NCAA Final Four (Philippines)

Last updated
Final team standings for men's basketball since 1999. Philippine NCAA final men's basketball team standings since 1999.png
Final team standings for men's basketball since 1999.

In the context of basketball in the Philippines, the NCAA final four is the playoffs of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) (NCAA) seniors' basketball tournament.

Contents

The term "final four" came from the United States National Collegiate Athletic Association's men's Division I basketball tournament which was colloquially called the "final four" ("Final Four" is now the American NCAA's registered trademark).

History

The NCAA instituted the final four format in 1997, discarding the split season format that they have used for the previous 73 years. The change was done due to the TV coverage of Vintage Sports, mimicking the change done by the UAAP four years earlier when Silverstar Sports started covering their tournaments, and to allow more teams to win the championship. The old format reportedly discouraged teams that had experienced early losses to improve their form as the season progresses. [1]

Format

Results

Statistics

Seniors tournament

Appearances

TeamSemifinal
appearances		Last semis
appearance		First semis
appearance		Finals
appearances		Highest
seed
Arellano colors.svg  Arellano 22016201422nd
Letran colors.svg  Letran 1820221997111st
CSB colors.svg  Benilde 52023200031st
JRU colors.svg  JRU 132017199931st
Lyceum colors.svg  Lyceum 52023201821st
Mapua colors.svg  Mapúa 122023199721st
PCU colors.svg  PCU *42006200232nd
San Beda colors.svg  San Beda 2020231997161st
SSC-R colors.svg  San Sebastian 152019199791st
UPHD colors.svg  Perpetual 102021199811st

Notes:

  • Number of appearances excludes 4th seed elimination games.
  • PCU left the league

Best performances

Champion
1st Runners-up
2nd Runners-up, won in the third place playoff
Semifinalist, lost with twice to beat advantage
Semifinalist, lost with twice to win disadvantage
Lost in 4th-seed playoff
Lost in play-in tournament
Suspended
Not in the league
CTournament cancelled
1group stage ranking
?unknown ranking
Guest school
Under probation
  • Number denotes playoff seeding.
  • Shade denotes final position.
School979899000102030405060708091011121314151617181920 [lower-alpha 1] 21 [lower-alpha 2] 2223
AUF colors.svg  AUF [lower-alpha 3] --10--
Arellano colors.svg  Arellano --567872526810C6710
Letran colors.svg  Letran 31476613132345332626533129
CSB colors.svg  Benilde --?7342686876878995810855514
EAC colors.svg  EAC --79107591087997107
JRU colors.svg  JRU 6721143787323345834531081096
Lyceum colors.svg  Lyceum --6106799122932
Mapua colors.svg  Mapúa 4?653545344464561010331076261
PCU colors.svg  PCU [lower-alpha 4] 7?885382227--
San Beda colors.svg  San Beda 24568754711111111111211C343
SSC-R colors.svg  San Sebastian 12142126465522223877464858
UPHD colors.svg  Perpetual 53327871556898944464947485
Notes
  1. ↑ 2020-21 season had a basketball tournament, but it was basically a skills showdown, due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.
  2. ↑ 2021-22 season was played in early 2022 and the tournament was held in into a round robin tournament instead of the usual double round eliminations.
  3. ↑ AUF pulled out of the league in 2010.
  4. ↑ PCU pulled out of the league in 2009.

Win–loss statistics

Finals statistics

  • Most lopsided game: San Sebastian 95-62 JRC, 2001 Game 3 (33 points)
  • Closest game: Several games, all one-point leads:
    • Letran 75-74 JRC, 1999 Game 1
    • San Sebastian 79-78 Benilde, 2002 Game 1
    • San Beda 68-67 PCU, 2006 Game 3
    • Letran 65-64 San Beda, 2019 Game 1
  • Finals appearances: San Beda, 15; Letran 11; and San Sebastian, 9
  • Consecutive finals appearances: San Beda, 14 (2006–19); San Sebastian, 4 (2000–03)
  • Championships: San Beda (2006–08, 2010–14, 2016–18), 11; Letran(1998–99, 2003, 2005, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2022), 8; San Sebastian (1997, 2001–02, 2009), 4
  • Consecutive championships: San Beda (2006–08, 2016–18), Letran (2019–22) 3; San Beda (2010–14), 5

