Ateneo brushes off sweep talks, focuses on UP

MANILA, Philippines — The Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles are one win away from an elimination round sweep and an outright Finals berth in the UAAP Season 82 men's basketball tournament.

But the defending champions are focusing on what's in front of them: the UP Fighting Maroons.

"Nothing changes. Next game is the last game," Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin said.

"I understand that that is a sweep or not a sweep but again, those are just minor issues for us, the major issue for us is how we play against UP," he said.

Ateneo dominated last year's runners-up in their first round meeting, clobbering the Maroons, 89-63.

But Baldwin doesn't want to the Eagles to let their guard down against the Diliman squad.

"What are our tactics? What are our strategies? How do we execute? How do we anticipate what they might do? There’s nothing else that enters into the equation for us," he said.

Baldwin said his squad doesn't even entertain discussion of a sweep, reserving their focus for what they need to do to get back into the Finals.

"To be perfectly honest, we tune all that out. We do the best of our ability to tune all that out. And just stay focused on the job, it doesn’t change," he said.

Ateneo and the Fighting Maroons will clash in the final game of eliminations on Wednesday, October 30 in Pasay.