NCAA Final Four (Philippines)
The NCAA Final Four most often refers to the playoffs of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) (NCAA) seniors' basketball tournament.
The term "final four" came from National Collegiate Athletic Association of the United States' men's Division I basketball tournament which is colloquially called as the "final four".
The final four was instituted in 1998; prior to that the first and second round winners, plus the team with the best overall standing if it did not win either round, participated in the championship round to determine the champion.
Format
- If no team sweeps the elimination round:
- Seeds #1 and #2 teams possess the twice to beat advantage
- Team #1 meets #4 while #2 meets #3 in the semifinals.
- The semifinal winners advance to the Finals.
- The team that wins 2 games in the Finals wins the championship.
- If a team sweeps the elimination round:
- Seed #1 advance to the Finals.
- Prior to 2008, the #1 seed had the twice-to-beat advantage in the finals.
- From 2008 to 2009, the Finals was a best-of-three series.
- Seed #2 advance to the semifinals.
- Teams #3 and #4 face off to meet #2 in the semifinals in a one-game playoff.
- In the finals, the #1 seed only has to win twice, while the other opponent has to win thrice.
- Seed #1 advance to the Finals.
- In case of two teams being tied, an extra game will be played to determine which seed they will possess.
- In case of three or more teams being tied, a quotient system will decide which team possesses the best seeding, while the other teams will play an extra game to determine the second-best seeding. The winner will face the holder of the best seeding for a playoff slot.
Results
Statistics
Appearances
| Team | Semifinal appearances | Last semis appearance | First semis appearance | Finals appearances | Highest seed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Arellano | 1 | 2014 | 2014 | 1 | 2nd |
 Letran | 13 | 2015 | 1998 | 8 | 1st |
 CSB | 3 | 2002 | 2000 | 2 | 2nd |
 JRU | 12 | 2015 | 1999 | 3 | 1st |
 Mapúa | 8 | 2015 | 2001 | - | 3rd |
 PCU | 4 | 2006 | 2002 | 3 | 2nd |
 San Beda | 12 | 2015 | 1998 | 10 | 1st |
 SSC-R | 12 | 2013 | 1998 | 8 | 1st |
 UPHSD | 7 | 2014 | 1998 | 1 | 1st |
Notes:
- Number of appearance excludes 4th seed elimination games.
Best performances
| Champion | |
| Runner-up | |
| Twice to beat advantage | |
| Semifinalist | |
| Qualified for 4th-seed playoff | |
| Qualified to the first round | |
| Suspended | |
| Not in the league | |
| 1 | Semifinals seed |
| Guest school | |
| Under probabation |
| School | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 AUF |
-- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Arellano |
-- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | ||||||
| Letran |
1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |||||
| CSB |
3 | 4 | 2 | |||||||||||||||
 EAC |
-- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||||||
| JRU |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | ||||||
 Lyceum |
-- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||||
| Mapúa |
3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | ||||||||||
| PCU |
3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||||||
| San Beda |
4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| SSC-R |
2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ||||||
| UPHSD |
3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Win-loss statistics
Semifinals and knockout games
|
Finals
|
Entire playoffs
|
Series statistics
Semifinals
|
Finals
|
Finals statistics
- Most lopsided game: SSC-R 95-62 JRU, 2001 Game 3 (33 points)
- Closest game: Several games, all one-point leads:
- Letran 75-74 JRC, 1999 Game 1
- SSC-R 79-78 St.Benilde, 2002 Game 1
- San Beda 68-67 PCU, 2006 Game 3
- Finals appearances: San Beda 10, SSC-R and Letran, 8
- Consecutive finals appearances: San Beda, 10 (2006–15) SSC-R, 4 (2000–03)
- Championships: San Beda (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014),8 Letran (1998, 1999, 2003, 2005,2015),5 SSC-R(2001,2002,2009), 3
- Consecutive championships: San Beda (2006–08),3 (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)
- Semifinal appearances: Letran 13, SSC-R, JRU & San Beda 12, Mapua 8 and UPHSD 7
- Consecutive semifinal appearances: San Beda (2006-2015),10 Letran(2003-2009),7 San Sebastian (1998–2003),6(2009-2013),5 and JRU(2007-2011),5
Most frequent matchups
The eleven most frequently played matchups are:
| Matchup | Semifinals | Finals | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSC-R vs. Letran | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| SSC-R vs. JRU | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| San Beda vs. Letran | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| San Beda vs. UPHSD | 4 | 0 |
4 |
| Mapúa vs. San Beda | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Letran vs. PCU | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Letran vs. JRU | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| San Beda vs. SSC-R | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| San Beda vs. JRU | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Letran vs. Mapúa | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| SSC-R vs. CSB | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Seeds
In the 11 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:
- The #1 seed has beaten the #4 seed 10 times (91%)
- The #1 seed has beaten the #4 seed 3 times on the second game (27%)
- The #2 seed has beaten the #3 seed 10 times (91%).
- The #2 seed has beaten the #3 seed 3 times on the second game (27%).
- The #3 seed has beaten the #4 once
- With San Beda sweeping the elimination round, there were two semifinal rounds for 2010.
- The #1 seed skipped the semifinals once (7%; in 2010, when San Beda swept the elimination round)
A victory of the #3 and #4 seeds in a series are considered big upsets considering that the #3 and #4 seed have to win twice, not to mention the perceived superiority of the #1 and #2 seeds when compared to the #3 and #4 seeds.
In the finals, the advantage of the #1 seed isn't as pronounced since the competing teams have to win the same number of games:
- The #1 seed has beaten the #2 seed 7 times (64%)
- The #2 seed has beaten the #1 seed 2 times (18%)
- The #3 seed has beaten the #4 seed 1 time (9%)
- 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.
- The #4 seed has beaten the #2 seed 1 time (9%)
- The #1 seed has won the championship 7 times (64%)
Individual single-game records
Stats since the 2001 season.
| Statistic | Name | Total | School | Opponent | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most points | Kevin Alas | 43 | Letran | SSC-R | 2012 Semifinals |
| Most rebounds | Raymond Almazan Calvin Abueva | 23 23** | Letran SSC-R | San Beda San Beda | 2013 Finals 2009 Finals |
| Most assists | Michael Gonzales Jayson Castro | 10 | SSC-R PCU | CSB UPHDS | 2002 Finals 2004 Finals |
| Most steals | RJ Jazul | 8 | Letran | JRU | 2008 Semifinals |
| Most blocks | Raymond Almazan Mark Andaya | 9 | Letran | SSC-R | 2013 Semifinals |
*overtime game
**double overtime game
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 GMA Network from 1974 until 1988 and PTV Channel 4 from 1991 until 2001 season. PTV's coverage was produced by 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
References
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