2008 YEAR ENDER

2008 is a year that is hard to forget to me. So many events and so many great things to remember that I think a year ender would be good enough to summarize the year.

MHEL'S STORY OF THE YEAR

Ateneo in a Basketball Grandslam. The only thing that can beat what the Ateneo has achieved this year is for them to do it again next year. It is the year when the Ateneo Basketball program of Coach Norman black finally came to play. TEAM Ateneo not only captured the Senior’s and Junior’s Title , they added the prestigious SBP title and National SBP Title as well.

ATENEO wins UAAP Senior’s Basketball Title

I remember Chris Tiu saying during the team launch that their team is ready and he ranks themselves as number 1 in the UAAP. Well talk about being humble, there was nothing wrong with what he said and if you look at it he was correct after all. This team has learned from their previous mistakes the past two seasons as Chris and Jai ably complemented the break out season of UAAP MVP Rabah Al-Husaini. The Blue Eagles were a sight to behold as their

FULL STORY of Game 2: http://mhelgarrido.blogspot.com/2008/09/ateneo-wins-4th-uaap-title.html

ATENEO wins UAAP Junior’s Basketball Title

The only thing that made the win anticlimactic was that they did not win it against the defending champs DLS-Z. But like what they say, a win is a win no matter who you win it against. This team also learned from their sorry finals loss last year as Seniors Juami Tiongson, JV Dumrique and Ivan Enriquez took turns in leading their team to victory. This is the first double championship since 1976!

Full Story of Game 2: http://mhelgarrido.blogspot.com/2008/09/blue-eaglets-regain-juniors-title.html

ATENEO wins Small Basketeers of the Philippines Title

A day after winning the UAAP Jrs. Title, the young eaglets fought with their hearts as the taller Xavierians and host school, came back from a 14 point deficit but ran out of steam. This team had a good blend of players who will hopefully make a mark with Team Ateneo in the future.

http://mhelgarrido.blogspot.com/2008/10/ateneo-gs-bring-home-sbp-title.html

ATENEO wins SBP National Title

Mozzy Ravena, the mother of Thirdy Ravena said that the Ateneo SBP team will have a hard time repeating as champions since the team is so small. When the Nationals went underway in Iloilo they were in for a surprise as the Ateneo de Davao team paraded a team with one player standing 5’10 and two others standing 5’8. Total team aeffort carried the Manila team as they captured their second SBP National Title.

Full Story : http://mhelgarrido.blogspot.com/2008/11/admu-wins-back-to-back-national-sbp.html

LET DOWN OF THE YEAR:

These three Blogs constitute the biggest letdown or news that I got this year.

The Olympians place second, crash during PCCL Finals

After beating the mighty San Sebastian College Cavite Baycats in game 1 of the NAASCU Championship with three significant players not playing, everyone thought that the Olympians will win back to back titles and make it back to the Philippine Collegiate Championships where they gained notoriety last year. Unfortunately for the Olympians, luck run out on them as they got blown away in Game 2 and missed 23 free throws in Game 3. That gave the Baycats the title. In the wildcard phase the Olympians lost twice by two points and bombed out of the PCCL. Hope that they recover their bearings by the 9^th NAASCU Season. Story of Game 3 : http://mhelgarrido.blogspot.com/2008/10/baycats-new-naascu-champs.html

Ateneo vs DLSU PBA Challenge

Well, it was just like seeing basketball players just playing and not thinking of their school colors. The teams were composed mainly of the 2001 DLSU Champion team and the 2002 Ateneo Champion team. Watching this game was a mistake. Fullstory: http://mhelgarrido.blogspot.com/2008/03/ateneo-vs-la-salle-in-pba.

