Mga Pamalandong sa Bisoy

Ateneo's Nightmare Becomes a Reality and No Upset in Boxing

I was just reminded of how good a boxer Marco Antonio Barrera is. He is known as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world today. And I mean he showed why he really is a good “boxer” against Aussie Robbie Peden in their WBC and IBF unification bout earlier today. That was probably one of the best “boxing” matches I’ve ever seen. I mean most boxers today win by knocking out their opponents with their punching power but you never get to see the so-called “boxers” anymore. He boxed very impressively that he rendered his opponent very ineffective all throughout the fight. He just showed why he was given the moniker “The Babyfaced Assasin.”

Aside from his boxing, Barrera showed great defense that Peden landed just 10 percent of all the punches he has thrown. Barrera just caught Peden’s punches with his gloves. The boxer that reminded me of that type of defense was the Golden Boy, Oscar dela Hoya.

And now for the main event of the day, the De La Salle Green Archers beat the UE Red Warriors to claim the second spot of the UAAP standings. When I said in my previous post that La Salle seems to finish their season with a bang, this win was definitely the exclamation point to that. With this outcome, there will be a playoff for the third place this coming Thursday between Ateneo and UE.

And by the way, personally, I think UE lost the game because of too many missed free throws. I’m thinking, why don’t coaches put more emphasis on making free throws when free throws definitely win games and make big leads closer? If I were the coach I’d make my players shoot a hundred free throws while screaming profanities in their ears. This way, they would be able to handle the great pressure come game time. I was pretty impressed by the women’s game between Ateneo and FEU prior to the UE-La Salle game. These Lady Eagles really know how to shoot free throws. So why don’t the Blue Eagles ask pointers from the Lady Eagles. Even their bigs know how to shoot from the line, like Tioseco and Barracoso. I most impressed by these two since they could stroke it from the charity stripe considering they're the Ateneo's twin towers.

This playoff game would be the game I’d hate for Ateneo to win. Because if they do, they’ll face La Salle in the Final Four. They’d probably be better off facing FEU in the Final Four since FEU was in some kind of a slump coming into the Final Four. They lost to Ateneo and won over UST by just a solitary point. This is probably where the UST loss hits Ateneo right in their nuts. Instead of securing the 2^nd spot, now they’re facing a twice to beat disadvantage regardless of Thursday’s result.

I said Ateneo would be better off facing FEU since they have a microscopic chance of beating La Salle. I’d have to correct myself when I said in my previous post that Ateneo has lost four straight times against La Salle. I’m sorry but Ateneo has lost not 4, but 5 straight games dating back to last season. The three games last season would be their second round meeting, the playoff game for 2^nd place, and their Final Four matchup. And don’t forget the two blowout losses this season. So if God forbid Ateneo wins on Thursday and goes on to face La Salle in the Final Four, I could just imagine the morale of the team coming into their game against La Salle. Their morale would probably be lower than sea level, maybe lower than 10 layers of crap underground.

At least with FEU, confidence would be high especially after beating FEU in their second round meeting. Besides, Ateneo should be able to exploit FEU’s weak backcourt, at least point guard-wise. FEU has got a very promising point guard in Jonas Villanueva, and indeed he has shown that he is one of the top point guards in the UAAP, next to Tenorio, of course. But the problem with FEU is that once Villanueva sits on the bench, they are forced to use Rizada as the point guard. And Rizada, as we all know, is not a natural point guard. That’s why FEU lost to UE because UE pressured FEU all throughout the game. Once Villanueva goes to the bench, FEU seems to panic once they are pressured full-court. So the best thing for Ateneo to do is to get Villanueva in early foul trouble in order to disrupt the flow of FEU’s offense.

I wonder why Ateneo never gets to recruit players who don’t succumb to pressure. I mean, why does La Salle always get the players who play with nerves of steel? And Ateneo gets the chokers. Well, maybe except for Tenorio, the other players of Ateneo can’t seem to handle the ball, make their free throws and cross the midcourt line during crunch time.

I also have one observation regarding Jai Reyes. I think that the Ateneo crowd is so desperate to make him an Ateneo version of Renren Ritualo. I pity the guy, really, because he is still young and too much is expected of him. I just think that Ateneo still hasn’t recovered from the threes made by Ritualo during his collegiate stint. So they expect Reyes to shoot the lights out everytime he steps on the court.

posted by kArEnEiL @ 8:07 PM