force, and it would be soon before it happens, given that he has another six days to rest before their final first round match against the UST Growling Tigers.

-One significant performance off the bench, which perhaps a few would notice is how reserve Vince Tolentino plays defense. It seems that this 6'3" sophomore from Vancouver, Canada is more used to play the three position, and that taking the position of four or five in a zone set seems to be a tall order for him. However, against UP, his shifting movements in and out of the paint, insofar as defense is concerned, and was able to protect his areas quite well. Watch out, because if this guy is relegated to a three position during defense (come the time when the Blue Eagles will have legitimate big men (such as this) who can compete with the other UAAP teams'), he will be very reliable (well, maybe improving his speed and footwork a bit more would help).

-Chris Newsome. Alley oop. 'Nuff said.


Yes, the Sixth Man enjoyed big dunks here and there by Greg Slaughter during the past two seasons, but what made Newsome special is that in his first six games, he has displayed his superb athleticism (take note as well that he almost had a poster delivered at Bobby Ray Parks' doorstep during the Blue Eagles' game against the Bulldogs). With what he can do, expect him to do this in the games to come:


-It's not surprising that the Fighting Maroons' Joseph Marata did not actually adjust his game upon his transfer to UP from DLSU. He still identifies and establishes himself as a shooter, but what he gives, he also takes away. It is evident that he led a comeback attempt by a barrage of threes, but the way he has become trigger happy (together with his lack of defensive skills) also served as the cause as to why they never led for the entire game except for just once and only within a few seconds. For the whole game, Coach Ricky Dandan gambled on an Oklahoma City Thunder-style offense--a bad shot by Marata (or Ligad for some stretches) would be better than a good shot by anyone else (okay, maybe Chris Ball is an exemption); however, wouldn't it be better to place Lao as the first option because of his ability get past defenders for easy layups and designate Marata as a kick-out player? After all, Lao is a rising star in the making for the team, and it would be beneficial if Coach Dandan provides him the opportunity to at least lead the team on offense.

The Scores:

Ateneo 72 - Ravena 15, Buenafe 13, Newsome 13, Tiongson 9, Golla 6, Pessumal 4, Erram 4, Elorde 4, Tolentino 2, Capacio 2, Lim 0, Murphy 0, Asistio 0

State U 64 - Marata 22, Ligad 10, Ball 10, Soyud 8, Lao 7, Desiderio 3, Wong 2, Asilum 2, Suarez 0, Pascual 0, Gingerich 0, Gallarza 0, Amar 0

Quarter scores: 19-17, 38-30, 57-40, 72-64

Credits to the Fabilioh Facebook page for the photo, the respective owners of the YouTube videos, and GMA Online Sports for the box.

6 Points: AdMU vs. DLSU (Round 1)

Ateneo 73, De La Salle 82

-The prevailing plotline which lasted for three games and finally driven to the extreme is that what was once hailed as the "third quarter storm" of the Blue Eagles turned into a nightmare in Coach Bo Perasol and a roster that does not have its ace player. In the middle of the third quarter, the Blue Eagles held a 14-point lead against their archrivals, but an adjustment made by DLSU head coach Juno Sauler transformed that into a 3-point deficit heading into the fourth. After that, the Archers never looked back, pinning down any chances of an Ateneo comeback when Luigi de la Paz hit a corner three that gave the first round match to them. If this becomes a trend in the next four games of the Blue Eagles, then it would be hard to at least muster a win in this first round.

-We can see how first year Blue Eagle Chris Newsome can carry the whole Blue Eagles team on the offensive end, as we have seen him make the most ridiculous shots, cuts, slashes, and pops that no Blue Eagle of the past few seasons have ever done. Newsome's presence on the court already is a threat to any opponent, and had it been possible for him to create his shots without the danger of fouling out, it could have been Ateneo's game to take.

-Unfortunately, this game showed how much the Blue Eagles needed a consistent big man who can go wwith the towers of seven other UAAP teams. When everyone has thought that they have found it in JP Erram following the departure of Greg Slaughter, they have seen an offensive powerhouse on his way to recovery, until he fouled out near the end of the third quarter, leaving the Blue Eagles under the undersized bigs Vince Tolentino and Giboy Babilonia who both had difficulty taking care of both ends of the floor. The Green Archers abused this situation and allowed their bigs to score and maul them from the inside, which clearly explains why Arnold Van Opstal, who once was a negligible player when the Blue Eagles play DLSU, came up big. And we see that because the inside D broke down, the fort that was the perimeter has been left open for Almond Vosotros, Thomas Torres, and de la Paz to maximize.

-Hopefully, this will be the only bad game that the Blue Eagles will get from Ryan Buenafe. Sure, the whole La Salle D clamped up on him, which paved the way for Newsome to take over. However, we have known Ryan Buenafe as a nifty passer and a shot creator who can destroy planned defensive schemes and grant easy offense, and he seems to not have shown this in the second half. In the danger of fouling out, Buenafe instead settled for quick jumpers and ill-advised triples, which led to easy transition points for the Green Archers. If at all, what is necessary for Buenafe, especially now that Kiefer Ravena has still not recovered, is to accept his role once again as "that" dangerous first option.

