by Milo

We’ve received quite a number (actually, a lot) of requests here in Sports and Beans for another Chris Tiu article. Seeing as my What I Like about Tiu article is always ranked among our top five most-read articles here (#3 in fact as of 10-07 with over 300 views since September 7, just behind my Early Picks for MVP and Individual Awards for UAAP Season 69 articles), I’ve decided to fulfill your requests and to show my gratitude as well for reading my articles with another, yes, Chris Tiu article.

Chris Tiu has certainly grown a lot.  After being in the UAAP for three playing years, he is now far, far away from that kid who missed an open lay-up which could’ve turned the tide for the Ateneo Blue Eagles back then since they were already building momentum for them to catch up.

In case you have not heard it yet, yes, the sweet-shooting Chris Tiu of the Ateneo Blue Eagles won the three point shooting contest earlier in the Bantay Bata 163 All-Stars 2006 at the Philsports Arena. Congratulations!  He is finally showing his true talent, the reason why he was placed in the team’s roster — he is a pure shooter, and probably the best one in the league right now.

This July 15, 1985 born basketball player started playing the game since age 8, so who knows how much practice he has done to perfect the art of shooting a mid or long range bomb?

During his first stint in the Blue Eagles, it was really clear that he had the green light to shoot the ball in case he was left open. I watched the Ateneo Blue Eagles back then while they were at practice, while taking a few photographs to help create the cyberfaces to what is known now as UAAP/NCAA Live 2004, a very popular collegiate modification of EA Sports NBA Live 2004 (No, don’t ask me for a copy. I do not have one anymore.), and Coach Sandy Arespacochaga had designed plays to kick out to an open Chris Tiu to take a three or a long two-pointer. His shooting ability was impeccable like all the scouting reports said when he was playing for Xavier University (Batch 2003 – with honors) in high school.

And he really looked good in practice, knocking twos and threes left and right. It is a shame though that it did not translate well in his first two seasons in the collegiate league. In his rookie year, he was barely used, so probably it downed his confidence a bit. Come sophomore year, he seemed to be hesitant every time he took his shot that he’d miss badly.

Probably, if you compare the old Chris Tiu to a current UAAP player, it would have to be a less-confident Migs de Asis of the UP Fighting Maroons. He loved shooting the three-ball during those years that his offensive moves became very predictable. If a Blue Eagle, back then, gives Tiu the ball, it will most likely be a three-pointer should he wish to attempt a shot. In 2004, he took 34 threes out of 61 field goal attempts — 56% of the time he would take the low-percentage shot from the rainbow country. So, even with an ample amount of playing time, he’d rarely get double digits in scoring (He only did it once in 2004 by scoring 10, none in 2002). He did get a lot of attempts in, so it wasn’t due to the other stars of the Blue Eagles hogging the ball back then.

After two lackluster seasons in the UAAP, he took off for a year to attend to his student exchange program. Don’t quote me on this, but it was said that he also played a bit of basketball while he was away to hone his shooting touch.  With this, he regained his lost confidence in his shot-making.

Come the 69th season of the UAAP, and we see the return of Chris Tiu. This once skinny rookie has turned into one of the most toned and athletic guys in the roster. Although shades of the old Chris Tiu greeted us in his first games in round one, he suddenly burst for 19 points with 7 boards and 5 assists in their blowout game against UST. Since then, his confidence grew in leaps and bounds, and he finally has turned into that same Xavier athlete with a killer shot, MVP, and mythical five credentials that the scouts have seen in high school. So much that he knocked down 5-out-of-9 three pointers of his 24 points in a losing cause against UST.

Everyone in the league now fears his deadly accuracy. Norman Black’s play in game one would not be possible if the UST Tigers did not fear his shot-making capabilities.  Those threes he released were vital to the wins of the Ateneo Blue Eagles, more so during those close games against UST and Adamson.

This “multi-sported” athlete (he also plays golf, badminton, swimming and table tennis) will probably don the proverbial “King Eagle” title next year and lead the Ateneo Blue Eagles in Season 70 of the UAAP with the departure of JC Intal, Doug Kramer and Macky Escalona.  Norman Black already mentioned that he would heavily count on Chris Tiu next year, so he will need to up his game more by learning the leadership game and playing the game smarter.

At this stage, I don’t think he can yet replace JC Intal as he doesn’t have the full capability yet to dominate the game, though Chris Tiu has shown sparks of this much-needed brilliance this season.  I believe his peace-loving, friendly attitude is slightly preventing him from dominating and being more aggressive.  Nothing against that, but he must find a way around that so he could turn into a friendly but deadly Larry Fonacier.  His heart and confidence are already there – he just needs to have that killer instinct and further refine his basketball smarts.

He could probably look at Jeffrei Chan of the FEU Tamaraws as his role model for next season as Chan almost single-handedly brought the Tamaraws to the final four despite the overall lack of stars in his team.  They almost play the same positions, and the same roles.  Tiu would probably get the same number of attempts as Chan did if he would be the one leading the Eagles next year, so he must match or even top Jeff Chan’s accuracy from the outside.

If Tiu could turn into the next Chan of the Eagles, things would not be as bleak for Ateneo next year.  And I believe he’ll get there sooner than later as seen in his style of play this season.  His evolution since his rookie days is still ongoing, and by next year, he might be the one leading the scoring category, and perhaps, the MVP in the UAAP.