Tab Baldwin only had good words to say for the returning Dave Ildefonso, who chose to go back and suit up for his alma mater in the UAAP Season 84 Men’s Basketball Tournament.
And the 6-foot-3 swingman didn’t need any more time to adjust with his new team. He led Ateneo de Manila University to a 90-81 victory over the University of the Philippines on Saturday evening at SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
But the relationship between Baldwin and Ildefonso did not go on a right start.
It was just four years ago when Baldwin had made the Blue Eagles zone in on the then-National University winger to “rethink his decision” to join the Bulldogs.
Two years later, Ildefonso opted to depart from NU where he spent the first two years of his collegiate career. He then made his way back to the same school where he won the Season 80 championship in the High School Boys’ division.
Though there were significant adjustments to be made, the former Gilas mentor gave Ildefonso credit for his initiative to prioritize the team more than anything else upon rejoining the Blue Eagles.
“The whole process with Dave has been much more of a delight and much easier than I anticipated it would be and he gets the entire credit for that,” Baldwin said. “He came in very humble and he didn’t have to. Dave has a big name in the game and performed very well at NU.
“He came in very humble, he came in with his unspecific goals and objectives to make sure that the efforts that he makes made the team better.”
The three-time UAAP champion coach is very much aware of Ildefonso’s capabilities after the Blue Eagles always had game plans for him whenever they faced the Bulldogs in previous seasons. Now together in Ateneo, Baldwin believes that the second-generation cager has made the right decision that will help him as his career progresses.
“I never had to redress that with Dave once so what can I say as a coach other than this is a young man who made a big decision in his life and he has made that decision work, nobody else,” he continued. “He’s made it work and I think he will continue to make it work. God willing that in the end, it is a good decision for him and his future.
“We certainly believe that it is but God willing it will be. I know that the work that he’s putting in, the caliber of a young man that he is, I don’t see any roadblocks for him.”
Ildefonso starred in their first game against UP as he notched 19 points, six rebounds, an assist, and a steal in 26 minutes of action. Baldwin was more than happy for his player’s performance and hopes that he gets to sustain it in their upcoming games moving forward.
“I think his performance today was a good start for him as a Blue Eagle and we hope that there’s many more like it.”
For his part, Ildefonso bared that spending time with Baldwin in Gilas significantly helped him in getting acclimated to the way things are being run in his system prior to the start of the UAAP season.
“I’m one of the fortunate players who were under Coach Tab in Gilas so ever since the pandemic started, players like RJ [Abarrientos], SJ [Belangel], Ange [Kouame] — we never really took that long of a break like the other players in the UAAP,” he claimed.
“We had our own bubbles, had our own games as well, and just being under Coach Tab during that duration of time really helped me understand his system much more. It’s a really great system to be in.”
After getting their first win of the season, Ildefonso and the rest of the Blue Eagles will be tested when they take on Far Eastern University at 1:00 PM on Tuesday at SM Mall of Asia Arena.
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