MANILA, Philippines — Parading new-look squads this UAAP Season 86 males’s basketball event, Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin thinks Sunday’s conflict in opposition to College of the Philippines doesn’t match the invoice as a finals rematch.

The Blue Eagles, who dethroned the Preventing Maroons to reclaim the crown final season, are removed from the squad that received all of it with an up-and-down marketing campaign to date by six video games because the Crew banks on new guys led by Joseph Obasa, Mason Amos, Jared Brown in addition to holdovers Kai Ballungay, Chris Koon, Sean Quitevis, and Gab Gomez.

Gone is the Blue Eagles’ championship core that featured Ange Kouame, Dave Ildefonso, BJ Andrade and Forthsky Padrigao.

The identical may be mentioned for the Preventing Maroons with the likes of Carl Tamayo, Zavier Lucero, James Spencer and Henry Galinato not with the squad.

“It’s undoubtedly not a rematch. The names of the groups is likely to be the identical however we’re far cry from the identical crew that went out to play them. Now we have lots to show. And each Recreation is a chance for us to show issues. It’s an ideal situation to go up in opposition to the crew that’s overwhelmed [every opponent],” Baldwin mentioned after dominating winless College of Santo Tomas, 97-77, final Wednesday.

“All of us actually love being underdogs and we hate being the favorites. Goldwin can sweat somewhat bit this week which we wish him to. However come recreation time on Sunday, he’s gonna be very assured in his crew. He’s gonna be very assured of their efficiency, their power however he’s gonna fear, throughout the week, I believe our efficiency [against UST] gave him a number of various things to consider,” he added.

Monteverde, who has steered UP to a 6-0 begin following a 67-64 nail-biter in opposition to La Salle, downplayed the Maroons’ rivalry with the Eagles as they concentrate on persevering with their profitable methods.

“For the crew, each recreation, profitable shut video games or not, we’ll all the time take that as a studying expertise. Particularly the crew now could be a mixture of veterans and younger guys. They really want this type of recreation to develop as a crew,” mentioned Monteverde in Filipino.

Anchored by reigning MVP Malick Diouf, UP has no plans of slowing down because it closes in on a first-round sweep.

“We shouldn’t cease. There’s all the time one thing we are able to enhance on. As a crew, we’ll actually take good and dangerous video games as studying classes for us. We are going to proceed to search for enhancements each recreation and each follow. It’s continuous,” mentioned the Season 84 champion coach, who ended a 36-year title drought.

It might be a distinct UP-Ateneo duel however Baldwin believes the battle for delight stays the identical for the finalists of the previous two seasons.

“It’s one huge battle versus UP battle. We’re getting somewhat bit used to that over time, I’m positive the followers shall be very captivated with it and we’ll present up. Don’t lose any sleep over that, we’ll be there,” mentioned Baldwin, whose crew has but to win back-to-back video games this season.