Flashback to July. The Ateneo Blue Eagles were playing their first game of the season against the Adamson Falcons, and debuting that day was a young man who needed no introduction. His performance in the summer’s pre-season tournaments left every Ateneo fan giddy at the thought of what he would bring to the big stage. They were all set to be amazed.
In July, Mikkel Bolante wrote an analysis of Kiefer Ravena’s surprisingly un-phenomenal UAAP debut.
Kiefer Ravena left them astounded alright, but for all the wrong reasons. The stat line of his first UAAP game hardly mattered: 0-for-3 from the field, one rebound, one assist and zero points in his first 14 inconsequential minutes at the college level.
His play was so tentative, so lost, that Coach Norman Black decided to keep him on the bench the entire fourth quarter. His debut was anything but phenomenal and it left a few Ateneo fans whispering, “Ken Barracoso, is that you?” As disappointed as he was in his performance, Ravena had a ready reply.
Good things come to those who wait.
In his very next game against the De la Salle Green Archers, the Phenom had his first taste of redemption. At the end of the next 14 or so minutes of his Seniors career, his stat line was much more meaningful: 22 points, four rebounds, one assist and three steals, a full game’s worth of stats in just one half of play.
And through the remainder of the first round, Kiefer played enough stellar basketball to establish himself as runner-up for a prestigious award. No, not for Rookie of the Year, but for the Most Valuable Player award. If he does go on to win it, he would be the first rookie to do so in the history of the league.
Fast forward to August. Ateneo’s first game of the second round was against a team that they had blown out only a week earlier. This time around, though, the FEU Tamaraws lived up to their pre-season billing and proved to be a worthy challenger to the Blue Eagles.
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