Ateneo Blue Eagles gun for four-peat in UAAP 83

Defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles have started its early preparations as they aim for four-peat win for the upcoming season of UAAP Season 83 men’s basketball tournament.

The Blue Eagles closed the last season with a perfect 16-0 sweep, etching their names in the history books as the first men’s basketball team to achieve the feat. 

The king of UAAP men’s basketball is also the only team to repeat a three-peat in the Final Four era which began in 1994.

“For now, we are aiming for four-peat, that’s our plan. Our preparations have started. We are back in the basketball court, practicing, but primarily this is the semester wherein they really need to focus on the academics, so its not all the time basketball for us. The priority now shifts from basketball to academics,” Ateneo men's basketball team manager Epok Quimpo said.

Quimpo admitted that they have lost key players Thirdy Ravena, Isaac Go, and the Nieto Brothers, Matt and Mike but he bared that most “promising” players from the Ateneo’s Team B will be playing this season.

“Most of the new players came from the Team B so its just a matter of time, hopefully they can familiarize themselves sa team. We’ve lost key players but there are also promising players that are coming,” he said.

“We have new recruits, local. Our new recruits came in last year. So if you look at us, we do not go out and get players, we also plan it,” he added.

In terms of training, Ateneo’s team manager said they will be doing their same routine last year.

“We will be leaving for Europe last week of May to mid-June and we will be joining tournaments locally, Filoil for example. In July, we can hopefully play in the Jones Cup, we will be going to Australia for several games until second week or first week of August. Actually, our routine is the same as last year, so it’s a no secret,” Quimpo said.

For this season, Quimpo tagged University of Santo Tomas, De La Salle University and Adamson University as teams to beat.

“If you based from the tournaments that we have, several teams are really improving well aside from the fact that they are already a good team, competitive team during the last UAAP,” he said.

“UST, Lasalle is a team to watch for, I’m sure they have a balance line-up now. Of course you cannot discount Adamson, they are always there, so medyo lumalakas sila ngayon, actually every year, lumalakas ang competition in the UAAP,” he added.

Photo is from the Facebook page of the PCCL