Team Norman vs Team Tab: Which Blue Eagles Squad Was Better?

Two Ateneo teams specifically come to mind. First, Coach Tab Baldwin’s 16-0 crew and the other, Coach Norman Black’s five-peating boys. 

Naturally, the next thing you’d want to ask is, which Blue Eagles squad is better? To answer this burning question, we’ll use three categories: Talent level, Chemistry, and Coaching. 

Talent Level

This one’s easy. Having a five-year title run, the influx of highly touted players in Coach Norman’s roster was obviously at a higher rate. To prove our point, let’s do a literal side-by-side comparison of the two Coach’s best possible starting five plus a sixth man, from any of their championship teams.

This matchup would definitely be a great battle but in terms of talent alone, Coach Norman gets the edge.

Chemistry 

As most purists would say, basketball is a team sport. Coach Norman’s teams played cohesively most of the time but what’s easier to remember about his Blue Eagles were the great individual talents. We saw a lot of them play hero ball and we’re not complaining.

Kiefer Ravena, Ryan Buenafe and Rabeh Al-Hussaini laying waste to the defense perfectly illustrate how Ateneo overpowered the opposition at the time. It must’ve been the right strategy because remember, Coach Norman went five out of five.

As for Coach Tab, his 16-0 squad championed team play more than any ball club we’ve seen in the past decade. A perfect example would be the sacrifice that Thirdy Ravena made as he was probably the best player of Season 82 yet he shunned individual awards for team success. Unsurprisingly, this team completed Ateneo’s three-peat in 2019. 

The nod in this category goes to Coach Tab.

Coaching

There’s a reason why Coach Tab is a popular Gilas coach, it’s simply because his style and system works–and we saw it in Ateneo. That Season 82 team had unflappable poise and composure, evidently making them one of the best coached teams we’ve ever seen in the UAAP.

On the other end, Coach Norman Black also achieved something that’s equally or maybe more impressive: winning five straight titles. Managing different personalities and adapting to drastic lineup changes with your best players graduating are unenviable tasks. Seeing him rise through it and have his new star players step up is also a great coaching skill. And with that, the verdict goes to…

Well, actually this one’s a preference thing. You either go for Coach Tab’s systemic, team-centric approach or Coach Norman’s knack for cultivating individual talents. As for our pick, we’re going with the former.