CIT-U’s Herman Djuemoe is double-teamed by UV defenders in a Cesafi Partner’s Cup game on Sunday, June 9, 2019, at the USC gym. CDN Digital photo | Gerard Vincent Francisco
Cebu City, Philippines—Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) head coach Edsel Vallena admitted that it’s going to take some time to get the Wildtracks to where he wants them to be.
The Wildcats opened their campaign in the said tournament with a massive 62-92 blowout at the hands of the three-time defending champions University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers.
Read more: UV crushes CIT-U for first victory in Cesafi Partner’s Cup
Vallena, however, said that his wards would do well to learn a lot from the encounter, considering that it was their very first game as a team since he formed it during the second week of May.
“We haven’t had the time to prepare as much as I would like to. We certainly don’t have the experience with this team having just four players returning from last year’s team,” said the veteran mentor.
Vallena related that after he was tapped to become the team’s new head coach back in April, he has had to look for and secure the commitment of new players and then, teach the players the system that he wants to be implemented.
The entire process, he says, will take time that he may not have given the double round-robin format of the ongoing 2019 Cesafi Partner’s Cup.
“I would have to say that it might not be until next year before we see this team getting to be on the same page. The rebuilding process will take time. Some players learn faster than others,” he added.
The Wildcats came out with a lot of energy and went toe-to-toe with the mighty Green Lancers, but suddenly tapered off late in the first period.
“We came out swinging but just could not sustain it as we also have to work on our conditioning. It’s really one thing or the other, I can’t teach the team the basics of what we want to do if we’re working on conditioning and vice versa,” Vallena said. /bmjo