The shocking defeats of defending champion Ateneo and University of the East to lowly rivals over the weekend proved that the UAAP basketball tournament, as in years past, does not follow normal prediction and teams that fail to bring their A-game on the court will suffer the consequences.

That was the case especially for the defending champion Blue Eagles who many had predicted will have a walk in the park on the way to retaining their title.

The Blue Eagles fell to the team least likely to succeed – the University of the Philippines Maroons – who came into the game with three straight blowout losses.

Ateneo’s loss was the biggest shock of the young UAAP season and it came after the Eagles had beaten Final Four contenders Far Eastern University, University of the East, and University of Santo Tomas in succession.

Such was the Eagles fearsome reputation that before they entered the game, there was talk of a possible 14-game sweep by the team.

But the Fighting Maroons had other ideas. Playing like one with nothing to lose, they put together an incredible second-half performance to score a 68-58 win.

UP’s win left the defending champions and their fans stunned.

Ateneo head coach Norman Black offered no excuses: "We played with a lack of energy and certainly UP played with a lot of that. Maybe we kind of underestimated them. We played lackadaisical and UP deserved to win this game."

Far Eastern University coach Glenn Capacio agreed.

"Ito ang sinasabi ko sa team ko na dapat hindi kami maging overconfident kasi dito sa college basketball, kahit malakas ka na team pwede ka pa ring talunin," said Capacio.

A day before UP’s victory, a rookie-laden University of Santo Tomas also scored an upset, a 92-88 win over US-trained University of the East.

"Our defense let us down. Our ball movement was fine during the first half but in the second half, it was bad," said Black.

UST head coach Pido Jarencio thinks that it was just a matter of Ateneo being off its rhythm.

"Sa tingin ko hindi overconfidence ang nangyari. Ang Ateneo hindi makashoot ang UP naman lahat ng tira nila halos pumapasok at nasa kanila ang breaks ng laro." said Jarencio.

"Pero sa nangyaring ito, ibig sabihin balanse ang liga dahil kaya pala ng mga teams like UP, NU, Adamson at La Salle na manalo."