-Coach Perasol, during the postgame interview, spoke of his disbelief over adjustment and instead blames the lack of the collective energy that the team has in explaining the loss. One could immediately conclude that he stands in stark contrast with the Blue Eagles' fivepeat coach, Norman Black, who believes in second half adjustments to turn fortunes around and put the game in his favor. Even if it were such, it would not make sense to immediately conclude that a sixth straight championship is out of reach due to the attitude of the coach towards the game. There could be other factors that come along with it, given that Coach Perasol inherited a roster that just underwent a major overhaul. It would be wise perhaps to suspend such judgment until the end of this "adjustment season."

-Could the Blue Eagles have won with Kiefer Ravena playing? As of the moment, it would be difficult to speculate how the team's efforts in the UAAP would get affected once Ravena, assuming that he is at 100%, checks in as an active player. However, the 16-point lead that the Blue Eagles have during the third quarter, and this time in reference to their Fil-Oil win against the Green Archers more than a month ago, would be very telling. It would be futile to consider what could have happened, but the difference that Ravena makes on the court would assure the Sixth Men that the second round matchup would be very different.

The Scores:

Ateneo 73 - Newsome 27, Tiongson 14, Buenafe 11, Pessumal 10, Erram 6, Elorde 3, Golla 2, Tolentino 0, Capacio 0, Babilonia 0

De La Salle 82: Vosotros 19, Van Opstal 18, Teng 13, Dela Paz 10, Perkins 9, T Torres 8, N Torres 5, Reyes 0, Montalbo 0, Bolick 0


Quarter Scores: 20-14, 40-28, 56-59, 73-82

Credits to the Fabilioh Facebook page for the image and GMA Network Sports for the box.

6 Points: AdMU vs. NU (Round 1)

Ateneo 54, National U 64

-If the bunch of new faces, the coach included, are already matters to be concerned about as five-time champions, then having the Blue Eagles' star player and number one option out of opening day just made things way worse than before. It is true that during the Fil-Oil Preseason Tournament, the Blue Eagles seem to run like a well-oiled machine, coping with Coach Bo Perasol's system and keeping up despite the lack of a legitimate big man (especially now that six of the other seven teams made use of foreign players to take care of the paint). However, the UAAP is different, and with Kiefer Ravena out (but eventually played almost-useless minutes in the first half), the Blue Eagles were forced to make game-time adjustments. And faced against an experienced basketball team that hungrily wants desires revenge, Ateneo ended up relying on their gutsy effort to at least eke out a decent loss after having been left behind as early as the third quarter.

-One glaring fact is that Ateneo missed 52 of their 72 shots in the game, most of them from the outside, not just a clear effect of Ravena's absence, but the dismal shooting effort of the supposed snipers of the team (Tiongson, Pessumal, et al., not to mention that rookies Anton Asistio and Earl Murphy have not played). The team has missed a lot of open three-point shots that, had they made three or four more, could have made this a close game. Except a few mishaps in the paint as well as the failure to give up offensive boards, one could point that the Blue Eagles have played relatively good defense, as they were able to contain NU's perimeter shooters (but unfortunately at the expense of having Jean Mbe torch the team from the inside and Denice Villamor getting good looks from beyond the arc) and gave Rayray Parks a hard time driving down the lane. However, it could have been better had the offense been present.

-During the first quarter, the Blue Eagles just trailed the Bulldogs by 2 points, and by halftime, it blew to 12. Everyone was expecting the famous "third quarter storm" to happen, but unfortunately, it turned to a nightmare as the team experienced everything going really bad: they were missing shots, turned the ball over, and gave space for NU's offense to operate.The lead then went as big as 16 in the third, and even got to 24 in the fourth. It's quite unfortunate that Nico Elorde and Juami Tiongson found their touch beyond the arc at an inopportune time, just when the Bulldogs would almost seal the win. Hopefully, adjustments on offense would come up, whether Ravena would be there or not. The middle quarters was Ateneo's fort to hold during the past two seasons, and it should remain to be despite these changes.

-No doubt, Chris Newsome and Ryan Buenafe were the keys to Ateneo's offense in this game. The former has already shown what he can do: shoot from the outside, sink those perimeter baskets, and own opponents during isolation sets (that dunk Rayray Parks, had it gotten in, could have been poster material); however, it seems that he has not gotten inside the basket too frequently during the second and third quarters, saving those dribble-drives unfortunately in the almost-garbage fourth quarter. Ryan Buenafe, on the other hand, resorted instead to chucking bad threes, perhaps finding it difficult to do his usual drive-and-dish stuff. However, it is clear that alongside Ravena, they will be the Blue Eagles' penetration players, with JP Erram and Frank Golla doing the screens and managing the post. While for the rest, hopefully they can create shots and make themselves available for short stabs and perimeter jumpers to add additional spark. After all, they were able to do it during the Fil-Oil tournament.