Semifinals

  • Most lopsided game: Letran 93-60 SSC-R, 2005 (33 points)
  • Closest game: Several games, all one point leads
    • Letran 65-64 PCU, 2004 (1 point)
    • Letran 91-90 Mapua, 2015 (1 point)
    • Benilde 62-61 San Beda, 2022 (1 point)
  • Semifinal appearances: San Beda 19, Letran 18, San Sebastian 15, JRU 13
  • Consecutive semifinal appearances: San Beda 17 (2006-19,2021-23), Letran 7 (2003–2009), San Sebastian 7 (1997–2003), JRU 5 (1999-2003, 2007-2011)

Most frequent matchups

The most frequently played matchups are:

MatchupSemifinalsFinalsTotal
San Beda vs. Letran 358
San Sebastian vs. Letran 628
San Sebastian vs. JRU 617
San Beda vs. Perpetual 606
San Beda vs. San Sebastian 145
Mapúa vs. San Beda415
Letran vs. Mapúa 314
San Beda vs. Lyceum123
Letran vs. JRU213
Letran vs. PCU213
San Beda vs. JRU213
Letran vs. Lyceum 303
San Beda vs. Arellano 022
San Sebastian vs. Benilde022

Seeds

In the 26 tournaments the final four format has been applied, the higher seed has beaten the lower seeds in the semifinals due to their twice to beat advantage, for the most part:

  1. The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 20 out of 23 times (87%)
    • The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 16 times on the first game (80%).
    • The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 4 times on the second game (20%)
    • The only times the No. 1 seed was beaten by the No. 4 seed were during the San Sebastian-Letran matchup in 1999 (Letran won), and the JRC-San Sebastian matchup in 2000 (San Sebastian won).
  2. The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed 22 out of 25 times (88%).
    • The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed 13 times on the first game (62%).
    • The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed 6 times on the second game (29%).
    • The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed 2 times in a knockout game due to the stepladder format (9%).
    • The only times the No. 2 seed doesn't have a twice to beat advantage against the No. 3 seed were during the San Beda-Letran matchup in 1997 (San Beda won), the San Sebastian-JRU matchup in 2010 (San Sebastian won), and the Lyceum-Letran matchup in 2019 (Letran won) due to the stepladder format.
    • The only times the No. 2 seed was beaten by the No. 3 seed were during the Perpetual Help-CSB matchup in 2000 (CSB won), the San Sebastian-Letran matchup in 2012 (Letran won), the Lyceum-Letran matchup in 2019 (Letran won) due to the stepladder format and the Lyceum-San Beda matchup in 2023 (San Beda won).
  3. The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed once (100%)
    • The only time the No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed was during the San Beda-San Sebastian matchup in 2017 (San Beda won) due to the stepladder format.
  4. The No. 3 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 3 out of 4 times (75%)
    • With San Sebastian sweeping the group stage, there were two semifinal rounds for 1997.
    • With San Beda sweeping the group stage, there were two semifinal rounds for 2010 and 2019.
    • With Lyceum sweeping the group stage, there were two semifinal rounds for 2017.
  5. The No. 1 seed skipped the semifinals four times (15%; in 1997, when San Sebastian swept the group stage, in 2010 and 2019, when San Beda swept the group stage, and in 2017, when Lyceum swept the group stage)

A victory of the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in a series are considered big upsets considering that the No. 3 and No. 4 seed have to win twice, not to mention the perceived superiority of the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds when compared to the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds.

In the finals, the advantage of the No. 1 seed isn't as pronounced since the competing teams have to win the same number of games:

  1. The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 2 seed 15 of 21 times (71%)
  2. The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 1 seed 6 of 21 times (29%)
  3. The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed 1 of 2 times (50%)
  4. The No. 3 seed has beaten the No. 1 seed 1 of 2 times (50%)
  5. The No. 3 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed once (100%)
    • This occurred in 2000 in which both lower seeded teams upset the teams with the twice to beat advantage. This was the only time were both teams possessing the twice to beat advantage failed to qualify for the finals in both the NCAA and the UAAP.
  6. The No. 4 seed has beaten the No. 2 seed once (100%)
  7. The No. 1 seed has won the championship 16 of 25 times (64%)

Individual single-game records

Stats since the 2001 season.