Lady Eagles bomb out as Coach John goes out

Let us remember where we were before and where we started. This is what Coach John Flores would always tell his players as the Lady Eagles he once coached started from the bottom of the UAAP Women’s basketball tournament and methodically made their way up the ladder. The result was two final fours, one finals loss and two UAAP titles. Not bad since the Seniors only had three titles. After his success the Ateneo management through the Lady Eagles sacked their coach. The result was a disastrous as the Lady Eagles bombed out of the final four after the incident. Side Story from Rick Olivares: http://bleachersbrew.blogspot.com/2008/01/coach-takes-flight.html

Lady Eagles bow to Lady Falcons

The Lady Eagles regroup hug

It's going to be a long season for the Ateneo Lady Eagles as the rookie laden Team from Katipunan lost their third straight game at the hands of 2004 Champion Adamson Lady Falcons 70-45. The Lady Falcon’s full court press created lots of opportunities for them as the Lady Eagles piled up so many turnovers as if they were points. The defending champions are now back to the drawing board as they open the season with three consecutive losses with the other two losses coming from the other contenders UST and FEU. Treena Limgenco had a hard time scoring since she was shackled by the Adamson defense, Mariana Lopa had her moments but was barely a factor, Hila Indigne’s had a hard time fighting off bigger opponents, Rona Co was swamped everytime she got the ball and Anne Gomez was just cuteness personified on court. There were also so many free throw misses and the Lady Eagles always had a hand in their face everytime they took a shot.

Treena signals a four

Hope springs eternal for the Lady Eagles and we believe that the team has a lot of growing up to do. Remember the veterans that are not with the team anymore - UAAP MVP Cassie Tioseco, Mythical Five Selectees AJ Barracoso and at Quimpo, hard nosed Guard-Forward Cheryl Ngo, Rookie sensations Crystal Ballentyne and Sarah Mercado which all sums up to the entire first five of the champion team last year. That is why the rookies this year will have to grow up early for the Lady Eagles to even have a decent finish. Here are some tidbits on what I witnessed on the first Lady Eagles game shit year.

The Belgian Waffle Wobbles

Karen Columna – Her middle name is Scoring Machine. She will most probably be our primary scorer come the second half of the season and in the next few years. Has good basketball sense, shooting range and confidence in her shot.

TD Estrada – As seen in the game she knocked out two three pointers but had a hard time driving to the lane. If she could be set up nicely I believe she will complement Treena and Karen’s offense when they are defended well.

Win Trinidad – She is Kat Quimpo reborn. For someone small, I got to commend this girl for being brave enough to take the charge twice against the big centers of Adamson. That means she will not back down from anything. Her ball handling skills will definitely help us break all types of press thrown at us.

Treena in a bind

Ish Tiu – Is agile for a big girl, has a good nose for the ball and is a sound defender. I hope she drives more to the basket to create opportunities for him and to the rest of her team mates.

Sam Ong – She is shifty guard that plays good defense and hope she improves her free throw shooting though. Inthink she needs to bulk up so that she won’t be thrown away if bumped by bigger guards.

Corrine Javier – She will need a lot of growing up since she will be banging bodies with bigger and wider opponents down under. She needs to establish a low post game and be steady on the box out.

I'd rather have them in Lady Eagles uniforms
than watching on the stands

Considering that the team is rookie laden which had lots of turnovers, they actually knew how to break the press of Adamson. The Lady Falcons type of harassing defense did wonders to them as ball taps and loose balls were created because of that proactive style of defending the Lady Eagles. Give these kids more time to learn from these mistakes and hopefully next year (I hope next round) they can give these teams a run for their money. In the meantime lets pray that the Lady Eagles mature faster and that Coach Haydee Ong will be able to guide them through their maturing process.

TEAM ATENEO - The Launch

The Ateneo Blue Eagles, Lady Eagles and Blue Eaglets were presented tonight to the Alumni in a benefit dinner at the NBC Tent at the Bonifacio Global City. Dubbed as "Team Ateneo the Launch" a lot of notable alumni were present in the Php 3,500 per ticket event whose proceeds will be used to fund the athletic scholarships and other operating expenses of the three teams. As we very well know the life of a student - athlete in the Ateneo is quite hard and there are additional costs in making sure that these athletes train and more importantly make the academic grades required of them.

"Okay ka ba tiyan?" Former Blue Babble member and a well known Movie and TV Personality Gabe Mercado was the host together with the handsome Aga Muhlach look-alike- ME! We were joined by Gabe's comedy group named SPIT and at one point Blue Eagle Jai Reyes joined the fray and was also there to interview some people.

