PRESENT-DAY ATENEO STILL 'SEARCHING FOR OWN IDENTITY,' SAYS BALDWIN

IN six UAAP seasons as Ateneo coach, Tab Baldwin has not finished below second place, winning the championship four times with the Blue Eagles.

The former Gilas Pilipinas and New Zealand coach, however, finds himself in unfamiliar territory in the FilOil EcoOil Preseason Cup 2023, where the Blue Eagles are at the bottom after losing their first four games.

READ: La Salle keeps rival Ateneo winless in preseason

The boys from Katipunan have lost to UAAP rivals La Salle, University of the Philippines, National University, and Far Eastern University - a losing run that doesn't bode well for Ateneo's title defense in the premier college league.

However, Baldwin insisted there is no such thing as a title defense, more so in the college game where there is little continuity owing to graduation.

"First of all, there is no such thing as a title defense," Baldwin said after the loss to FEU. "Even if all of these players played in that championship, you don’t defend titles. Every team stands on its own identity and what it does in that season."  

Continuity is very much lacking in the present-day Ateneo team, which lost MVP Ange Kouame and starters Dave Ildefonso and BJ Andrade to graduation and are also playing without Chris Koon and Forthsky Padrigao.

"This is an entirely new team," Baldwin said. "There isn’t a lot of continuity of personnel between this team and last year’s team. We don’t bring in a lot of experience - we bring some; but guys like Chris Koon are injured and Forthsky [Padrigao] wasn’t there today, and we also have a new import."

The current Blue Eagles, Baldwin said, are still trying in the process of carving their own niche.

"We have to carve out our own identity. We have to find how we are going to play most effectively and build from the basics," he said. "Build from defensive rebounding and develop an offensive system that suits these guys, so we are still searching."

2023-06-04T08:07:40Z dg43tfdfdgfd