UAAP Final Four

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The UAAP Final Four refers to the postseasons of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) tournaments. The term "final four" came from the National Collegiate Athletic Association of the United States' men's Division I basketball tournament which is colloquially called as the "final four" in that country. "Final Four" is now a registered trademark exclusive to the American NCAA and no other organizing body within the U.S. can use that name in referring to their tournaments.

Contents

History

The Final Four in which the four teams (out of eight) with the best records qualify for the postseason playoff games was instituted in Season 56 (199394). Previously the postseason was a championship series between the top two teams, with the No. 1 seeded team holding the twice to beat advantage, i.e., they have to win only once to clinch the championship. The No. 2 team has to win twice.

The tournament is now conducted in three stages with the institution of the Final Four playoffs:

On the first year of the implementation of the Final Four playoffs in men's basketball, the University of Santo Tomas swept the elimination round, and following the then existing rules, the Glowing Goldies were awarded the championship outright. After that season, the UAAP revised the rule so that the team that sweeps the regular stage will instead advance to the best-of-3 Finals automatically. While the No. 2 team will have the twice to beat advantage in the semifinals where it awaits the winner of the game between the No. 3 and No. 4 teams. [1]

The revised postseason format was implemented in Season 57 (1994–95) but it was not until Season 70 (2007–08) that a team swept the elimination round. The University of the East was the first to accomplish this feat under the new format, causing the sweep clause to be used. UE thus automatically advanced to the Finals but this reward became a bane as the Red Warriors had to wait for 21 days before the championship series can be started due to several factors, namely, the unavailability of the playing venue (Araneta Coliseum), two tie-breaker games and two semifinal games. The Red Warriors became rusty, so to speak, causing them to lose the championship series 20 against La Salle (their last elimination round opponent). As a result, the Policy Board formulated the "bonus rule" in which the team that sweeps the elimination rounds will qualify for the Finals outright and will have a thrice-to-beat advantage. This meant that the number 1 seeded team will only need to win twice; the other finalist needs to win thrice, thus giving the sweeper a 1–0 lead in a virtual best-of-five. [2]

Ties among the semifinalists were broken by an extra game, irrespective of the seedings. Ergo, in a tie for the 2nd seed, the game that will be used to break the tie serves as a de facto game one of a best-of-three series. If two teams are tied for the fourth seed, the game that will be used to break the tie serves as a knockout game between the two. If three or more teams are tied, the team with the best points difference gets a bye to the final tie-breaker game against the winner/s of the teams with the lower points difference. In Season 72 (200910), the league introduced the "common sense" rule in determining seedings for the playoffs in case of ties. [3] This means not all ties in the semifinals will be broken by a one-game playoff. Only ties for second and fourth are broken by an extra game. Ties for first and third are broken by the points difference of the tied teams. Starting Season 79, however, the thrice-to-beat advantage for the top-seeded team (in cases of the double elimination round sweep) was removed, but the stepladder semifinals format (second-seeded team still with the twice-to-beat advantage against the 2 lower-seeded teams in the Final Four) and the automatic Finals slot incentive for the top-seeded team remained. [4]

Starting In Season 85, the UAAP removed the twice-to-beat advantage for the #2 seed in the stepladder series, to remove the "undue advantage." [5]

Format

Current format:

Former formats:

Results

Television and radio

The Final Four is heavily covered by the media. With the UAAP as one of the leading collegiate leagues in the country, the Final Four games are broadcast live throughout the country.

From 2000 to 2020, the UAAP Finals and the Final Four games, were broadcast by ABS-CBN's UHF channel Studio 23 nationwide and produced by ABS-CBN Sports. Prior to Studio 23, the games were broadcast by Silverstar Sports on the state-controlled People's Television VHF channel 4. Since July 2009, the UAAP is also aired in high definition through cable channel Balls, via their channel Balls HD. Upon signing a new contract at the conclusion of UAAP Season 72 in October 2009, the Finals will be aired through VHF television channel ABS-CBN 2, beginning in 2010 and renewed again in October 2013 at the conclusion of UAAP Season 76. Prior to 2001, the games were also aired live on DZSR Sports Radio 918-AM; after ABS-CBN's takeover of broadcast rights, its Manila FM station 101.9 For Life! aired updates during and after the games, but not blow-by-blow coverages. In 2010, radio coverage of the games were aired on DZRJ-AM 810.

