MANILA, 25 October — Who can forget the Philippines’ heartbreaking semifinal loss to South Korea in Busan? Certainly, not Jong Uichico.
So how is Uichico now after that heart-rending experience in Busan?
"Right now, I’m still trying to refresh myself. Maybe in a week or two, I’ll be in good shape," said Uichico, still sounding exhausted and drained after spending the last nine months training the Philippine Team only to see his boys end up medal-less after finishing fourth in the recent Asian Games.
"I’ll be sitting on the bench but I’ll not be coaching," said Uichico, who added he’s still recharging to fit himself into the scheme of things. "It’s a combination of things. I haven’t fully grasped the San Miguel game plan yet and more importantly, I’m too mentally worn out to be directly handling the team."
The San Miguel mentor sat out the Beermen’s first match in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) All-Filipino Cup, where they won against FedEx 94-71.
So the Beermen opened their All-Filipino Cup defense with Uichico, a four-time PBA champion mentor, watching from the bench.
For Uichico, it could be a sort of feel-out game for the meantime as he reunites with his mother team one of these days after being loaned to the national team for 10 months.
Uichico admitted he’s not ready just yet mentally to resume his coaching job at San Miguel.
Instead, he appointed Siot Tangquincen as interim coach in his absence.
Tanquincen said Uichico is still in the thick of recovering from the impact of the Asian Games debacle and has no definite timetable when he will come back to call the shots for the Beermen.
"Coach Jong deserves the break. Imagine 10 months he went through strength-sapping moments to prepare the national team," said Tanquincen.
"It will be useless if I resume my job at this point in time. I’m not yet ready mentally," Uichico confessed. "I need a little more time to recharge and get back in shape."
The Uichico crew — the fourth pro team sent by the PBA in the prestigious quadrennial competition — came within seconds of beating host South Korea until Lee San Min knocked in a three-pointer at the buzzer and the Filipinos suffered their most painful defeat in Asiad memory, 68-69, in the semifinals.
Uichico admitted that defeat took a lot from him.
"It’s different when you come in for a win. It’s just like any player. If you’re coming off a win, you feel like you can play right away the next day. But when you come off a loss, and a painful one at that, it takes a lot from you and that’s when the fatigue settles in," he explained.
So devastated were the Filipinos that they came out flat and lethargic against Kazakhstan and lost the battle for the bronze, 66-68.
Thus, the Fil-Am-backed Nationals, made up of millionaire superstars from the PBA, matched the fourth-place finish of the Philippines, then coached by American Norman Black, in the 1994 Hiroshima Games. It was the worst performance of a national squad since PBA players suited up for the games in 1990.
So the Filipinos were still unable to break the 40-year title drought in the Asian Games.
"It was emotionally draining," said Uichico. "It was hard to get them back after that emotional loss. I was hoping to keep it close all the way and make a spurt (against Kazakhstan) at the end but we just didn’t have the spark."
"We did our best but it’s a pity we didn’t win any medal and we would like to apologize if our best was not good enough for some. But I would like to thank all Filipinos who have supported us in our campaign."
"I am proud of what we have accomplished here and I hope the people in the Philippines will appreciate the efforts the players have shown throughout the games," he said.
Actually, hopes were high for Uichico’s team — not essentially because it was the decade’s most organized national team ever — but more importantly, it assembled a host of talented local and Fil-Am players and mapped out a rigorous nine-month buildup with foreign exposure and stints in the pro league.
And they had the game, that would have set them up in a title showdown with defending champion China and a guarantee for a silver-medal finish in the bag before that Korean hotshot Lee hit the Hail Mary shot on top of the key with 2.5 seconds remaining.
But the team seemed doomed from the start. It lost its original coach, American Ron Jacobs, to a massive stroke in December and its No. 1 offensive threat, Danny Seigle, to a torn Achilles ligament just four days before the games.
Still, the Nationals defied tremendous odds and nearly shocked the South Koreans, who eventually emerged champions after dethroning long-time titlist China in the finals.
"We showed beating South Korea can be done and we are proud to have shown it there. I’m proud of the way the boys played," said Uichico.
Uichico blamed himself for their shattering defeat to South Korea, and directing pointing fingers away from Olsen Racela.
"I blame myself for this loss," said Uichico. "I should have called a timeout before the free throws. Because the shot missed, they had no time to think. I had two timeouts left. If I had just reminded them they had two fouls to give, we might have won. We had a great game plan and we followed it to the letter. We got beaten by a 3-pointer. It happens. We have to accept it. We are humans and we all make mistakes, and we all miss shots."
Uichico said he should have called a timeout when Racela was on the freethrow line so his players could have gone over strategy. They could have fouled twice without giving the Koreans free throws, a plan that would have erased valuable seconds from the clock.
Racela, Uichico’s most trusted pointguard in the national team and also his starting point guard at San Miguel, missed the charities which could have won the game for the Filipinos, and Lee tossed in the dagger three-pointer that sealed the outcome.
Uichico said the gamut of experience he has had in Busan has given him wider perspective in his career as a coach.
"I have gained so much knowledge and experience in this games, it has given me wider perspective about the game of basketball," said Uichico. "There are so many aspects in the game I didn’t know because in the PBA we’re one-dimensional. I think other coaches deserve the chance to coach the national team."
Well, right now, the pain is somehow slowly abating, and Uichico is slowly putting that numbing loss behind him.
"Here, I’m getting over it... day by day," said Uichico.
Yet, he’d rather look on the positive side of their campaign in Busan. In so doing, he expressed the nagging thought on every Filipino’s mind: that Korea and China could be beaten.
"In our minds, certainly in mine, it could be done. We were almost there. And we were only a loose ball away from the finals," he quipped.
The experience would also be good for Philippine basketball in the long run, he said. "Despite our shortcomings, you can see that we can win against the heavyweights in the region."
Uichico is pleading to the national basketball leaders to look towards the future.
"It is not ideal to prepare every four years lang. What they need to do is form the team, prepare early," said Uichico.
