The Final Score: Reflecting on UP coach Ricky Dandan and point guard Mikee Reyes

It’s easy to see what UP Head Coach Ricky Dandan and UP point guard Mikee Reyes have in common.

They’re both passionate and emotional when it comes to basketball. On one hand, it’s a luxury to have such a passionate coach oversee the development of such a passionate player. Perfect match. On the other hand, when passions intersect, when expressive individuals merge, the effects can be volatile as well. Potential combustion.

Was there a verbal exchange between Dandan and Reyes during or after their game against Adamson last Sunday?

“Once and for all Mikee never shouted at me,” Dandan clarified. “Hindi ganun si Mikee. Matagal na kaming magkasama. Madami na kaming pinagdaanan. Never niya ako sinigawan.”

“Nag-away daw kami ni Coach Ricky. That’s not true,” Reyes, during a separate conversation, added. “Nagalit siya sa akin. He took me out of the game. I got frustrated. I left the floor and I remember umiiling ako. I don’t want people to think na nag-aaway kami ni Coach Ricky. It wasn’t a fight.”

Dandan brought Reyes back to the bench in the second half of their game against Adamson. Dandan was irate. Reyes was distraught. The coach hollered. The player listened. It was the first game of UP: the season-opener. It “might” turn out to be the last game of Reyes for the tournament: an abrupt season-ender.

I use “might” because I hope Dandan and Reyes reunite even if Dandan and Reyes may not share the same sentiment, for now. What can I do? I root for happy endings.

While I don’t rule out the possibility that a player’s departure might mean less tension for the team in the future, a young team still lost a starting PG. One can dare say: this team needs every talented student-athlete who can play.

There’s a bright side. In the aftermath of Mikee’s decision to leave the Fighting Maroons, Dandan and Reyes, surprisingly, exerted great effort to clarify events and show respect for each other.

“I tried to understand him as a person and as a player,” Dandan said. “Mikee is a great person.”

“I don’t want to say anything bad about Coach Ricky,” Reyes stressed. “I actually respect his decision to take me out of that game. I’m not mad at him. I was just really emotional, but it’s not an excuse for what I did.”

As an observer, it’s easier for me to remain calm. I’m not coaching a UAAP team comprised mostly of rookies. Coaching in the UAAP, regardless of roster strength, is a precarious vocation. I’m also not a survivor of two shoulder injuries with six screws inside my body. For an athlete, the waiting can be much worse than the hurting.

I’m not as excited to win as Dandan.

I’m not as eager to play as Reyes.

It was Monday night, the day after they lost to Adamson. Reyes couldn’t sleep. He thought about what happened during practice that afternoon. How the coach placed him all the way back to the third team. How the coach gave him the sort of tough love (or in Mikee’s mind, the really, really tough love) treatment that most coaches use to teach lessons. How the coach made it clear that the team was going to march on with or without him.

It was the “without him” part that hit home. Reyes suddenly felt he wasn’t needed.

After working his way back through two injuries on the same right shoulder, after watching seasons go by, after counting the days, after waiting for his comeback to finally start, Reyes felt he was instantly shoved back to the beginning, back to step number one.

Mikee watched the conclusion of his first (and probably last) game of the season from the bench. He spent his last practice (although I’m still hoping that it’s not) wondering how he plummeted from starting PG to third team PG. It took just one game. In his first season back.

“It was a big decision for me,” Reyes said. “I talked to my parents. My parents supported my decision. So I texted Coach Ricky that Monday night, that same night. I had to leave the team. I sent Coach Ricky a text message saying I’m sorry I didn’t meet his expectations. I was just really excited to play. I really want to win and really want to play.”

Dandan was right. The team was going to move on with or without Reyes. Reality dictates that they have to. The season wasn’t going to stop for Dandan, Reyes, for anyone. In their next game, UP lost to La Salle with fifteen Fighting Maroons instead of sixteen.

