Ateneo de Manila University’s bid to regain the UAAP men’s basketball championship will start in early August in Tokyo, Japan.
There, the Blue Eagles will join World University Basketball Series, a four-team pocket tournament taking place from August 9 to 11.
Head coach Tab Baldwin expects the tilt to be a good start for Ateneo’s buildup heading into Season 85.
“It looks like it’s gonna be a strong tournament with high-level university teams,” said Baldwin on Wednesday, in a virtual press conference where Ateneo introduced Paul Garcia as its newest recruit.
The other three squads are Japan’s Tokai University, Chinese Taipei’s National Chengchi University, and Indonesia’s Universitas Pelita Harapan.
But Baldwin also reminded that collegiate basketball here in the Philippines is not the same as the other countries competing.
“Sometimes at this university tournaments, you get teams that might have credentials but actually the competition from their countries wouldn’t be strong so it’s hard to say,” he said.
“You have to understand in other countries, the basketball system isn’t the same as it is here, where we are much like the US system; where we put a lot of emphasis on school-based basketball.”
However, this first step is crucial to the Blue Eagles’ plan of recapturing the title they lost to University of the Philippines in Season 84.
And with the Philippines slowly returning to normal, or slowly adapting to live with the virus, this out-of-the-country training is vital.
“We’re hoping for a very strong tournament and obviously we want to put in a good showing,” he said.
“Most importantly, we want to get the requisite training for our team as we get closer to UAAP. We need good games.”
Another opportunity Ateneo is looking at is the 2022 Filoil Ecooil Preseason Cup, slated to begin later this month.
But the schedule might be a problem as the Blue Eagles will leave for Japan in early August.
“Filoil, we’re still in discussion with them given we’re going outside the country,” said Ateneo team manager Epok Quimpo.
“We are looking to get the team the games, but there are preparations needed and one of them is really the training outside the country.”
