UAAP 72 Champions: Ateneo Blue Eagles

The UAAP 72 Snr Men’s Basketball Season heads to the final match between Ateneo Blue Eagles and UE REd Warriors. Ateneo win Game 3 and are UAAP 72 Champions!

The Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles finally achieved something, that they haven’t achieved about a generation back, during the years of Jai Reyes’ uncle who was part of the back-to-back championship batch of Ateneans dating back 1987-1988, coincidentally a year before the final four system was implemented to the UAAP.

This means, that the defending champions, Ateneo de Manila have literally destroyed the University of the East Red Warriors in their meeting last October 8, 2009 at the Araneta Coliseum, facilitating much pride and reasons to celebrate for Ateneans and Ateneo supporters all over the Philippines, and eventually around the world. The invincible quintet from Katipunan failed to accomplish something many people have sought for since last year prior their shortcoming against the Far Eastern University in their first round meeting in UAAP 71 when they collected their only defeat back then. The same sort of jinx happened this year, with the Blue Eagles coming short in the first part of the Battle of Katipunan against the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons by a ten point deficit, which was their only defeat in the season until Sunday, October 4, 2009.

The Blue Eagles who were predicted to be a much better team (by Head Coach Norman Black) seemed unstoppable, heading into the finals and doing first blood against the challengers UE Red Warriors. But right a game after they’ve silenced the Red Warriors and cut their 8 game winning streak, the UE quintet commenced payback time and left nothing but dust behind as they crushed the Blue Eagles by 20 big points in the second game of the UAAP 72 finals, tilting all the momentum to their side.

But it wasn’t enough, the Blue Eagles eventually learned from their mistakes from that particular game that they have lost against the University of the East, while a handful of Eagles may have learned their lesson from 2006 where they have been in an identical situation prior the start of this game, with a player out due to ACL from UST, and no La Salle in the final four, and having the series tied at a win by both teams (Ateneo striking first blood as well), AND most important to note was UST’s head coach who was in his rookie year too, just like Lawrence.

Eventually, the Blue Eagles have overcome the challenge and lived for another day! As they’ve literally exorcised the ghost that haunted them from the dark 2006 season when the championship was just a few touches away.

With that said, I would like to congratulate the whole Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles team, from the staff to the players for a job well done. It has been an awesome season, and Ateneo has proven very well that they can play even without Chris Tiu at their best, and eventually better than the TIU years. But the seasons ahead look dark and the future unpredictable. No more Al-Hussaini, Baclao and Reyes. Who will step up? The idea of a 3-peat is highly improbable at this point, but it is not impossible. There are still a lot of potential players for Ateneo awaiting for their time to shine, and UAAP 73 might just be the best time to do so.

Ateneo has now won back-to-back; not only in the Seniors Division but as well as in the Juniors Men’s Basketball Division as the Ateneo Blue Eaglets took on the De La Salle Junior Archers in their do-or-die match prior the Senior Game 3.

ONE BIG FIGHT!

The scores:

Ateneo 71 – Al Hussaini 21, Reyes 16, Buenafe 10, Baclao 8, Salamat 7, Long 7, Salva 2, Monfort 0, Austria 0.

UE 58 – Lee 21, Espiritu 16, Acuña 8, Lingganay 5, Zamar 3, Llagas 3, Flores 2, Reyes 0, Duran 0, Ayala 0.

Quarter scores: 21-17, 40-25, 57-41, 71-58.

AdMU Blue Eagles vs UE Red Warriors Game 3 UAAP Finals

The third game is knocking on the door, Ateneo stroke first by snatching game 1 away from the Red Warriors, but the Warriors fought back and took game 2 by a twenty point difference to force a rubber match with the defending champions to be held at the Big Dome this coming Thursday, October 8, 2009.

