When outsiders come in
ATENEO’s recent victory in the UAAP Men’s basketball tournament remains the hottest clubhouse talk.
If you say clubhouse, that refers to the restaurant/bar of every golf course.
But it is not only there where animated conversation about Ateneo’s classic conquest of La Salle is happening, even this very minute.
The topic is all over, days after the fact: at unisex beauty saloons, wet markets, barber shops, public parks, beerhouses.
And you know what?
Topics are not only about the players of Ateneo and La Salle, and about how offensive/ defensive executions from both sides were played in the Game 3 decider. OK, include the coaching styles of Ateneo’s Tab Baldwin and La Salle’s Aldin Ayo getting dissected, too.
Officiating isn’t excluded, of course.
Weren’t three referees suspended after they botched the La Salle-Adamson semifinal game?
Adamson criticized coaching after losing a closely-contested game it had led for most of the way. The loss ousted Adamson.
One observer said: “Andy (Jao) used to talk to the refs at halftime and after the game. Before every game, he warns them hard.”
Andy used to be UAAP commissioner.
“Experienced kasi si Andy,” my buddy said. “I don’t know if Rebo [Saguisag, current UAAP commissioner], knows about officiating well. Officiating has been a problem for the longest time.”
On Baldwin, Ateneo’s American coach, this:
“Al, MVP [Manny V. Pangilinan] got Tab to coach the RP Team for three years,” my buddy texted me. “After the World Cup in Spain, MVP and his staff noticed that Tab’s style is not suited to RP Team play since it is not basically a star-oriented pattern. He failed due to an RP Team filled with superstars. So, Tab was moved to TNT. Again, same problem. His stars could not, would not, follow his system. Finally, when Perasol’s [Bo, former Ateneo coach] contract expired, MVP made Tab Ateneo coach. MVP brought Tab’s family here. Tab’s son is now enrolled at Ateneo. To his and MVP’s delight, Tab would soon find the chemistry with the boys at Ateneo perfect for his system. The rest is history.”
His conclusion: “With Tab’s system, God could not have written a better script.”
Outsiders can be amazing analysts, if not also the keenest of observers.