NCAA Final Four (Philippines) explained

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.

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

See main article: List of NCAA Final Four results (Philippines).

Statistics

Seniors tournament

Appearances

Team Semifinal
appearances
Last semis
appearance
First semis
appearance
Finals
appearances
Highest
seed
2 2016 2014 2 2nd
18 2022 1997 11 1st
5 2023 2000 3 1st
13 2017 1999 3 1st
5 2023 2018 2 1st
12 2023 1997 2 1st
4 2006 2002 3 2nd
20 2023 1997 16 1st
15 2019 1997 9 1st
10 2021 1998 1 1st
Notes:

Best performances

width=10px bgcolor=goldChampion
bgcolor=silver1st Runners-up
bgcolor=#c962nd 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
bgcolor=salmonSuspended
bgcolor=grayNot in the league
C Tournament cancelled
1 group stage ranking
? unknown ranking
Guest school
Under probation
School 979899000102030405060708091011121314151617181920212223
bgcolor=gray colspan=12--10bgcolor=gray colspan=14--
bgcolor=gray colspan=12--5678725268 10 bgcolor=D3D3D3 rowspan=7C6710
3bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold4 766bgcolor=gold1 3 bgcolor=gold1 3 bgcolor=silver2 3 4 53 bgcolor=silver3 bgcolor=silver2 6bgcolor=gold2 653 bgcolor=gold3 bgcolor=gold1bgcolor=gold29
bgcolor=gray--? 73 4 bgcolor=silver2 68687687899581085 5 5bgcolor=silver1bgcolor=#c964
bgcolor=gray colspan=12--791075910879 9 7107
67bgcolor=silver2 1 bgcolor=silver1 4 3 7873 bgcolor=silver2 3 3 4 583 4 53 10 8 1096
bgcolor=gray colspan=14--6106 799bgcolor=silver1 bgcolor=silver22 932
4?6 53 54 5 3 4 4 4 64 5610 103 3 107 6 bgcolor=silver26bgcolor=silver1
7?8 853 8bgcolor=gold2 bgcolor=silver2 bgcolor=silver2 bgcolor=salmon7bgcolor=gray colspan=15--
bgcolor=silver24 568754 7bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=silver1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=silver1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold2 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=silver1 bgcolor=D3D3D3 rowspan=3C34bgcolor=gold3
bgcolor=gold1bgcolor=silver2 1 bgcolor=silver4 bgcolor=gold2 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=silver2 64 655bgcolor=gold2 bgcolor=silver2 bgcolor=silver2 2 38774 6 4 858
53 3 2 787bgcolor=silver1 55689894 4 4 64 94 7 485
Notes

Semifinals and knockout games

Team Pld W L PCT
30 24 6 0.800
7 5 2 0.714
30 19 11 0.633
10 5 5 0.500
26 13 13 0.500
22 8 14 0.363
20 7 13 0.350
20 6 14 0.300
8 2 6 0.250
5 1 4 0.200
Finals
Team Pld W L PCT
34 24 10 0.706
2918 11 0.620
8 4 4 0.500
7 3 4 0.429
19 8 11 0.421
8 2 6 0.250
4 0 4 0.000
4 0 4 0.000
2 0 2 0.000
2 0 2 0.000
Entire playoffs
Team Pld W L PCT
64 48 16 0.750
59 37 22 0.627
15 9 6 0.600
17 8 9 0.470
45 21 24 0.467
30 10 20 0.333
22 7 15 0.318
22 6 16 0.273
12 2 10 0.167
8 1 8 0.111

Finals statistics

Semifinals

Most frequent matchups

The most frequently played matchups are:

Matchup Semifinals Finals Total
San Beda vs. Letran3 5 8
6 2 8
San Sebastian vs. JRU6 1 7
San Beda vs. Perpetual6 0 6
San Beda vs. San Sebastian1 4 5
Mapúa vs. San Beda 4 1 5
Letran vs. Mapúa3 1 4
San Beda vs. Lyceum 1 2 3
Letran vs. JRU 2 1 3
Letran vs. PCU 2 1 3
San Beda vs. JRU 2 1 3
Letran vs. Lyceum3 0 3
0 2 2
San Sebastian vs. Benilde 0 2 2

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.

Statistic Name Total School Opponent Stage
Most points 43 2012 Semifinals
Most rebounds Allwell Oraeme 24 2016 Semifinals
Most assists Roldan Sara 11 2016 Finals
Most steals Roldan Sara 11 2016 Finals
Most blocks 9 2013 Semifinals
2005 Semifinals

Juniors tournament

Appearances

Team Semifinal
appearances
Last semis
appearance
First semis
appearance
Finals
appearances
Highest
seed
0 - - 0 -
0 - - 0 -
0 - - 0 -
0 - - 0 -
0 - - 0 -
0 - - 0 -
0 - - 0 -
0 - - 0 -
0 - - 0 -
0 - - 0 -
Notes:

Best performances

width=10px bgcolor=goldChampion
bgcolor=silverRunner-up
Twice to beat advantage
Semifinalist
Lost in 4th-seed playoff
bgcolor=salmonSuspended
bgcolor=grayNot in the league
C Tournament cancelled
1 group stage ranking
? unknown ranking
Guest school
Under probation
School 9899000102030405060708091011121314151617181920212223
bgcolor=gray colspan=11--10bgcolor=gray colspan=14--
bgcolor=gray colspan=11--897697bgcolor=silver34675 bgcolor=D3D3D3 rowspan=6Cbgcolor=D3D3D3 rowspan=6C710
34?bgcolor=gold1 65bgcolor=silver277bgcolor=silver2bgcolor=silver2bgcolor=silver242463 76397bgcolor=gold12
bgcolor=gray colspan=11--984981069101010106
? ? ? ? ? ? ? 4443 4687549894698
bgcolor=gray--?????4555465bgcolor=silver33 bgcolor=silver3543 bgcolor=gold4bgcolor=silver14bgcolor=silver37
bgcolor=gray colspan=13--10101085585bgcolor=silver28 9
?bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 ? ???887bgcolor=gray colspan=16--
bgcolor=gray colspan=10--777554bgcolor=silver12 bgcolor=gold2bgcolor=silver2bgcolor=gold29CC44
? ? ? ? ? ? 3 3 bgcolor=silver1bgcolor=salmonbgcolor=gray colspan=16--
bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=silver23bgcolor=silver2bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=silver23 3 5bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold2bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=silver113 bgcolor=gold1bgcolor=D3D3D3 rowspan=3Cbgcolor=D3D3D3 rowspan=3C25
? ? ? ? ??? bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold2bgcolor=gold1 bgcolor=gold1 3 bgcolor=silver26bgcolor=silver2268105 8353
? ? ? ? ? ? ? 666653987910776861
Notes

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

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Atencio . Peter . 1997-07-03 . It's now the Final Four . 2023-11-18 . Google News newspaper archive . The Manila Standard.