Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin admitted that he had never watched a single Ateneo-La Salle game.
Philippine sports’ most heated rivalry has seen some of the best performances, but has also brought out the worst in fans on certain occasions. But for the first year Ateneo mentor, the rivalry has yet to have a personal sentiment for him.
“Again, the rivalry means nothing to me. I know that saying that probably flies on the face of a lot of Ateneans and La Sallites. But I haven’t been a part of it,” admitted the American-Kiwi, who had already seen rivalry games like the Tall Blacks-Boomers as a coach and the Red Sox-Yankees as a spectator.
“It is new to me and I can’t comment on something that I haven’t been a part of.
“What I can comment on is how is the preparation for the game and how we see La Salle,” he said.
Ever since the first time he had faced the De La Salle University Green Archers during the Premier Cup, the 58-year-old mentor has always praised Ayo and system that he runs. Moreover, the build of La Salle’s roster is on a whole other plane, he thinks.
“La Salle has got a loaded roster, they have great maturity and they have great physical strength,” he said.
“And they have two players who you can’t separate and, who I believe, are the two best players in the UAAP: Jeron Teng and Ben Mbala.
“Those two guys are really setting a gold standard for the best and the elite players in the UAAP. We have to focus on them with our defensive preparation,” he added.
But Baldwin added that stopping the two does not entail a victory, as it is hard to sleep on La Salle’s über-deep bench.
“But we can’t ignore the rest of the line-up because they have so many good players,” he remarked about the 15-deep La Salle roster. “With [Jason] Perkins back, there’s talent to burn on that team and, head to head, it will be hard to compete with them.”
“We have to develop a gameplan where we can minimize the talent disparity but it is extremely tough. We can force them to play our style of game but they are so good in imposing their style. It’s not going to be easy,” he acknowledged.
Sporting a still-unblemished record, the Green Archers have been a tough puzzle to solve in the UAAP. However, there were moments in some of the games – the fourth quarter of their game against the Far Eastern University and the first three quarters of the one against the National University – when it seemed that the Taft cagers were not as invulnerable as everyone thought. Baldwin, together with his staff, have studied the footage, hoping that they can exploit those weaknesses in La Salle’s game over 40 minutes.
“Other teams also have not found it easy. There were a couple of games where they showed some vulnerability and we need to isolate those and try to play to our strengths and avoid our weaknesses and try to expose the weaknesses they have – which isn’t easy – and minimize their strengths,” he shared.
And Baldwin knows that motivating the Blue Eagles for Sunday’s game won’t be the hard part.
“That’s how you prepare for any game but this one, for a motivational stand point, the boys won’t have any trouble,” he promised.