The defending champions didn’t look like champions anymore in the second game, as they’ve tasted the first beating at the hands of the Red Warriors since 6 prior appearances, including the spectacular close fight in the second round of UAAP 71 last year when Buenafe and Tiu stepped up big time from beyond the arc in the final minutes. Ateneo has clutch players, they have the shooters, they’ve got the skills and the potential, but none of the triples went into the hoop for the Blue Eagles, from Monfort, to Austria, Buenafe to Reyes, not even a single one stepped up in crunch time. It’s a vital arsenal to Ateneo, especially at times like these where they face a UE quintet that solemnly depends on their zone defense.

Let’s say, it was just not Ateneo’s day, but the shooting was so terrible that I find it hard to believe, that Monfort and co kept shooting from rainbow distance and hitting everything, but not the hole of the ring. UE played spectacular as well, but there was indeed a bit luck involved in this one, who would’ve thought that Reyes’ and Monfort’s shots just won’t fall that day, they’ve been wide open several times, but still no good.

Ateneo’s bread and butter in this UAAP 72 finals is truly the shooting from their guards from beyond the arc, look back at the 5/6 performance of Jai Reyes in Game 1! They can’t afford to continue miss in the upcoming sudden death match, and the defending champs need to find a solution out of this if they still want to dream about a back to back championship since the implementation of the final four format in 1988.

You can name them all, all the big time shooters for Ateneo, especially Reyes, but that’s just not enough, they have a bench full of potential scores who may break out just anytime from anywhere on the court. Remember the breakout game of Monfort and Long who spelled the difference with their accuracy both against the Growling Tigers in Eliminations? Can you still recall the smooth release of the High School Hot Shot Juami Tiongson at garbage time when he gets into the game?

Well, he’s the player I’m looking forward to. I can’t deny the fact that the player I like most on the court for the Ateneans is Ryan Buenafe, but it’s clear to see that this is just not his year. It would be great to have a Rookie step up big time in situations like this, and I think that just like Chris Tiu’s lethal range, Tiongson may be just of equal lethality and spell the difference between the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the University of the East Red Warriors.

They can’t just rely on Rabeh Al-Hussaini, and they just can’t rely on the players they usually get on the court. Look at UE, they’ve dived deep into their bench and found players with great potential that stepped up as well in the second match, and Ateneo might just want to take a deeper look at their bench as well. Let’s see what Juami Tiongson can do for the Eagles and if Coach Norman Black makes use of his awesome potential.

What do you think about the idea of having this Ateneo Blue Eaglet hotshot take the spotlight for a couple of moments in game 3? Well, we’ll find out more about it this coming Thursday when Ateneo faces all odds and goes all out against the University of the East in Game 3 – Sudden Death – Finals for the UAAP 72 Men’s Basketball Championship.

Rivalry Ceases during Time of Calamity

Even the fiercest rivalries rest (for a while). Tropical Storm Ondoy forces Ateneans, La Sallite and other Universities, to unite for a cause to help flash flood victims in Manila.

One of the most criticized writers on Inbound Pass (spec. by Ateneans) sends a message to all Collegiate Basketball Enthusiasts in the Philippines. First, the first game of the UAAP finals has been postponed and now, we can witness rival schools unite for one cause, and that is to help the people in need, the unfortunate victims of the tropical storm Ondoy. The said typhoon might not be the strongest, but it marks as one of the most disastrous ones to have ever crossed Philippine borders, leaving over 300,000 people homeless with literally nothing but themselves to live on with.

Whole villages stood under water on the 26th September when Ondoy marched over Luzon, flash floods rising as high as the first floor of a ordinary building emerges in a matter of minutes. There was literally no escape for the Filipinos, but the rooftop of their houses, but even atop of these, there’s no assurance of their safety. You can check YouTube for the various videos showcasing the tragedy that Filipinos are undergoing right here, right now.

Sir Tony wrote a article urging readers and enthusiasts of the sport to settle down for a while, asking them to forget about rivalry, reminding them about certain things that are far more important than ball games, and it looks like that everyone has followed. Ateneo, La Salle, UST, all major, if not all schools gather around to help out the victims by the means of providing clothing, shelter, food and rescue operations for the missing people.