Starting the 2021-2022 season, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of ABS-CBN on free television since 2020, the UAAP has signed new broadcast rights with Cignal TV, resulting in the establishment of the UAAP Varsity Channel dedicated to live broadcasts and archived games of the league across selected events. One Sports and TV5 have also signed in to televise the games live nationwide, with the latter catering to all post-season matches for both basketball and volleyball tournaments.

Statistics (Men's Basketball)

Appearances

TeamSemifinal
appearances
Last semis
appearance
First semis
appearance
Finals
appearances
Highest
seed
Adamson colors.svg  Adamson 820242006-2nd
Ateneo colors.svg  Ateneo 2320231999151st
La Salle colors.svg  La Salle 2320241994181st
FEU colors.svg  FEU 2220211994101st
NU colors.svg  NU 72023200111st
UE colors.svg  UE 122009199421st
UP colors.svg  UP 82024199651st
UST colors.svg  UST 172024199491st

Notes:

Season-by-season performances

Champion
Runners-up
Semifinalist, lost with twice to beat advantage
Semifinalist, lost with twice to win disadvantage
Lost in 4th-seed playoff
Suspended
Tournament cancelled
1elimination round ranking
sGame was forfeited.
School94959697989900010203040506070809101112131415161718192021 a 222324
Adamson colors.svg  AdU 68788887567477532678843265454
Ateneo colors.svg  ADMU 675663223133131121151321111148
La Salle colors.svg  DLSU 12131111142222646423512553521
FEU colors.svg  FEU 447124335211553213532234434776
NU colors.svg  NU 786877748888768755314456786337
UE colors.svg  UE 234535552344214367765677878665
UP colors.svg  UP 553456676755686888887765322212
UST colors.svg  UST 312242464676345474246188647883

Notes:

a. ^ 2021-22 season was played in early 2022.

Win–loss statistics

Entire playoffs

TeamPldWLPCT
La Salle colors.svg  La Salle 774730.610
Ateneo colors.svg  Ateneo 734330.589
UST colors.svg  UST 533023.566
FEU colors.svg  FEU 612833.459
UP colors.svg  UP 211011.476
NU colors.svg  NU 1468.429
UE colors.svg  UE 26422.154
Adamson colors.svg  Adamson 12111.083
Updated to match(es) played on UAAP Season 86. Source: [ citation needed ]

Series statistics

TeamPldWLPCT
La Salle colors.svg  La Salle 402614.650
Ateneo colors.svg  Ateneo 412615.634
FEU colors.svg  FEU 321418.438
UST colors.svg  UST 271413.519
UP colors.svg  UP 1486.571
NU colors.svg  NU 826.250
UE colors.svg  UE 13112.077
Adamson colors.svg  Adamson 808.000
Updated to match(es) played on UAAP Season 87. Source: [ citation needed ]

Finals

TeamPldWLPCT
Ateneo colors.svg  Ateneo 15105.667
La Salle colors.svg  La Salle 18810.444
FEU colors.svg  FEU 1055.500
UST colors.svg  UST 945.444
NU colors.svg  NU 1101.000
UE colors.svg  UE 202.000
UP colors.svg  UP 523.400
Adamson colors.svg  Adamson 000
Updated to match(es) played on UAAP Season 87. Source: [ citation needed ]

Finals statistics

Note: FEU was awarded the 2004 championship title due to La Salle's fielding of ineligible players from 2003 to 2005 thus forfeiting their wins and revoking La Salle's final team standings from those seasons.