“I need to set an example for the team because we need to move forward,” Dandan explained. “We respect Mikee’s decision. We accept that. Yan ang desisyon niya so we respect it.”

Reyes skipped class to watch the game against La Salle at home with his mother and sister. He watched the game from start to finish.

“Watching the game against La Salle was hard,” Reyes admitted. “Lalo na kasi gumagawa si Thomas Torres and I’m supposed to be the one guarding him.  But I wanted UP to win. I really wanted UP to win.”

I asked, “Did you see Kyle Suarez? He played well off the bench.”

“I wasn’t surprised that he played well,” Reyes, excited as always, said. “Si Suarez, bata ko yan!”

Reyes is 22. Enthusiastic. Verbose. Expressive. He talks the way he plays: always amped. Even when he reminds me (thrice in one conversation) that he has nothing bad to say about his coach, he is animated. He’s the kind of player you want on a team facing one of the toughest challenges in the UAAP. You need someone on permanent go-go-go mode. You need someone like Reyes.

“Nag-usap kami ni Mikee even before the season started and I told him he will be an important part of this team,” Dandan recalled. “I told him, ‘I’m going to give you the reins to our offense. I’m going to give you the keys to our offense.’ Alam mo si Mikee, when he’s in his element, ang galing niya talaga.”

“Akala ng iba hindi ako sumusunod kay Coach Ricky when they see me play but it’s all part of the game plan,” Reyes, who is less of a stationary PG and more of a lighting bolt with sneakers, said. “He actually lets me attack. He gives me freedom.”

But coaches and their players aren’t inanimate pieces of a puzzle. Even if the pieces fit, they move, morph, adapt, and sometimes resist. Human nature. Understanding is a fluid concept. Situations matter. Effects differ.

As in most intense relationships between intense individuals, I believe the connection between Dandan and Reyes is deep. Hence, what one does to the other, whether directly or indirectly, resonates. It’s impossible to ignore. Pareho pa naman silang intense. Pareho pa naman silang passionate.

Let’s backtrack. Three weeks before UP’s season opener, I asked Reyes about his lively relationship with Dandan.

“At the start, I had a hard time because my past coaches weren’t like him. They wouldn’t go in your face,” Reyes shared. “The first time Coach Ricky got in my face, na-shock ako. He can get under your skin. He gets under my skin sometimes. I get under his skin most of the time (laughs).”

It’s funny because it’s actually a normal thing. The perfectionist coach meets a free-spirited player. This happens all the time on high school and college teams. When wisdom intersects with youth, strange things occur.

Coaches grow ten new strands of white hair in one afternoon.

Players learn the hard way during practice.

Words are said.

Feelings get hurt.

Sometimes the results are good, sometimes not so good. But the intention in most cases, I believe, is the same. The caveat: it’s seldom easy to teach and it’s often hard to learn.

51-year-old Dandan is correct when he states, “There are 15 other players that I have to think of.”

I don’t know if Dandan stays up at night, thinking of what pushed Reyes to leave, remembering his one-on-one meeting with Reyes right after the team was walloped by CSB during the preseason and recalling how he asked Reyes, “Ayaw mo ba sa akin?” Here’s what I know: he’s more worried about the players who are still with the team. Even Reyes would understand this. They’re 0-2. The season goes on.

I cross my fingers for reasons even I can’t fully explain. Maybe their shared passion for the game will lead Dandan and Reyes to reunite. Maybe it might push them farther apart. One more energetic PG can help Dandan win more games. One more chance can help Reyes complete the comeback he has worked so hard for. I wonder which wins: perfect match or potential combustion?

“It’s just so unfortunate,” Dandan concluded.

“I was really excited for this season,” Reyes said as excitement gave way to disappointment. “I know the truth. I know I am not a quitter.” - AMD, GMA News



Do you, like Mico Halili, think MIkee Reyes will eventually find his way back into the fold of the Fighting Maroons? Let us know in the poll below: