MANILA, Philippines — It has been more than a decade since the University of the East Red Warriors made the UAAP Final Four.
But head coach Chris Gavina is accepting the tall task as the team’s preparations for the next UAAP season kicks off.
Gavina, who replaced Coach Jack Santiago back in February, said on Thursday that he has been in that same position before, where he handled teams that did not have success in recent years.
The coach, though, acknowledged that it might take time for the team to see results.
“Obviously [making the Final Four] is the high expectations of everybody. Everybody wants to get to the Final Four. It’s been, I believe, 16 going on 17 years for UE, and I know that,” Gavina told reporters after UE’s 74-57 loss against FEU in the FilOil EcoOil preseason tournament.
“That’s a challenge that was presented to me and I like it. I had a similar challenge when I went to Taiwan being the first Filipino coach there,” he added.
UE, last season, had a strong first round, finishing with a 5-2 win-loss record to have the head start on its first Final Four stint since 2009.
But in the second round, the Red Warriors only managed to win just one game and they lost the play-off for the fourth seed against Adamson.
“You know, setting standards is never easy, being in a setting where I feel a lot of these guys are kind of set in their ways of not accepting high expectations and high standards as much as I place on it,” he said.
“You know, I’ve gone through moments of being on teams where mediocrity was the norm. And through the last two, three years of me growing into getting a high level of talent, I know what standards need to be met in order to get to the championship level and win at that level. Whether I have the talent or I don’t,” he added.
Gavina stressed that his players may not be fitting his standards at the moment, but he voiced optimism especially with the time they have to prepare.
“So I’m adapting as well. And so I’m meeting a middle ground right now. And it may take time. It may take three months actually even before I understand everybody and how to utilize them. And that’s the great thing about right now,” he said.
“I may have a minimum amount of time. But in Taiwan I had two weeks to get things in the proper place. I still have three months right now. So I’m optimistic obviously,” he added.
On Thursday, Gavina used 14 players throughout the game.
John Abate finished with 22 points, three steals, two assists and two rebounds, while Nico Mulingtapang had 12 markers. Star big man Precious Momowei did not start the contest, but he had eight points and 12 rebounds in 26 minutes of play.
The coach bared that for now, he is taking his time in the preseason to experiment with lineups.
“I want to give guys an opportunity to grow during this early in the season. I was honest with them about this is the time for them to show me that I can trust them when the real lights are on,” he said.
“To be honest with you, there were at least eight of our players who barely played more than three minutes last year. Who total maybe shot, from what I looked at the stats, 20 shots total between the eight guys. These eight guys are the next guys in line,” he added.
“I told them they’re going to have to accept the expectations and the pressure that comes along with these expectations. It’s part of our growth. Nothing is going to happen overnight, obviously. I’m still getting used to the whole UAAP dynamic of each team.”