The event started at around 7:30 PM as the three teams were introduced one by one and were asked to go onstage. First to be called were the Blue Eaglets, then the Lady Eagles and finally the Blue Eagles. After calling all the players onstage we asked some veterans to speak in behalf of their team. First was the Blue Eaglets Mr. Do it all Senior, JV Dumrique. JV mentioned that this is their year and that the experience they had last year is what they will remember in clinching the title. When I asked who he will rely on to help bring back the crown to Loyola, he mentioned that they are a team and that they will work as one. The Lady Eagles on the other hand promised only one thing, that they will do their best no matter what. Team Captain Treena Limgenco said that they will be giving their best in all their games. The defending champion Lady Eagles lost a lot of players including their coach and have seven rookies in their team.

(This is the new campaign of the United Colors of Benetton.)

The Blue Eagles' Team Captain Chris Tiu was very optimistic when we talked to him. He believes that since it is his last year with the team they have the perfect mix in making a run for the championship. He said that they have good rookies and that their defense is getting better as shown in the last three minutes of their NSL conquest of the UE Warriors. True enough he believes that FEU and UST are contenders together with DLSU and UE while Adamson is the darkhorse of the tournament. He ranks the Blue Eagles as the number one team and that its up for the other teams to prove them otherwise. After the interview Fr. Ben Nebres led the community to a prayer and then dinner was served. The Three teams were asked to mingle with Alumni and played a game in which they had to get 20 signatures from the Alumni who where there. Mariana Lopa, Treena Limgenco and Rabah Al-Husaini won gift certificates from Heaven and Eggs as they were the fastest to sign 20 people. Unfortunately Anne Gomez had 23 signatures but never knew that you needed just 20 to win.

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After dinner, the 1975-1976 NCAA champion team was acknowledged as former King Eagle Joy Carpio together with Pons Valdez, Maling Estrella, and 1988 UAAP Champion team coach Fritz Gaston. Together with them was their Team Manager and now Senator, Mar Roxas. Unfortunately it was only Assistant Coach Gene Afable and Gaston who were part of the 1988 team who were there. Afterwards we called the 2002 Champion team who were there, Enrico Villanueva, Rich Alvarez, Bajjie del Rosario, Sonny Tadeo, Epok Quimpo, Larry Fonacier, Magnum Membrere, Bugs Bugia, Badjie del Rosario, Marco Benitez, JC Intal, Macky Escalona, Gec Chia and LA Tenorio. They offered words of encouragement and gave personal insights on how they overcame the adversities that they faced in that 2002 UAAP season. The most notable comment was what Enrico said, "Dont forget to study hard!" After that, Gabe Mercado's comedy group SPIT performed and elicited lots of laughs from the whole Ateneo Alumni community.

The Ateneo Blue Eaglets, their roster is composed of Chuckie Dumrique, Andro Alonte. Nico Armenia, Keifer Ravena, Ael Banal, Ice Reyes, Von Pessumal, Paolo Romero, Paolo Pe, Al Bugarin, Tim Capacio, JV DUmrique, Ivan Enriquez, Juami Tiongson, Kevin Gamboa and coached by Jamike Jarin.

Ateneo Lady Eagles are with Sam Co, Karen Columnar, Corrine Javier,Teedee Estrada, Win Natividad, Sam Ong, Ish Tiu, Mariana Lopa, Rona Co, Sarah Mercado, Hila Indigne with Anne Gomez and Treena Limgenco as co-captains. The team has a new Coach in former Lady Eagle Haydee Ong.

Finally, the Ateneo Blue Eagles Men's Basketball Team ,the line up is composed of rookies Ryan Buenafe, Vince Burke, Justin Chua, Tonino Gonzaga, Nico Salva together with the veterans Bacon Austria, Nonoy Baclao, Mike Baldos, Kirk Long, Eric Salamat, Oping Sumalinog Rabah Al-Husaini, Jai Reyes,Jobe Nkemakolam and team captains Yuri Escueta and Chris Tiu. Coach Norman Black will call the shots for the fourth straight year.

Good luck to TEAM ATENEO and lets all support the Blue and White this coming UAAP season 71.