Basketball
Five things we learned after Ateneo’s round one defeat of La Salle
Kiefer Ravena, right, torched Simon Atkins in the first half of Ateneo's 81-72 victory over La Salle. InterAKTV.
The biggest collegiate rivalry in the country continued to spin its ornate wheels, as the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles faced the De La Salle Green Archers for the first of what is, at minimum, two head-to-head encounters of the UAAP Season 74 basketball tournament.
Defending three-time champions Ateneo won this one, 81-72, to vault to the top of the standings with a 2-0 record, while Final Four team La Salle inexplicably found itself looking up at the rest of the pack, crashing to 0-2, a place it hadn’t been since 2009, when it missed the post-season.
In recent years, the tenor of this rivalry has flipped. Since the last time La Salle lifted a championship trophy back in 2007, the infamous “two wins are greater than three” chapter of this conflict, the Eagles have won 8 of their last 9 encounters in the UAAP proper, not counting preseason tournament match-ups and exhibitions. It’s a statistic that gnaws at green shirts, especially as the streak coincides with Ateneo’s current dynastic reign. Here are five things we picked up from this game:
1. Kiefer Ravena is the real deal
The recruitment of blue-chipper Kiefer Ravena was a period of purgatory for Ateneo fans, as they helplessly waited to see if “The Phenom” would stay blue, or break their hearts a la BJ Manalo.
Ultimately, Ravena decided to stay, and visions of even more championship trophies began dancing throughout Ateneo nation. Thus, it surprised many to see the stone-cold shooter finish the Eagles’ season opener against the Adamson Falcons without a single point. In his 14 minute stint, the combo guard attempted just a single field goal, and finished with two rebounds, an assist and a turnover.
While many in the media panicked, and the other seven schools began talking themselves into labeling him a bust, Ateneo head coach Norman Black was unfazed. The taller Adamson shooting guards, Alex Nuyles and Janus Lozada, had made Ravena’s first game extremely difficult, smothering him on one end, and then posting him up on the other.
“Not every team has guards like that,” Black pointed out. In fact their next opponent, the Green Archers, did not have the same size in the backcourt. And thus came an opportunity for Kiefer to really strut his stuff.
By the end of the first half, Ravena had notched 22 points, a digit shy of the record set by UST’s Dylan Ababou back in 2009. He also added 4 rebounds, an assist and 3 swipes, while committing just a single turnover, propping Ateneo up with an 11-point halftime lead.
La Salle came out of the half looking to put the handcuffs on the Phenom, and they did limit his scoring, holding him to just two more points coming off free throws. Except Ravena wasn’t looking for his shot anymore, turning over the scoring to veterans Nico Salva and Kirk Long. Instead, Ravena pulled down six more rebounds, dished out another dime, and made two more swipes.
Ultimately, what we learned about Ravena is that he isn’t going to force things, especially in his rookie year, when he is surrounded by veterans who have won multiple collegiate titles. He’s more than willing to take a backseat, as seen in the Adamson game, but when given opportunities, he will take them. That’s a great attitude coming from the most desired recruit of the off-season, especially one who is going from superstar to supporting player.
2. LA Revilla is the real deal as well
When San Beda Red Cub LA Revilla enrolled with La Salle, he was looking to become the next JV Casio. In his first season, Revilla averaged 3.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists, splitting time with transferee Hyram Bagatsing at the point, though he is perhaps more known for making the finger-pistols gesture at FEU Tam Mac Baracael at the tail-end of a Final Four victory. Unfortunately, Revilla had to leave active duty with DLSU Team A after Season 71, due to a combination of diabetes and hyperthyroidism.
After waiting two seasons to return, Revilla finds himself thrust into the role of starting point guard, after Joel Tolentino transferred to College of Saint Benilde and Nico Elorde jumped sides to Ateneo. It speaks to the level of trust the team has in him. In the fact, on a squad that subs players in and out of the floor faster than you can say “press-break,” Revilla averages nearly 30 minutes, the most of any Green Archer.
Though we’re just two games into the season, Revilla’s numbers quickly have him looking like the best point guard in the league. He norms 20 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal, to just 2.5 turnovers in 28.5 minutes a game (Reigning Most Valuable Player RR Garcia of FEU, by contrast, averages 31.5 minutes, 20.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and a steal with the same turnover numbers).
How integral is Revilla to La Salle? He is the only player averaging double digits in scoring. He’s also fourth on the team in rebounding, despite being a guard, and first in assists.
Revilla creates an interesting “chicken or egg” argument when it comes to La Salle head coach Dindo Pumaren’s strategy. Can you point to Revilla and say that the extended minutes allow him to do amazing things? Or can you counter that Revilla is the only one deserving of extended minutes, precisely because he’s the only one who can produce like that?
Regardless, it’s fair to say that as Revilla goes, this team goes, but given his medical history, it might be wise to keep your fingers crossed if you’re a La Salle fan, in the hopes that he’ll be healthy the entire season.
3. Both teams have problems with their rotation
Dindo Pumaren was asked after beating Ateneo in the preseason if he was going to keep playing nearly his entire roster come UAAP time. Pumaren said that he needed to get everyone out on the floor during the off-season for morale purposes, and to see whether certain line-ups were favorable or not, but that come the regular season, he would have a rotation in place.
La Salle fans are wondering if coach Dindo Pumaren is playing too many players. InterAKTV.
Fast-forward to the middle of July, and the Archers are still trotting out almost everyone on their roster — 16th man Martin Reyes, who was supposedly voted onto the squad by players in reality TV-esque fashion, is the only Archer to have not seen playing time yet, while Yutien Andrada missed the ADMU game due to the lingering effects of a knee injury suffered versus FEU.