It’s a refreshing experience for me personally, to think that there’s no end in sight between the warfare of Ateneo and La Salle in various sports and educational fields. I was proven wrong, and I stand corrected with my thought. Could you believe it, two of the most fierced rivalries on earth agree on one thing, one common good, helping the needy.

With that said, I would like to inform all of you that the ball game between the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the UE Red Warriors has been postponed to the first of October, 2009.

La Salle unlikely beating UST Growing Tigers

UAAP 72 action continues at the big dome this September 3, 2009! The UE Red Warriors solidified their final four bid after succeeding the UP Fighting Maroons in a tight game with a nine point advantage. Even if the first three slots for the final four bid are taken already, the last couple of game days ain’t be boring, it gets even more exciting, and look how far it gets!

De La Salle upset the Santo Tomas

We can really talk about an upset this time around, La Salle was already crushed out for a final four bid, but there’s still this little chance, this little hope left that they can make it after winning over Dylan’s Growling Tiger team by a four point advantage courtesy of Mangahas who nailed a crucial triple down the stretch to put this game away.

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Ateneo claims twice to beat advantage

The Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles bypassed an extremely competitive Adamson University Falcons quintet to claim their eleventh (11th) win of the season and make sure of a twice to beat advantage coming into the final four.

Ateneo, with an emphatic 11-1 standing is looking ahead for the last two outings that are going to be played against the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons and the Far Eastern University Tamaraws respectively.

The Blue Eagles were surely not on tip top form when they entered this ball game, and an even greater disappointment was Ryan Buenafe who almost committed more turnovers than points; he was surely one big player that was expected to step up after his awakening during their last assignment which was against the National University Bulldogs.

It was Falcons all the way, but Ateneo showed off “once again” their championship mettle and composure over the younger an inexperienced Adamson University to claim this victory which was not as close as their latter assignment, when Ateneo had more control over the game.

Ateneo is looking to stay atop of every other team of the league, to either have the Growling Tigers or La Sale (if, there’s any hope or chance) as their opponent in the final four. The UE Red Warriors are just too hot right now to face, especially with a win against the Green Archers and the upset victory over the hosts FEU.

Kirk Long carries Ateneo over Santo Tomas

He did it during his stellar year with a fade way in the face of Jervy Cruz, and he does it again, but this time, in style. Kirk Long bags 21 points to carry Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles on his shoulders to victory against the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers.

The first game of the Sunday Showdown this August 23, 2009 at the Araneta Coliseum was owned by the defending champions from Katipunan once again, the UAAP 71 Champions showed their mettle on court even without the full potential of reigning MVP Rabeh Al-Hussaini who has seen most action from the sideline on the bench.

It’s the question to ask where Ateneo would have been in this match without the presence of Kirk Long who knocked 5-6 triples to help the Blue Eagles stay on top in this match. Long was all over the place and shot the most unbelievable baskets, noteworthy the turning point from my perspective; the triple with six on the clock that more or less six feet away from the rainbow line.

This victory for the defending UAAP champions marks a 6-0 win/loss ratio for the Jesuits, while La Salle at the other end, as like we’ve mentioned is still struggling, especially after the defeat against the University of the Philippines. Surely the present La Salle Squad is not the strongest line-up you have seen, but don’t count them out, especially with Franz Pumaren heading them, for over a decade of success.

Ateneo therefore remains atop of the standings with a 9-1 win/loss ratio with the only defeat going to the UP Fighting Maroons on their July 26 outing. FEU is closely behind Ateneo and looking to rejoin them on top of the standings if ever they can defeat the University of the East Fighting Maroons as the game is right now still going on.

The Blue Eagles still have four assignments left, this includes matches against the National University, the Adamson University and then the University of the Philippines with a final clash against the Far Eastern University to close out the eliminations of this years UAAP season 72.

Info Tech or shift?

