Ateneo have a long lineage of great big men
The dawn of the new millennium saw the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles score a coup when it came to excellent big men. From Enrico Villanueva and Rich Alvarez, to Rabeh Al-Hussaini and Noy Baclao, to Greg Slaughter, the program has produced some of the finest big men in collegiate basketball.
When American-Kiwi head coach Tab Baldwin was tapped by Ateneo late last year, he did not have the luxury of frontline depth his predecessors hard. Gilas Pilipinas cadet Alfonso Gotladera had just exhausted all of his playing years, and the only centers that remained were Cameroonian student-athlete Chibueze Ikeh, senior G-Boy Babilonia, and Isaac Go. Go, however, had just had ACL surgery a couple of years back.
“When I joined the organization, I looked around and said what do we have for big men and everyone pointed at G-Boy and Ikeh, I said what about the big fat kid over there?,” Baldwin said recounting his first day in Loyola Heights.
“They said he can do some things but he doesn’t really have much experience and didn’t play much.”
“I remember yes, first day, he called me fat. 250 pounds entering the first few weeks of training,” admitted the 6-foot-8 Go.
A season ago, the former Xavier High School Golden Stallion had had a tough time cracking former head coach Bo Perasol’s rotation, playing only a total of 38.7 minutes.
But Go had a unique skill set that the majority of Ateneo’s frontline did not possess. For someone who’s close to 7-feet, he had a soft, feathery touch that could stretch the floor, and he could throw a precise outlet pass from anywhere on the court.
“As soon as I saw him play I said that the kid has something,” Baldwin shared.
However, the 20-year-old was not as mobile as Babilonia or Ikeh. Weighing 250 pounds, Baldwin figured that Go needed to slim down, not only to keep pace with the titans of the UAAP, but to just be able to crack his rotation. And it entailed sacrificing a staple in every Filipino meal: rice.
“I remember told Isaac, ‘you’re not gonna eat rice anymore’ and he said my mom would get upset with me if I don’t eat rice. Then I said I’m already upset with you that you’re telling me that,” Baldwin quipped.
The Filipino-Chinese student-athlete admitted that he had struggled to lose weight even with the high-intensity sessions Baldwin facilitated. Having no other alternative, he had to surrender himself to his mentor’s advice.
“I remember the first few weeks of training he was surprised because everyone was losing weight but me. Then he was puzzled by it. He had a long talk with me about my diet, my eating habits.
“That helped me lose pounds immediately,” Go shared. “Now, I’m slimmed down to 235”
“We then started to work on his body and his mind because the skill set, the intelligence and the confidence is already there and again, like this team, he’s just evolving,” Baldwin furthered.
As the season progressed, Go slowly became an integral part of Ateneo’s rotation. After averaging just 2.0 points and 2.1 rebounds during the first round, he ended the elimination round with norms of 6.1 markers and 4.0 boards per outing.
His shining moment came during Ateneo’s do-or-die game against the Far Eastern University Tamaraws on Wednesday evening. Go finished the game with 12 points — including the game-winner with 1:34 left in overtime and 14 rebounds.
“He did his job. They all had to do their jobs. They know that. I don’t think he did anything remarkable because they did their job,” Baldwin remarked about Go’s performance, which had helped bring Ateneo back to the Finals after a three-year absence.
“Maybe ‘fat Isaac’ wouldn’t have gotten there and that’s a credit to our coaching staff the work that they done, they turned him into a much better athlete than he was and we’re gonna see him develop.”
And no one was prouder of Go’s performance than Baldwin himself.
“I think we’re gonna see some pretty special things from this kid in the next few years. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. He’s gonna be in a war over the next week. But he has shown everything that I like about a basketball player,” he said.
“He’s shown intelligence, he’s shown heart, and he’s shown intensity. Now he’s shown some pretty good toughness. These are what great players are made of.”
