As I write this piece, the undefeated Ateneo Blue Eagles faces the surging University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons in the last game of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) eliminations.
Billed as the Battle of Katipunan 2.0, the contest is not really about a patch of Earth somewhere in between the hills of Loyola to the south of Katipunan Avenue and the mini rainforest that is UP Diliman toward the north.
It is a battle, or shall we say, a comparison of systems and styles, of ideologies and outlook.
Ateneo is the invincible, Grade A basketball team steeped in a way of play many call the Tab Baldwin system. It is a scientific, systematic, efficient system complemented by highly skilled, very disciplined, high-performing talents on its roster. Its game is nearly foolproof, and even when the team sometimes experiences turbulence, the vessel always rights itself, follows its projected path and arrives alive in the end.
UP is the idol still contemplating its feet of clay. Touted as a highly talented team stacked with star performers, it is on paper the team to beat. What it is still working on, however, is very basic: chemistry. The challenge is akin to getting new shoes to feel comfy, or breaking in a new car. But if all the components merge, click and deliver, this team would be scary indeed, as UP star player Kobe Paras said.
“We always come back and we always fight so I think that’s just how we are as a team. I just can’t wait for that day until we really click because that’s gonna be really scary,” Kobe said in a media interview.
Record-wise, Ateneo has owned UP since the second round of Season 72 in 2009. (In the first round, the lowly Maroons defeated and stunned an Ateneo team that had Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Ryan Buenafe, Chris Tiu, Nonoy Baclao and Jai Reyes. Ateneo would go on to win the title that year.) Since then, Battles of Katipunan have been mere skirmishes as UP rode out lackluster and dismal seasons. And then came Season 81.
That year, the Blue Eagles defeated the Fighting Maroons twice in the eliminations. It seemed expected. But UP made music with other teams, managing to book a seat in the Final Four and defeating twice-to-beat Adamson U in the semis. Still, when Ateneo faced UP in the Finals, UP looked like a surprise guest. The Eagles soared as per their nature, not even giving their Katipunan neighbors the opportunity to flex.
Still, the UAAP Finals strangers won the hearts of the crowd, well beyond the UAAP circle—for their fighting heart, for their bruised past, for their incredible journey that brought them that far. In short, the Fighting Maroons lost the championship, but they won more than that.
This year, in Season 82, the Blue Eagles and the Fighting Maroons are again avidly followed as the top and second seeds of the basketball tournament. The Eagles mastered the Maroons the first time they met on September 29, almost exactly to the day. But the Maroons, who have managed to hang on to second place all season long, are not quite the same team they were in September. This time around, they seem more cohesive, more fluid, tougher-minded and thinking as one.
The Blue Eagles still are the superior team, the Grade A of the league and the standard to measure one’s worth against. But unlike the last two times they met, in Game One of the Season 81 Finals and in the first round of Season 82, these Fighting Maroons seem better poised to give a good fight, take the Eagles out of the comfort of their aerie and take them to the ground.
It will be a game of contrasting styles: the disciplined, systematic and efficient Ateneo way versus the emotional, up and down game of UP capped by a cardiac finish. It will be interesting to observe the no-nonsense Ateneo machine take care of business with almost zero mistakes and cool expressions on the players’ faces. Compare that to the syncopated rhythm of the Fighting Maroons, their sometimes careless ways, and the choked up look on Jun Manzo’s face as he tries to devise new ways to turn the tide in UP’s favor. Think “near perfection” versus “very human.” That’s the underlying current of this Battle of Katipunan that has been responsible for sold-out tickets in venues where UP-AdMU games are played.
This is the new rivalry that has captured the imagination of basketball lovers of the present age. The result of the games today will determine whether University of Santo Tomas and Far Eastern University knock each other out to play twice-to-beat UP before the winner of that next encounter plays waiting Ateneo; or whether top seed Ateneo plays fourth seed UST and third place FEU faces second place UP in the next stage of the semifinals.
But by the time you read this, all of that will be moot and academic. A step ladder format or the usual one-versus-four, two-versus-three Final Four play will already be in place.
Whoever won between UP and Ateneo yesterday will not really indicate whether Coach Tab’s system is superior to the familial, Pinoy style of Coach Bo and his tribe. Or the other way around. What it will show is that beyond systems, styles and philosophies, there are more intangibles at play that will affect the final outcome of every encounter. Hope you enjoyed yesterday’s Katipunan revolution. Now on to the next mountain!