Spoiler Alert: If you have not watched “The Usual Suspects,” you will be spoiled.
By the way, Kevin Spacey is Keyser Soze. =P
For the third straight year, Ateneo is going to duke it out in the UAAP Finals. The Blue Eagles are the usual suspects and the cast that will go for the kill? Eric Salamat. Kirk Long. Ryan Buenafe. Nico Salva. Yup, it’s still the usual suspects.
This season, however, was a bit different for the Hail Mary squad as compared to their last two championship years. Ateneo lost three pivotal players who were the masterminds to last year’s championship – Rabeh Al Hussaini, Nonoy Baclao and Jai Reyes. The team faced more adversity as they fell from their 1st place perch as they lost more regular season games (4) as compared to the previous two years combined (2). It was a peculiar year as the Blue Eagles usually lost games that used to be their expertise – the close games. Since I started UAAP (2002), Ateneo was always known for its dramatic will to close out games. In the early 2000’s, we had Fonacier and Tenorio (with his patented step back three pointer) to deal the final blow in cardiac games. Then, we had the Chris Tiu era where he was able to knock arguably the most game-winning shots than any collegiate star. Last year, Ateneo had Jai Reyes to lead the team in clutch moments. This year? The Hail Mary squad lost four games in the dying minutes. Two of those came against FEU. The DLSU game featured the Blue Eagles crumbling after a nine-point lead late in the game.
Another major difference this year is the fact that Team Ateneo seems to have no identity when it comes to offense. It’s more of a running team this year but the Eagles still rely a lot on the slow-paced game. There is no more Rabeh that would be the first option. If you check the best player of Ateneo’s won games, you will find out a variety of heroes – Eric Salamat, Kirk Long, Eman Monfort, Ryan Buenafe, Justin Chua and Nico Salva. We are the usual suspects but we have the unusual tools.
Thus, I had some doubts going into the game against Adamson. The Soaring Falcons had the incredible motivation to beat Ateneo. After all, who would want to be beaten by a team for thirteen years? Tactically, Coach Austria knows how to push the right buttons. But, Coach Black – as I mentioned in my recent column – is currently the pound-for-pound king of tactics.
As much as I appreciate Norman Black on how he built a strong system and foundation for the Blue Eagles, I never got to see him massively deviate from the main strategy and devise a specialized tactic against an opponent. When he was battling ex-coach Franz Pumaren of La Salle, I was quite worried that Coack Black would be outwitted on the preparations department. It was Franz’s strength after all. Remember the 2>3 year? Ateneo had the slightly deeper lineup in paper but Franz was able to put La Salle in good position to win by tweaking their main strategy in order to shake off Ateneo. It worked then. Last Sunday, that’s what Black did. From the opening tip, it was evident (he started Monfort instead of Salamat). He played chess with Austria by substituting players after the latter did a player swap. Ateneo had a much smaller lineup and started rushing at every moment. This happened lots of times this year but this was the only game where I saw the Blue and White Team pulling it off consistently. Instead of going for inside shots, Ateneo broke the zone by the rainbow shots from Eman Monfort. Consequently, he also killed any early momentum that Adamson could have earned by sticking with Lester Alvarez. He wound up struggling for the rest of the game as he was dominated by the unheralded smallest guy in the floor (Monfort) on both offense and defense. And just like that, I knew that the Falcons were done even if Ateneo was coasting in the fourth quarter. Adamson was outcoached and psyched out. It was a mastery of preparations for Ateneo’s coach.
Suddenly, Ateneo is back in the Finals and as I mentioned awhile ago – we are the usual suspects. Just like Keyser Soze, the Hail Mary squad outwitted their foes. Just like Robert ‘Verbal’ Kint, Ateneo may have been playing limp or weak for most of the season. (Although I am quite sure that Ateneo’s talent is much inferior to FEU’s.) However, the Blue Eagles could turn from Kint to Keyser Soze when it is time to go for the kill. Just look at it: Ateneo has the identity, complacency and lack of go-to-guy. It’s weak in paper. Ateneo does not even have a player in the Mythical Team. Although no one is underestimating the Blue Eagles (as they were ranked #2 in the pre-season rankings), people could be led to the wrong direction so that when the Eagles go for the kill, it’s going to be Keyser Soze style. Just ask Adamson. They were prepared to play the way they did like the past two regular season games where they had close games. After a quarter ended, the Falcons did not know what hit them. They were suddenly facing a different Ateneo team.
We may have a weaker lineup this year, but with how this is playing out, Norman Black seems to be saving his trump cards for the last. FEU has the better talent on paper but Ateneo can beat them tactically (pretty much how Franz willed DLSU to beat Ateneo in the 2>3 Season). I am not sure what Coach Black is thinking right now, but I am positive that he is masterminding a good plan for the Eagles. Actually, he has been experimenting for this all season long. I should know because it got my head shaking when Buenafe was not fielded several times in endgame situations. Salamat was also missing at some times. Justin Chua missed a complete game. Nico de Chavez was suddenly fielded in a second round game. Head shakers but I trusted Coach Norman all the way (even if it meant losing a nine-point lead to La Salle). After all, we are the usual suspects.
If you continue to be the usual suspect on a crime over and over again and you still get away with it, you must be doing it very well.
Thus, I hope Coach Norman unleashes the Keyser Soze in the Finals. We really need it as we are facing arguably the strongest Finals opponent that we had in three years.
One Big Fight!
Sidenotes:
This year’s Finals is going to be a clash of the titans affair. No disrespect to DLSU and UE but they were clearly tagged as underdogs in 2008 and 2009 respectively. This year, there won’t be any underdog. FEU leads the league based on their win-loss record. They have the best starting lineup in the league and they have the League MVP. Ateneo, on the other hand, may have lost twice to FEU but is still a very potent squad. The Blue Eagles have the championship swagger and experience. They have the better coach and arguably the deepest ten-man rotation in the league.
I suddenly realized that Justin Chua plays the forward/center position so I had thoughts that he could have been the player in the Mythical Team instead of Ken Acibar. Chua had better per-game block and turnover averages than Acibar. UAAP should actually be awarding players on winning teams than on losing teams. The current system that heavily relies on stats is flawed because it rewards teams that employ a run-and-gun system and that over-utilize their star players. It would be a shame if we end up with Mythical Team that is filled with players from losing teams. W’s should be in the statistical points at the very least. But after checking it out, I found out that the next forward that has the best stats was FEU’s Reil Cervantes. Thus, my statement that the Mythical Team outcome this year is just right. No Blue Eagle deserves a spot in the Mythical Team.
This will probably be my last blog entry for the week (unless I get the motivation to write something about the UAAP Finals and/or Fall TV this weekend). This is the only free time I have for the rest of the week, so I am glad that I am able to finish this in an hour’s time. Forgive me for grammatical errors as I do not have time to review the whole writeup (at least I get to post a blog entry that won’t go obsolete after two hours this time).
I forgot a lot of characters in the likeable/unlikeable lists. Dr. Faye Miller (Mad Men) should definitely be in the Likeable List while Stan (Mad Men) and Sasha Grey (Entourage) should be in the Unlikeable List.
I can’t wait for the weekend to come. Too many shows to watch: “Modern Family,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “The Office,” “Glee” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” I just watched “Mad Men” awhile ago (there goes the funny moments with Ms. Blankenship!) and I will probably watch “HIMYM” within the week to avoid spoilers from my friends. If the opening week for network TV is legend – wait for it – dary and if I get the sufficient inspiration/motivation, I will probably blog about it this weekend.
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