Baldwin urges patience with process after 0-3 start as Koon returns

Photo: UAAP Media Team

The Ateneo Blue Eagles are off to their worst start since the 2013 UAAP men’s basketball season after losing their latest game to rival De La Salle University and dropping to 0-3 in the league standings.

This is the first time in the Tab Baldwin era that Ateneo has compiled such a record in the opening weeks of the tournament. The last time it took place was during Bo Perasol’s first year coaching the Blue Eagles following their successful 5-peat under legendary mentor Norman Black.

This year’s Ateneo team has been hit with quite a few curveballs. Following key offseason departures from the likes of Mason Amos, Kobe Demisana, and Raffy Celis, the team’s depth took more hits after key bench provider Lebron Nieto suffered a season-ending injury and captain Chris Koon sprained his ankle in the first quarter of his team’s season debut against University of the Philippines.

It didn’t help that the Blue Eagles had arguably the toughest schedule out of all UAAP teams to commence their campaign: the Fighting Maroons, the UST Growling Tigers, then the defending champion Green Archers. Ateneo lost all games by double digits and an average losing margin of 13 points.

While the performances of his young team aren’t generating quality wins just yet, Baldwin remains patient with the process they’re going through every day as they look to turn their season around.

“You have to be patient with the process. You invest too much time into something you know will pay dividends. You just don’t know when it will pay dividends,” he told the media on Sunday, September 15.

“I think the biggest change we’ll see this week is we should get Chris back hopefully earlier in the week rather than later. He’s still got some soreness, but it’s responded well and he’s got stability in the ankle. So hopefully, you know, that extra body, that extra veteran minutes will pay dividends for us.”

Koon also told ALL-STAR Magazine that he expects to return to action soon in an effort to help Ateneo turn its season around.

There are other positives to note. Wing players Josh Lazaro and Shawn Tuano have had their moments of offensive consistency while rookie big man Kristian Porter has transitioned his game to the college level in quick fashion. Despite shooting 2-of-8 from the field against La Salle, Andrew Bongo looked the most aggressive he’s been this season and finished with 9 markers. Prize recruit Jared Bahay continues to struggle with his shooting from the field but looks like Ateneo’s best court general.

“Until other players get the defensive attention off of Jared to some degree, it’s going to cause problems for the entirety of our offense. But, you know, I have confidence, like, Josh had a good game. Shawn had a good game. Ports showed a little bit in the last game and, you know, a little bit tonight,” Baldwin said.

“So step by step, they’re finding their way and, you know, we just got to get, you know, the win loss record on the rails now. You know, there was a, it was a pretty brutal start to the season with the schedule we had, but that’s the way it is. You got to play them sometime. So it just doesn’t look very good right now. It looks awful at 0-3. But, you know, we just believe that now we’ve got that stretch of the schedule out of the way. We’ve got a week to prepare for Adamson. So we have to do a really good job because Adamson showed what they’re capable of [by defeating UST].”