-If there's something that can be said about the NU Bulldogs in their first game, it's the fact that they looked to be a dominant bunch. Parks has been in his usual self, while Mbe already had the confidence to man the paint given that no one except Golla or Erram could contain him. The confidence in offense that both of these  directly contributed to the extra effort that their teammates have exerted, among them Villamor and Gelo Alolino. That precisely is the reason why they left Ateneo behind as early as third quarter, and with the Blue Eagles finding a way to a probable upset, Parks hit a three to silence the Sixth Men, which is perhaps a statement that the league will soon be their own.

-With the FEU Tamaraws waiting for the next game, the Blue Eagles have a day or two to do serious adjustments and let Ravena recover. A lot of glaring mishaps and rooms for improvement have already been brought out in the first game, and it would be interesting to see how Coach Perasol would respond to these.

The Scores:

NU 64 - Parks 22, Mbe 14, Villamor 13, Javillonar  5, Alolino 4, Rosario 2, Khobuntin 2, Alejandro 2, Rono 0, De Guzman 0

Ateneo 54 - Tiongson 13, Elorde 10, Buenafe 10, Newsome 9, Erram 4, Ravena 2, Pessumal 2, Golla 2, Capacio 2, Tolentino 0, Babilonia 0


Quarter scores: 15-10, 33-21, 48-32, 64-54

Credits to the Fil-Oil Flying V Facebook Page for the pic, GMA Sports for the box.

Game Notes: AdMU vs. DLSU (2013 Fil-Oil Flying V Preseason Tournament)

Ateneo 78, De La Salle 70

-As preseason games have always been, this Fil-Oil game does not even reveal anything about the performance of both teams when the 76th Season of the UAAP comes. Clearly, the Blue Eagles are not even at their tournament form, having 5 or so players recovering from an injury (with big man Kris Porter unfortunately out for the season). And while DLSU have all the talent in their favor, playing with a "complete" roster sans playmaker L.A. Revilla, it's evident that they are far from being the perfect team that fans in green expected them to be. But this is a fair way of putting the talents of both teams against each other, considering that while the Green Archers have been stockpiling talents ever since the end of Season 75, the Blue Eagles, fresh from their fifth straight championship, start things again with a new coach and a relatively new team. This time, the Blue Eagles finally won against their rivals in the preseason tournament, after not having done so in the past four years (and managing to snag the UAAP championship later on... is there a coincidence? If so, what does this win tell?).

-Kiefer Ravena might just as well take the name "King Eagle" and own it for the next three years of his basketball career. With a quite scattered offense in a game where the blue eagles played open court offense, Ravena found his sweet spots, posted his defenders, and shoot deadly shake-and-bake fadeaway Js en route to 31 big points. And in a new team that needs its old members to step up and play big, he might just be the man that the Blue Eagles would need in the long season ahead. After all, it's about time for him to relive the Blue Eaglets days and carry the team on his back.

-Fifth year big man Frank Golla came out as a revelation in this game, as he was able to nail midrange jumper after midrange jumper, ending up with 14 big points on 7 of 9 field goal shooting. In the past four years of Golla's career with the Blue Eagles save for the 2010 season, he has played with talented bigs and has only ended up with a minor bench role. But now that the team needs someone big and tall to do the dirty job in the paint, the fifth year forward/center has stepped up and played smart basketball. He drew hard picks, rolled to the elbow, position on the top of the key, and nail easy jumpers. This came out quite late, but at least the Blue Eagles have someone other than Poy Erram to not only slug it out in the boards but also come out big on offense.

-This game also shows how the Green Archers are still "unprepared," despite the plethora of talent that they have. Having taller players, Coach Gee Abanilla could have set the offense up from the high and low post, but they opted to settle for kick outs and quick jumpers courtesy of gunner Almond Vosotros, because Jason Perkins, Arnold Van Opstal, and even Jeron Teng cannot (surprisingly) convert easy baskets from a small but quick Ateneo lineup. They also have turned the ball over several times, especially when trying to bring the ball down low, not to mention that a backcourt squad with considerable height advantage (think Robert Bolick) could not match up with Ateneo's small ball. And with their shots clanking in and out only to result in an easy Ateneo basket, it seems that it was a very unfortunate day for the Gang Green, and would need serious readjustments entering into the UAAP season.

-After this win against the Green Archers, the Blue Eagles have opted to pull out of the Fil-Oil Preseason Tournament, citing injuries as reasons for them to discontinue. And perhaps it is just fair for the Blue Eagles to do just that, considering that they already had a quick dose of what Season 76 will offer to them, including their training at the States. After all, the most important games would not come until the 29th of June, once the new season opens.

The Scores:

Ateneo 78 – Ravena 31, Tiongson 15, Golla 12, Asistio 6, Tolentino 5, Newsome 4, Elorde 3, Buenafe 2, Murphy 0, Lim 0

De La Salle 70 – Perkins 15, Vosotros 14, Teng 14, Torres 9, Van Opstal 9, Torres 7, Dela Paz 2, Bolick 0, Tampus 0, Salem 0


Quarter scoring: 24-15, 42-33, 63-51, 78-70

Credits to the Fil-Oil Flying V Facebook page for the photo and GMANetwork.com for the box.