Semifinals statistics

Most frequent matchups

The most frequently played matchups are:

MatchupSemifinalsFinalsTotal
FEU vs. La Salle6511
Ateneo vs. FEU7310
Ateneo vs. La Salle 5510
La Salle vs. UST 459
Ateneo vs. UST437
FEU vs. UE 505
Ateneo vs. UP 134
Ateneo vs. UE213
La Salle vs. UE213
FEU vs. UST213
Adamson vs. Ateneo303
Adamson vs. La Salle303
La Salle vs. UP123
NU vs. UST303
UP vs. UST 303
La Salle vs. NU202
UE vs. UST202

Seeds

In the 30 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 in 26 out of the 28 times (93%).
    • The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 21 times on the first game (81%).
    • The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 5 times on the second game (19%).
    • The only times the No. 1 seed was beaten by the No. 4 seed were during the NU-UST matchup in 2013 (UST won), and the Ateneo-NU matchup in 2014 (NU won).
  2. The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed 21 out of 29 times (72%).
    • The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed 16 times on the first game (76%).
    • The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed 5 times on the second game (24%).
      • Out of the 8 times the No. 2 seed was beaten, the No. 2 seed was UE thrice (38%) and Adamson twice (25%).
  3. The No. 4 seed has beaten the No. 2 seed 1 out of 1 times (100%).
    • The only time the No. 2 seed was beaten by the No. 4 seed was during the UST-UP matchup in 2019 (UST won) due to the stepladder format.
  4. The No. 3 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 1 out of 2 times (50%).
    • With UE sweeping the elimination round, there were two semifinal rounds for 2007.
    • With Ateneo sweeping the elimination round, there were two semifinal rounds for 2019.
  5. The No. 1 seed skipped the semifinals twice (7%; in 2007, when UE swept the elimination round, and in 2019, when Ateneo swept the elimination round)

A victory of the No. 3 seed in a series is considered a big upset considering that the No. 3 seed has to win twice, not to mention the perceived superiority of the No. 2 seed when compared to the No. 3 seed.

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 11 of 18 times (61%)
  2. The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed 5 of 8 times (63%)
  3. The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 1 of 1 times (100%)
  4. The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 1 seed 7 of 18 times (39%)
  5. The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 1 of 2 times (50%)
  6. The No. 3 seed has beaten the No. 1 seed 3 of 8 times (38%)
  7. The No. 4 seed has beaten the No. 2 seed 1 of 2 times (50%)
  8. The No. 1 seed has won the championship 17 of 29 times (59%)

Individual single-game records

Stats since the 2001 season.

StatisticNameTotalSchoolOpponentStage
Most points Thirdy Ravena 38Ateneo colors.svg  Ateneo UP colors.svg  UP 2018 Finals
Most rebounds Raymar Jose
23FEU colors.svg  FEU Ateneo colors.svg  Ateneo 2016 Semifinals
Most assists Renzo Subido 12UST colors.svg  UST UP colors.svg  UP 2019 Semifinals
Most steals Elmer Espiritu
Pocholo Villanueva
5UE colors.svg  UE
La Salle colors.svg  La Salle
Ateneo colors.svg  Ateneo
UE colors.svg  UE
2008 Semifinals
2007 Finals
Most blocks Angelo Kouame 8Ateneo colors.svg  Ateneo UP colors.svg  UP 2021-22 Finals

*game went into overtime.

See also

References

  1. Jasmine Payo (September 14, 2007). "UE completes 14-0, but barely". Philippine Daily Inquirer . Archived from the original on September 15, 2007.
  2. Jasmine Payo (June 28, 2008). "Additional incentive for UAAP sweep". Philippine Daily Inquirer . Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved June 28, 2008.
  3. Villar, Joey (June 13, 2009). "UAAP okays rules on tiebreak, instant replay". The Philippine Star . Archived from the original on September 9, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  4. Lintag, Paul (August 30, 2016). "No more thrice-to-beat advantage for UAAP Season 79". ABS-CBN Sports . Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  5. Karl Cedrick, Basco (2023-05-03). "UAAP: Why no. 2 UST doesn't have twice-to-beat edge in men's volleyball". ABS-CBN News .
  6. "UP smothers La Salle in most one-sided UAAP MBB Finals game in 25 years". Tiebreaker Times. November 29, 2023.