No excuses really but Mathematics hasn’t been atop my favorite subjects way back in High School, but during the Elementary years, looks like I am just not able to do anything about it but be stunned how the alpha numerical and roman numerical symbols run through my paper and enter my mind through the left ear and swiftly exit through the right, it was a human error I committed before during my Ateneo Freshman years when I refused to listen to our Mathematics Teacher and decided not to enhance my wisdom in Mathematics at the opportunity to have a remedial class with one of the Math Wizards at the High School Campus, truly it has been due to my own fault but even if I’d try now, I still won’t get that touch in Mathematics that’ll make me confident to say that I can make it.

I haven’t been the most interested guy in class due to my absences and they make me fall out of place -as I write-, the feeling of not belonging to the bigger crowd is over shadowing my low self-esteem that is currently flushing down an all time low, problems in the family have caused issues, my health have caused issues and now even my sideline on the internet is showing signs of dissatisfaction with the course that I have taken.

Probably, I did not decide that well which course I should take on and which would suit me the best, but I have no idea right now how to get myself out of the hole that I have lead myself straight into upon re-entering the Ateneo de Davao. I had this strong feeling that this move is yet the best thing that ever happened to me but I slowly have this awful believe of being corrected and leaded to a dead end where there ain’t be any turning back at this point.

Surely, I’m aware of the 36 thousand pesos tuition that my parents are wrapping together to have me educated at the Ateneo, but the present Georg Kevin Paquet that most of you believe of knowing – being this pretty incredible blogging sensation and SEO Whiz – ain’t be that awesome in real life as this post can tell.

Some have suggested that I should have picked Journalism instead of Information Technology and instead should have evening classes at the Holy Cross of Davao for that course to have myself paying full attention to my online responsibilities during day time and having enough time preparing myself for the classes that will follow later on the day, with that I would avoid the sleepy look that I have been carrying around for months no with no real time to have some rest or have some good time with myself, well, that’s if you’d exclude the mini trip I had to Manila’s NAIA that led me nowhere but home after 5 hours of frustration at the International Airport due to some financial reasons.

I guess I’m talking too much again, like a FRIEND would remind me about, but this is what I love to do, to talk, to share and express myself via any of the blogs as my medium of communication with the world. And before I wrap it up, I’m wondering what you think about this issue that I’m having? Should I have picked Journalism instead? Should I continue my weary stay at the Ateneo and wait until I can enroll for Journalism or a immediate stoppage -therefore waste of 36K- at the Ateneo help out to follow up my work to aid me in paying my tuition at the next school I’ll be attending -because I’m very sure that there are some older people (talking about my father and my mother) would not agree to pay the money needed to become a Journalist.

CHED postpones Tertiary/College opening of Classes

As formerly announced by my school’s official website, the Ateneo de Davao’s Www.Addu.Edu.Ph, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) announced that all public and private schools and universities who run Colleges and graduate schools should have their classes postponed to June 15, 2009 instead of having them started today, the 8th of June, 2009.

The Ateneo campuses all over the Philippines are just a few of the schools to mention that diligently followed the advice per CHED to have the starting of classes at the Tertiary/College level postponed for one week, including the University of the Philippines which has a neighboring campus at the DLSU that has reported and confirmed one or more Swine Flu cases.

Wondering Universities and Colleges Nationwide is, why the whole Philippines or let’s say the whole College and Graduate Schools has to have their classes delayed for an week and the reasons as stated on a letter by CHED points out the following reasons, but not in exact words.

First and foremost the outbreak of Swine Flu (which is mainly going on in Manila and other regions including Zamboanga City who have reported two cases) by which the Commission on Higher Education would like to ensure the constantly incoming International Students to be given ample time to self-quarantine themselves for a week since majority of these international students are coming in from Swine Flu infected countries.

The second reason pointed out by the CHED is due to the bad weather locations around Luzon and Visayas are experiencing which makes it unconducive but for teaching personnel and students to learn and hard for students at remote places to proceed to school. While lastly, the third reason for the delay of classes from June 8 to June 15, 2009 was..