While it is true that the Archers still press like crazy, thus necessitating a shorter substitution pattern from the head coach, 10-12 players seems about right, while 15 seems excessive. On a team that’s as reliant on jump shots as the Archers, three-minute stints on the floor are hardly enough to develop a rhythm, perhaps explaining La Salle’s 31.9% field goal shooting against Ateneo and 29.9% versus FEU.
While La Salle looks at the number of people being fielded per game, Ateneo is looking at the numbers of those being fielded in reserve. After a season in which they averaged 29.94 bench points a game, the Eagles have collapsed in that category, getting just 10 points a game.
Part of the reason behind the enormous drop is the Ravena factor. Ravena was supposed to lead the reserves in their game versus Adamson, but had no points. Then when he was moved into the starting unit, no one really stepped up into the role to provide instant offense from bench.
That said, coach Black has often said that he likes to use his bench as a completely separate unit, which means there will be times when Ateneo will not have a single starter on the floor. Moving Ravena back to the bench, as his being starter is apparently dependent on match-ups, solves the scoring problem.
But there are still defensive issues that need to be addressed. It was a five of Frank Golla, Juami Tiongson, Bacon Austria, Justin Chua and Tonino Gonzaga that allowed DLSU to come back late in the third, causing Black to relent early and return his starting quintet a minute or so into the fourth quarter.
In both cases, talent is not an issue, as both teams feature some stacked line-ups, but managing player minutes is turning out to be problematic for both teams.
Ateneo has it easier in this regard, since the issue of not starting versus starting is relatively minor, as a 6th man could easily still get starter’s minutes and play with four other starters down the stretch. For La Salle though, cutting down on players fielded in means two or three guys will have to be content riding the bench, unless match-ups or fouls dictate otherwise.
4. Dindo Pumaren and his assistants are in hot water
The flip side of being in charge of a prestigious program is the need to constantly get results. You may have a ton of resources, tons of recruitment clout, and access to alumni willing to serve as assistant coaches, but you better come up with wins, or people are going to be sharpening their knives.
Such is the situation coach Dindo Pumaren finds himself in right now. It’s not good enough that the team overachieved last season and snuck into the Final Four, they need to look good right now, and that certainly doesn’t mean a 0-2 start. When Studio 23 cut to Franz Pumaren sitting on the La Salle side of the Araneta Coliseum, it reminded the rabid DLSU supporters that they still have this guy on payroll, and could easily make a switch.
Is it fair to coach Dindo? Perhaps not, but a lot of the pressing needs and deficiencies of past Archer teams have been addressed, which is why some in the media have La Salle as a Finals team, based on their roster.
Speedy guards who can press? Check. Go-to guy who can carry the team? LA Revilla. Big men to supplement their “security agency”? Got them. Great mix of veterans and young guys? They have one fifth year guard who was part of the 07′ title team (Simon Atkins), three seniors (Maui Villanueva, Jovet Mendoza, Joshua Webb), and all but four guys were a part of that Final Four team from last season. On paper, this squad should be rolling, but they aren’t, which is why these are tumultuous times in Taft.
So what are the nagging problems that need to be resolved? There’s the famous La Salle press, which has been negated by every team in the league, to the point where it has become a source of fast break points, rather than turnovers. Hiring Franz or even Derek Pumaren to take over probably won’t solve this problem though, unless they bring with them new press variations.
But a bigger issue, which is a problem that extends to the coaching staff, is the noticeable lack of improvement in players from year to year, particularly their big men. Mention “Tonichi Yturri,” big man coach of the Archers, to any La Salle fan, and be ready to receive a barrage of negatives. “Ferdinand,” who opted not to play his last season of eligibility, will likely get you the same reaction, and is a prime example of arrested development.
Even if you do not subscribe to the previous paragraph, it certainly seems like the La Salle staff does, as it’s been the veterans who have been getting the short end of the rotation stick.
Save for Atkins, who averages 21 minutes, veterans Marata (12.5 minutes, though he was injured in the first game), Webb (9.5 minutes), Villanueva (15 minutes) and Mendoza (10 minutes) are often glued to the bench.
As talented or potential-filled guys rookies like Ponso Gotladera and Dan Sara might be, many feel, and perhaps correctly, that their three or five minutes stints barely help the team, and may even cause harm (Sara in particular, got shredded by opposing point guards). Shouldn’t their minutes be given to the veterans instead who at least bring experience to the table?
And so going into Saturday’s match against the UP Fighting Maroons, there is a ton of pressure on this Archers team, and on the coaching staff. It’s highly unlikely that a mid-season firing is in the mix, even if they do fall to 0-3. Those don’t work out, as seen appropriately enough, in the UP debacle last season that got them a 0-14 record, their second in five years. That said, this has the possibility of becoming a make or break year for La Salle. Failure to make the Final Four might just mean that someone could get the axe.
5. Ateneans aren’t kidding when they say they sometimes play 5 vs. 8
From outrageous flops by the Archers, particularly Simon Atkins, inconsistent attitudes towards ticky-tack fouls, and my personal favorite, during a free throw late in the game, Blue Eagles clearly pointing out that a La Salle player had already entered the lane while standing their ground, but a double lane violation still being whistled, it is no wonder why fans are quick to jump to conspiracies of gambling syndicates running local basketball.
For the record, the odds I heard were Ateneo -8.5. Close, but no dice.
Adrian Dy writes about college basketball in his blog Chinoy Hoops Fan. Follow him on Twitter for more UAAP discussion.
