Before the UAAP Season 82 Men’s Basketball tournament even started, Mike Nieto made it known that Ateneo wouldn’t just keep their eyes on a three-peat, but also on the label as the ‘greatest team ever’.
Then on a fateful Wednesday evening, the Blue Eagles have staked their claim as a cut above the rest.
“Well siguro, we just exemplified to become the best versions of ourselves, every day — day in and day out,” Nieto asserted.
True enough, Nieto and the rest of the Blue Eagles lived up to their maximum potential as a unit under the tutelage of the cunning Tab Baldwin. And it’s hard to argue.
Why?
As Mike put it, “Of course, there’s a lot of negative comments towards that greatest team ever, ‘di ba? I have nothing to say about that. Sila na magsabi kung kami ba talaga ‘yung greatest team, ‘di ba?
“We just have the record to show it and we just have the three medals to prove it.”
Ateneo is the first team in the history of the league to complete a 16-game sweep. The blue and white also stretched its unbeaten streak to 26 matches, a testament to its vehement drive for excellence.
And as a punctuation mark to their statement campaign, the Blue Eagles struck gold en route to a championship hat trick.
One may wonder how they have remained a dominant force throughout the last three years. Nieto then insisted there’s one important ingredient to such a remarkable feat.
“We just worked hard, and good thing naman na kami ‘yung pinalad na manalo ng three-peat.”