To give parents ample time to seek for additional financial resources to be able to send their children back to school for this school year 2009-2010 which has been a difficult task for our less fortunate brothers and sister that are dominantly affected by this Global Crisis going on as we speak.

I personally dislike the fact that classes have been postponed nationwide including cities that are still swine flu free this moment I am writing this article. I was pretty much excited this morning to start my college life at the Ateneo with a big smile on my face before people on plurk have confirmed the postponing of classes to next week. Meaning that I’ll be celebrating my birthday at home :p

AFYOP 2009

You’ve known about it before, that I’m a Ateneo de Davao Student again. I took the examinations and did everything needed to do to be part of this instuition that I have kept hanging once back during my secondary education years. But heck, have things changed. Ateneo isn’t the same Ateneo anymore. It has excelled from the excellence that I have witnessed first hand during my High School stay at the Matina Campus of Ateneo de Davao.

Ateneo First Year Orientation Program Day 01 – June 02,

2009

The first day of the Orientation Program known as the Ateneo First Year Orientation Program or AFYOP was the most hassle one, I had difficulty adjusting to the new time schedule when to sleep and went to wake up and arrived late at the Ateneo by around ten minutes and that, even with riding a Taxi. Upon arrival at the gates of the Jacinto Campus of the said academe, I went straight to the covered court where I have seen not just one, two, three but a dozen and more fellow Philippine Women’s College of Davao batchmates of mine who are part of the School of Arts and Sciences, I went like, WOW, there are a lot of Philwomenians who want to show off their PWCian Culture among the Jesuits!

The whole program started with a Mass, just like everything starts with a traditional prayer or with a mass like in our case. The host of the mass was the University President who has warmly welcomed each and everyone to Ateneo and left us some words to think and ponder our thoughts on during our stay. We should great one another, -the next person close to us- said a random voice and the first classmate of mine every to approach me goes by the name Judy who just did that, “Hi.” with a murmuring response from yours truly. After the mass was celebrated and the crowded venue of S.A.S freshmen was crowded, we headed to our classrooms, ours was located at the 5th floor -so says the elevator- while at the covered court it was said that z5 will take up a room on the 4th level of the main building facing corner Roxas and Claveria. Our room was located on the C.M Recto side of things facing the Metro whatever you call that triangle.

We had an activity which was named the Human Bingo, where we had to have our papers signed by respective classmates of ours whose personality and other information suits best to what is being asked for, there’s been only one person in the whole room running with glasses and only one female lady who came from Ilocos, it was tough to approach our fellow classmates at first but once somebody has started, everyone has followed and of course, three of us finished ahead of the crowd and claimed some goodies that have been distributed today. He had other activities too, but the next most significant one for the morning session of that 2nd of July Orientation Program was when we were told to write our name, nickname or whatever calling on a piece of paper and add appropriate adjectives that describe us and our personality starting with each letter of our name, and I ended up with the following.
K ind
E ntertaining
V ersatile
S imple
Personality of which I have emphasized my flexible, or as listed above Versatile asset the most. Accompanying me from the PWC of Davao were Pamela Pascual and Rudolf Matalam of which the latter was my classmate during my Junior Years at the PWC. The girl next to my back was the one I have talked with instead asking her what from the letters of her name she’d emphasize the most and ended up saying the word Simple. And her nick by the way was Sang. The person to her right goes by the nickname Din -which is unfairly short :p- who emphasized on the word diligent while the other girl to Din’s right going by the nick Teza -who was the Senior Classmate of the former girl I mentioned above at the Holy Cross- emphasized at I don’t know what letter that was. haha.

It was just the start of the day, the start of a bond that I and my classmates gonna have for the whole semester ahead and already now, I’ve been able to identify the funny ones and entertaining classmates like one who goes by the name of Neil, who frequently wonders why everyone is laughing at almost anything he does. We sang a song, we ha a little dance, and that was it for the day or maybe not? But before I head to the following day let me rewind back to what happened during the Lunch.