StatisticNameTotalSchoolOpponentStage
Most points Kevin Alas 43Letran colors.svg  Letran SSC-R colors.svg  San Sebastian 2012 Semifinals
Most reboundsAllwell Oraeme24Mapua colors.svg  Mapúa Arellano colors.svg  Arellano 2016 Semifinals
Most assistsRoldan Sara11San Beda colors.svg  San Beda Arellano colors.svg  Arellano 2016 Finals
Most stealsRoldan Sara11San Beda colors.svg  San Beda Arellano colors.svg  Arellano 2016 Finals
Most blocks Raymond Almazan
Mark Andaya 		9Letran colors.svg  Letran SSC-R colors.svg  San Sebastian 2013 Semifinals
2005 Semifinals

Juniors tournament

Appearances

TeamSemifinal
appearances		Last semis
appearance		First semis
appearance		Finals
appearances		Highest
seed
Arellano colors.svg  AU 0--0-
Letran colors.svg  CSJL 0--0-
CSB colors.svg  LSGH 0--0-
EAC colors.svg  EAC–ICA 0--0-
JRU colors.svg  JRU 0--0-
Mapua colors.svg  MIT/MHSS 0--0-
PCU colors.svg  PCU 0--0-
San Beda colors.svg  SBU–R 0--0-
SSC-R colors.svg  SSC–R 0--0-
UPHD colors.svg  UPHSD 0--0-

Notes:

  • Number of appearances excludes 4th seed elimination games.

Best performances

Champion
Runner-up
Twice to beat advantage
Semifinalist
Lost in 4th-seed playoff
Suspended
Not in the league
CTournament cancelled
1group stage ranking
?unknown ranking
Guest school
Under probation
  • Number denotes playoff seeding.
  • Shade denotes final position.
School98990001020304050607080910111213141516171819202122 [lower-alpha 1] 23 [lower-alpha 2]
AUF colors.svg  AUF --10--
Arellano colors.svg  Arellano --89769734675CC710
Letran colors.svg  Letran 34?165277222424637639712
EAC colors.svg  EAC–ICA --984981069101010106
JRU colors.svg  JRU ???????44434687549894698
CSB colors.svg  LSGH --?????455546533354341437
Lyceum colors.svg  Lyceum–Cavite --10101085585289
Mapua colors.svg  Mapúa [lower-alpha 3] ?11????887--
Mapua colors.svg  Malayan [lower-alpha 4] --777554122229CC44
PCU colors.svg  PCU ??????331--
San Beda colors.svg  San Beda–Rizal 1232111233511111211131CC25
SSC-R colors.svg  San Sebastian ???????121132622681058353
UPHD colors.svg  Perpetual ???????666653987910776861
Notes
  1. ↑ 2022-23 season was played in early 2023 and the tournament was held in into a round robin tournament instead of the usual double round eliminations.
  2. ↑ 2023-24 season was played in early 2024 and the tournament was held in into a round robin tournament instead of the usual double round eliminations.
  3. ↑ The Mapúa High School was closed down in 2005.
  4. ↑ Since 2008, the Malayan High School of Science Red Robins represented Mapúa University in the juniors' division.

Television and radio

The final four is the culmination of the NCAA basketball season and is heavily covered by the media. With the NCAA as one of the leading collegiate leagues in the country, the final four games are broadcast live throughout the country.

Beginning in 2015, the NCAA, and the final four games, are broadcast by ABS-CBN's UHF channel ABS-CBN Sports+Action nationwide, being produced by ABS-CBN Sports. Previously, Studio 23 covered the NCAA from 2002 until 2011. Prior to Studio 23, the games were broadcast irregularly by different broadcast partners. From 2009 to 2011 and since 2015, the games are also aired in high definition, through Balls subsidiary Balls HD.

Previous nationwide providers of the NCAA were Vintage Television on People's Television Network and later IBC from 1995 until 1999 and PTV Channel 4 from 2000 until 2001 season. PTV's coverage was produced by MCI Group and later Silvestar Sports.

In 2012, the NCAA, and the final four games were broadcast by TV5's VHF channel IBC's AKTV, being produced by Sports5. From 2013 to 2014 TV5 took over the seniors' games coverage after AKTV was dissolved.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Atencio, Peter (1997-07-03). "It's now the Final Four". Google News newspaper archive. The Manila Standard . Retrieved 2023-11-18.
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