Black sees another good year for Ateneo
NORMAN Black, head coach of the reigning UAAP men’s basketball champions Ateneo Blue Eagles, is optimistic of the team’s chances in the 74th season of the collegiate league, which opens July 9 at the Araneta Coliseum.
Black, who was in Cebu City yesterday as a guest speaker of the LH Leadership Conference 2011 presented by the LH Foundation, said the team has a pretty good chance with 10 veterans beefed up by some new talent led by Kiefer Ravena.
Ravena is the star of the Philippine Youth Team and the son of former Philippine Basketball Association player Bong Ravena.
Black said the coming UAAP season could also be the year for former University of the Visayas (UV) star center Greg Slaughter to shine.
“It looks like a good year for the team,” he said. “But I admit that with three weeks to go before the series starts, I am still grasping for something to motivate the team to go for a four-peat.”
The coach said that they have to focus on the present and think about “right now” and not about the three consecutive championships that they have already achieved.
“We must maintain the hunger,” he said. Black also said that the team needs to know each other better on the court because he feels that this is also what they lack for now. CORRESPONDENT MARS G. ALISON