At lunch time, I was accompanied by the three girls Din, Isang and Teza along with their respective friends to lure some food down our mouth, at the canteen I met fellow Student Blogger Patrik from the Bunsoi Magazine -who I believe has quiet an issue right now-. He was kind of mysteriously laughing about me bragging around with my WordPress shirt that day, emphasizing that there aren’t many bloggers out there in the campus who might come to recognize it, but, so what?

I went to the Gazeebo where I wasn’t alone but accompanied with other mates of mine to have a few moments checking out my Plurk account and other online chores I’m frequently taking care of. And then we went up for the sing and dance practices and activities of ours. The day seemed a bit long and endless, and our Ate whose name I forgot who was accompanied by the cousin of my fellow blogger Vincent who goes by the name Ralph had two games in mind which appeared to be funny at first but ended up into another boring streak when no one really outed of the mini game.

We had a small tour around the campus and it was like a suicide attempt for me roaming around the campus with my heavy baggage and half empty stomach but I survived it, somehow. And that was how the first day has ended.

Ateneo First Year Orientation Program Day 02 – June 03, 2009

The second day was the most entertaining one, everyone was still a bit shy on the former date but it was today when most likely everyone was up for the hype and there are truly a few things that I’ll hardly forget as one of the momentous first moments at Ateneo de Davao and before I’ll forget about the funniest part…

Tower Building out of Straw

Before we headed down stairs from the seventh floor -we were relocated to a new classroom because of Airconditioin Malfunction-, he had a little group/team activity and contest. He had to create a tower out of straw and base it on the criteria: Most stable, best design and tallest and guess what, we went all the way to grab only one of the factors and that was the height.

With the accompaniment of a fellow blogger, Ralph of wapolz.blogspot.com we went on with the tedious task and ended up with our tower being blown away by the first attempt to knock it down with a strong wind push coming from a card board. And there it goes, our tower is down the third to be tried and tested, the tallest yet worst when it comes to durability. The last one stood tall and proud and looked nice, but hey, that wasn’t really the name of the game, democracy has messed up a bit about the winner!

The most messy looking tower created by our joker in class and his groupmates who have not really contributed that much was tested by the leader of another tower group and it stood strong, whilst the said joker in class attempted to knock the other tower down and still stood strong. We had three towers up and it was a close draw wherein the favorite was clear to see -or maybe not-

The jury said that it was up to us now to pick a winner and to clap our hands for the one we liked the most. The first one on the role was the most messy one and our group and members of other groups showed their support by clapping for it while none has clapped for the latter two meaning that the messy one has succeeded and won, and I bet the judge was a bit amazed by the despicable result :p

We had a little cheering practice for our one and only cheer that we’d shout during the program that was going to be held at the court at 3PM today, the cheer was courtesy of Bea I don’t know her family name and it goes like “Tik a tik tik a tik tik a tik boo, better watch out ’cause z5 is coming through”. Well, it sounded a bit nasty during practice but it become worse at the actual moment we had to presented it to our fellow batch mates at the program proper.

I could talk about so many beautiful things that have happened to me these past 48 hours but time and my patience won’t allow me to. I was indeed happy and indeed feel like I finally have this sense of belongingness to my class and most especially to the Ateneo community. I would like to thank everyone from my classmates down to our Ate and Kuya who took care of us these 2 days of Orientation and simply everyone else who works behind the scene, the much speculated famous O.S.A head Sir Ricky and simply everyone who has warmly welcomed us to the elites, the Ateneo de Davao University.

FYI: Pictures can be seen at the bottom of this post, click them to view in original size, leave comments if you feel to do so, don’t be shy, I love comments even negative feedback as long as you don’t hit me back personally without having a blog of your own that I might laugh back at

Personal Blog: Passed the ACAT

I am proud to say that I have passed the ACAT examination at the Ateneo de Davao University, College for my BS in Information Technology, though, I’m a probationary student at Ateneo for Mathematics in the first semester. You can read more on my Personal Blog by clicking on the title.

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