While no one is expecting the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors to challenge outright for a Final 4 slot this season, their losses have been surprising.

The newcomers to the current UE line-up are Ric Gallardo, Jojo Antiporda, Brian Lacap, and Jan Sobrevega. Gallardo is no rookie, having played a few years with the University of Perpetual Help Altas where he was a teammate of Scottie Thompson, Juneric Baloria, Harold Arboleda, Justin Alano, Bright Akhuetie, and Prince Eze. Lacap is from the rejuvenated program of the Mapua University Red Robins. Antiporada is a solid player out of a winning program at Chiang Kai Shek College, while Sobrevega played for De La Salle-Zobel in the UAAP Juniors.

The Red Warriors lost Clark Derige, Mark Olayon, Andrey Armenion, Jeremy Cruz, and Nick Abanto (to injury).

Last year’s Red Warriors lost their first games of Season 80 by an average margin of 13.7. This Season 81, they are not only once more 0-4, but they are losing by an average of 20 points.

• READ: Alvin Pasaol laments he lacked effort against Ateneo

Let’s take a look at the averages of key players in the first four matches of the past two seasons.

Last season, through the first four games, Pasaol had 60 field goal attempts, Derige had 36, Maloles had 43 shots, while Olayon had 27.

This season, Pasaol has taken 84 field goal attempts in the first four games as well as 20 free throws. The next player is Varilla with 55 field goal attempts. Bartolome has 24 total attempts from the field, while Manalang has attempted 30 shots.

Scoring is down from the 72 of Season 80 to the 67 of this campaign.

It stands to reason that after Pasaol, the other players haven’t done well. Hence, perhaps, Pasaol taking more shots.

They are hovering somewhere in the bottom three of almost all statistical categories, save for turnover points (fourth with 11.3 points per game) and second chances points (second with 16.0) so there are some positives.

What is ailing them?

Several things. Varilla and Chris Conner, players expected to carry the load with Derige and Olayon gone, have not been able to do so. They have struggled.

The bigs -- Bartolome, Rey Acuno, Shan Gagate, and Ric Gallardo -- have also underwhelmed. Without that scoring and rebounding, Pasaol has done more.

I am not sure if he trusts his teammates less. I thought that in the first game, he made an effort to pass that ball around, but when they were off target, he opted to shoot more. It would be wrong to say that Pasaol has entirely thrown caution to the wind. Maybe at times, he has, but make no mistake, the problems of this team cannot be undone in a few short months.

However… boy, are they shooting. This year through the first four games, the Red Warriors have jacked up 83 triples (with 15 finding at the bottom of the net). Adamson University have been unloading like anything from the outside with 131 triple attempts. Far Eastern University had fired 87 threes as well.

Last season, UE fired 73 and made 16 of them.

Here’s an anecdote that probably says something about them. During the summer, UE listed Chris Conner as their representative in the one-on-one competition of the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup. One-on-one might not be as prestigious anymore the way 3x3 ball is, but I figure any time you rep your school, you try to do your best.

Conner was content to loft three balls and played token defense in the sudden death format. He was bounced in the very first game. Maybe he wasn’t into it, but I am a firm believer that you do your best in everything assigned to you.

And further to that, in my opinion, a lot of players have to step up. Varilla, Conner, Maloles, Gagate, Manalang, Bartolome, and Acuno should all raise the level of their games.

Management should also pitch in and give their coaching staff a chance. No one said it was easy. Years of defections by players and not even listing a foreign player has really hurt this once proud team.

Four games down. Maybe they should look at the San Sebastian Stags in the ongoing NCAA tourney. They too faced a lot of departures, they had games overturned, but they play like there is no tomorrow.

Maybe that is all they can do at this point.

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