It was an epic game. It was a view of things to come.
The pre-season number 1 FEU Tamaraws vs. the defending champions ADMU Blue Eagles.
With a ton of National Developmental Pool point guard Mark Barocca and a much much improved Aldrich Ramos leading the way FEU showed everyone it was a team to contend with. Despite the huge leads Ateneo put up FEU would not go away.
With Chris Tiu graduating Ateneo lost its heart and soul. Stepping up and trying to fill his place were a couple of Eagles, Jai Reyes and Eric Salamat. Eman Monfort would also provide quality minutes as Reyes's back-up.
Despite losing a huge lead, Ateneo's championship poise and defense would come to the fore and enable them to surmount the tough challenge that was FEU.
The second half disappearance of Ateneo's offense is a warning sign for Coach Norman Black, who readily admitted that he did not know where Ateneo's offense would come from. Top slotman Rabeeh Al Hussaini was off form for most of the night.
The road to defending the championship would be a long and tough one. A lot of the Team's shortcomings cropped up in its first game. This was a wake up call. Ateneo has sent a message to all comers "We will not go down without a fight."
And FEU has shown that it deserves its pre-season billing as a top flight UAAP team.
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