Calvin Abueva's NCAA days are numbered. That's a good thing.

photo credit: University Basketball League

(via http://micohaliliblogs.blogspot.com)

August 21, 2012

“He’s outgrown this league.”

Those are strong, brave and candid words. Or was it just Coach Topex Robinson trying to hype up his best player who will soon play in the PBA? Or is it simply the best way to explain Calvin Abueva’s performance in the NCAA?

There isn’t much that Calvin has not accomplished in the NCAA. In his rookie year, San Sebastian bagged the championship. Last year, he brought home the MVP trophy. Now in his fourth and last year in the league, Abueva has not slowed down a bit.

Calvin has been nothing less than dominating. He has posted a double-double in nine of the ten games that they have played in season 88 so far. That includes two triple-doubles. That includes two 23-rebound games. Seriously, who the hell does that?

The only time those numbers happen is when, in your inter-barangay league, a 20-year-old kid is playing in the mosquito division. It’s not like that’s the case, right? Right?

With the way he plays and the stats he posts, Calvin makes the NCAA look like a videogame on ‘rookie’ difficulty and quarter minutes set to 12. In his worst game of the season, he managed to get 9 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. That was his worst game. Those numbers are others NCAA players’ career-highs already. Then again, that’s the point. Calvin isn’t just any other player.

It’s understandable why people love to hate on Abueva. He’s just too damn good. One bit of a problem, though – he wants you to hate him. He wants you to despise him. The more you jeer and heckle him, the more pumped up he gets. 

What haters don’t understand about Calvin is that his game is not about the numbers. It’s about the work he puts into it. The one time that I got to visit a San Sebastian practice, I became a witness to persistence. They were prepping for their JRU game. Calvin was down with the flu. It was a bad case. But it had no chance of keeping him away from the court. When he was not part of the group practicing the plays, he was either working with the medicine ball, doing push-ups or sit-ups. He worked his ass off. Right after the session, he rushed out of the gym telling Ronald Pascual, “’Maya na lang bro. May check-up pa ko eh.” Now that’s dedication right there.

When Calvin fails to register a double-double in a game, it makes me smile a little. Not because I’m against Baste or anything, but it reminds me that he can have ‘bad games’. It reminds me that basketball can still be a fair game after all. Ang daya kasi pag may Calvin Abueva ka. You have the league’s leading scorer, rebounder, and assists man. Then the basketball gods decided to give him Pascual and Ian Sangalang as his support crew. Un-freakin-fair.

It’s understandable, however, if people look back at that 2009 San Sebastian Championship team and say that it was Jimbo Aquino who led that team. Furthermore, I probably won’t argue with someone who says that until Calvin leads Baste to a championship this year, we can’t call him dominant.

Coach Topex’s statement might just be pure hokum. But the truth is, basketball at the college level just seems so easy for Abueva. From what we’ve all seen so far, it’s probably safe to say that there are three kinds of players in the NCAA right now – the good, the better, and The Beast.

The Heart of Winning.

THE SAN BEDA SUPER SIX

Winning is everything. We hear players throw this around all the time. But whether they mean it or not, winning does feel good. Really, really good.

This leads us to a common question: what does it take to win in basketball? It’s a fair query. All players (at least, I’d like to assume) have pondered upon what they have to do to win games. That’s the first step – knowing what it takes. However, I think the better question is: what does it take to not lose?

I believe winning basketball starts from a disgust for losing. This feeling creates a drive to overcome defeat. It generates an urgency to win. And that’s what we saw from San Beda against Arellano.

After the infamous brawl between the San Sebastian Volleyball Team and the San Beda Basketball Team, more than half of the Red Lions were given suspensions. They ended up having only six players for their season 88 debut against the Chiefs. Thus, this group was labeled the “Super Six”.

It was a crazy game. Arellano came off a hot start. But in basketball, the start alone does not define the outcome. As hard as it is to say, the best example would probably be the Lakers. In fact, they deserve recognition. Perhaps the NBA record for ‘most games led by halftime then lost’.

Neither talent nor skill won San Beda the game. Heart did. That’s the only thing that could’ve.

When you play with six players, you’re not supposed to win. You’re expected to be crushed, demolished. But the Super Six found a way. They just would not accept defeat.

Three of the Super Six are fresh from high school. Two are tranferees. The other just got called up again from Team B. None of the veterans were on this squad of six. None of the Red Lions' usual go-to guys were there.

During the game, one of the six Red Lions even fouled out.

The Chiefs did play hard. It was obvious that they wanted to win. However, those six Red Lions simply refused to lose. And that made all the difference.

Coach Ronnie Magsanoc said it himself, “It was all heart.”

It all starts in the gym. That’s what they usually say about winning – that it starts in practice. But heart isn’t something you can practice. It’s innate.

It’s usually hard to differentiate ‘wanting to win’ from ‘refusing to lose’. It’s can also be difficult to determine which team is playing with more heart. But when a team of six players overcomes the odds and comes out victorious, it becomes a little easier to tell.