Adamson rocks the UAAP. But no one is shocked.
I’m watching the game and I’m thinking all Adamson needs is to keep it close, then lose by four to six points to undefeated FEU, pat itself on the back for a valiant effort and it’ll all be good. Meantime, FEU looks ready to book a first-class seat in the Finals. The Tamaraws have the best combo guard, the best perimeter-shooting frontline in the UAAP and the best hardcourt hair highlights outside of James Yap. So if Adamson makes it an ordeal for FEU to stay undefeated, it’ll be good enough.
Good enough. It might have been good enough for last year’s Adamson team. For the 2010 Falcons, however, good enough has taken a brand new meaning. I always felt Adamson was the chore opposing teams hated to accomplish. It’s not the same as jumping out of bed in the morning ready for that Young Guns-movie-caliber shoot-out with UST. Facing Adamson is like having your driver’s license renewed; always a test of one’s patience. Adamson is a grind-it-out team that played by the percentages and followed its coach the way troops followed Patton.
Of course, I never saw Patton in action. But I’ve seen Adamson Coach Leo Austria perform hundreds of times. Austria looks like he’s always coaching on two minutes of sleep, constantly on the verge of tears and appears to have the worst day of his life, even when his team is having their best day of the year. Play by painstaking play, he guides, lectures, steers. The way he laboriously uncorked his distinct-but-rarely-copied jump-shot in the PBA, that twisted-heap of muscle, wrist and follow-through, is exactly how he coaches. He stays true to his formula even if it drives opponents insane, even if it doesn’t get points for style.
Ah style. If Adamson didn’t have enough style last year, they already have the goods to wow the crowds this year. Alex Nuyles adds bling to Adamson’s blue-collar team. The Falcons finally have a prodigious wingman; a do-it-all 8-iron in what was once a golf bag filled with just putters and 3-woods. They finally have someone who can gallop down the court, right down the middle, like one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, seconds ticking down, game on the line, fans of the underdog screaming from all sides and have the nerve to be the hero for all seasons. It no longer matters to Austria if Nuyles missed the lay-up. It only matters that he went kamikaze and made it possible for teammate Eric Camson to spank-in the winning basket. Look out UAAP, Adamson’s ready to go coast-to-coast on anyone, anytime.
With the Falcons’ dramatic last-second victory, the UAAP top three seems settled – (in no particular order) FEU, Adamson and Ateneo. Then again, five minutes into the Adamson-FEU game, I thought FEU would prove too much for Adamson. So what do I know? Often in sports, as in life, it’s not about how much you know. It’s about how much of the unexpected one can take. - GMANews.TV
