La Salle, Kevin Quiambao head to separate training camps ahead of UAAP Final 4

De La Salle University head coach Topex Robinson and Kevin Quiambao are headed to different training camps in the next few days. 

While Kevin Quiambao is rejoining Gilas Pilipinas for this month’s FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers window, the Green Archers are going to hold their own training camp in Cavite in preparation for this season’s Final Four campaign. 

La Salle rose to the top spot at the end of the eliminations for the first time in eight years after finishing with a 12-2 record as it absorbed a 63-54 beating from NU on Wednesday. 

"It’s really nice to be part of that team that is number one. But at this point, it only got you to the Final Four. But it hasn’t gotten you to the finals and won you the championship," said Robinson. 

For Robinson, though, it is better to lose and see their lapses now than later, especially with Quiambao taking care of his other affairs away from the team. 

"There’ still a lot of work to be done. We want to set our team to a high standard and make sure that the things we need to work on will be addressed. We want to expose ourselves to this kind of situation. Because the teams that we might play in the Final Four are pretty much the way NU plays. There’s UE, Adamson, FEU. So almost the same ang galawan. Ang dami natin pwede matutunan dito. Kaya nga nung second half I told the players let’s get something out of it. That’s really what we took in this loss," he said. 

Robinson does not also mind parting ways with Quiambao for a while as he has more to gain from the latter’s valuable stint in the national team. 

Additionally, the La Salle tactician sees the opportunity to improve familiarity among his young guns who will most likely be next in line when the times comes.  

“It’s gonna be a win-win. Physically Kevin Quiambao is not gonna be with us. But try to also imagine the sacrifice that he has to make. When he committed to the Gilas call-up in January, we know the challenge is gonna be him being away from his family, him being in the bubble. But there’s so much to gain, and Mason [Amos] was also called up. That’s one of our contributions to our national team program. Minsan lang mangyayari ‘yung opportunity na ‘yun,” said Robinson. 

“It’s really a no-brainer to bring them there. The UAAP told us naman that they were gonna make adjustments for us. ‘Yung experience nila at the end we’ll benefit from it.”

“Looking at the brighter side of things, this is a good time for us to see ourselves not having KQ, not being so dependent on him, which we’ve done a few times in the course of the elimination round. So, it's time for us to really spend time together.”

“More or less, it’s a time for us to really reflect where we are and what we wanna achieve moving forward, and getting to know our players. We still have a lot of young guys. It’s time para naman mabigyan namin sila ng tamang atensyon. Especially Final Four na,” he said.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News