NCAA Final Four (Philippines)
Encyclopedia
The NCAA Final Four most often refers to the playoff
s 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.
Notes:
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:
*overtime game.
Beginning in 2002, the NCAA, and the Final Four games, were broadcast by ABS-CBN
's UHF
channel Studio 23
nationwide, being produced by ABS-CBN Sports
. Prior to Studio 23, the games were broadcast irregularly by different broadcast partners. Since 2009, the games are also aired in high definition, through Balls
subsidiary Balls HD.
Playoff
The playoffs, postseason, or finals of a sports league are a game or series of games played after the regular season by the top competitors, usually but not always with a single-elimination system, to determine the league champion or a similar accolade.In the U.S...
s of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines)
National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines)
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is an athletics association of nine colleges and universities in the Philippines. Established in 1924, the NCAA is the oldest athletic association in the Philippines...
(NCAA) seniors' basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
tournament.
The term "final four" came from National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
' men's Division I basketball tournament
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
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, the team with the best head-to-head record usually possesses the best seeding, while the other teams will play an extra game to determine the second-best seeding,
Appearances
| Team | Semifinal appearances | Last semis appearance | First semis appearance | Finals appearances | Highest seed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 2011 | 1998 | 5 | 1st | |
| 3 | 2002 | 2000 | 2 | 2nd | |
| 10 | 2011 | 1999 | 3 | 1st | |
| 7 | 2010 | 2001 | - | 3rd | |
| 4 | 2006 | 2002 | 3 | 2nd | |
| 8 | 2011 | 1998 | 6 | 1st | |
| 10 | 2011 | 1998 | 8 | 1st | |
| 4 | 2004 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||||
| 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||||
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | |||||
| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Semifinals and knockout games
| Team | Pld | W | L | PCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 5 | 2 | 0.714 | |
| 11 | 8 | 3 | 0.700 | |
| 6 | 4 | 2 | 0.667 | |
| 16 | 9 | 7 | 0.571 | |
| 17 | 8 | 9 | 0.467 | |
| 14 | 6 | 8 | 0.461 | |
| 11 | 3 | 8 | 0.273 | |
| 6 | 1 | 5 | 0.167 |
Finals
| Team | Pld | W | L | PCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 8 | 4 | 0.667 | |
| 17 | 9 | 8 | 0.600 | |
| 14 | 10 | 4 | 0.600 | |
| 2 | 4 | 4 | 0.500 | |
| 4 | 2 | 2 | 0.500 | |
| 8 | 2 | 6 | 0.250 | |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.000 | |
| 0 | -- | -- | -- |
Entire playoffs
| Team | Pld | W | L | PCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | 17 | 7 | 0.650 | |
| 28 | 17 | 11 | 0.615 | |
| 10 | 6 | 4 | 0.600 | |
| 15 | 9 | 6 | 0.600 | |
| 33 | 15 | 18 | 0.483 | |
| 22 | 8 | 14 | 0.381 | |
| 11 | 3 | 8 | 0.273 | |
| 8 | 1 | 7 | 0.125 |
Semifinals
| Team | Pld | W | L | PCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 7 | 2 | 0.750 | |
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 0.750 | |
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 0.667 | |
| 10 | 5 | 5 | 0.625 | |
| 7 | 5 | 2 | 0.667 | |
| 9 | 3 | 6 | 0.375 | |
| 4 | 1 | 3 | 0.250 | |
| 6 | 0 | 6 | 0.000 |
Finals
| Team | Pld | W | L | PCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 4 | 1 | 0.800 | |
| 6 | 5 | 1 | 0.800 | |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | |
| 7 | 3 | 4 | 0.500 | |
| 3 | 1 | 2 | 0.333 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 0 | 3 | 0.000 | |
| 0 | -- | -- | --- |
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: SSC-R with 8 San Beda with 6 and Letran, 5
- Consecutive finals appearances: San Beda, 6 (2006–11) SSC-R, 4 (2000–03)
- Championships: San Beda (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011),5 Letran (1998, 1999, 2003, 2005),4 SSC-R(2001,2002,2009), 3
- Consecutive championships: San Beda (2006–08), 3
Semifinals
- Most lopsided game: Letran 93-60 SSC-R, 2005 (33 points)
- Closest game: Letran 65-64 PCU, 2004 (1 point)
- Semifinal appearances: Letran, 10 SSC-R, 9 JRU, 9 San Beda 7, Mapua 7
- Consecutive semifinal appearances: Letran (2003–09),7 and San Sebastian (1999–2003),6
Most frequent matchups
The five most frequently played matchups are:| Matchup | Semifinals | Finals | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letran vs. SSC-R | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| JRU vs. SSC-R | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Mapua vs. San Beda | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Letran vs. PCU | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| San Beda vs. SSC-R | 0 | 3 | 3 |
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 | Sunday Salvacion Sunday Salvacion Sunday Salvacion is a Filipino professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association currently playing for the Barako Bull Energy... |
39 | 2001 Semifinals | ||
| Most rebounds | Calvin Abueva Sam Ekwe |
23** 19 |
|
|
2009 Finals 2008 Finals |
| Most assists | Michael Gonzales Jason Castro Jason Castro (basketball player) Jason Williams Castro is a Filipino basketball player. He played for the Philippine Christian University Dolphins in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Philippine Basketball League teams Hapee-PCU Teeth Protectors and Harbour Centre Batang Pier... |
10 | |
|
2002 Finals 2004 Finals |
| Most steals | RJ Jazul | 8 | 2008 Semifinals | ||
| Most blocks | Mark Andaya Mark Andaya Mark Anthony Andaya is a professional basketball player who last played for the Barako Bull Energy Boosters in the Philippine Basketball Association. He was drafted eighth overall by Talk 'N Text in 2006. After playing for the Philippine Patriots in the Asean Basketball League, he was acuqired by... Sam Ekwe |
7* 6 |
|
|
2004 Semifinals 2006 Finals |
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 2002, the NCAA, and the Final Four games, were broadcast by ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN
ABS–CBN Corporation is a Philippine-based media conglomerate. It is the Philippines' largest media and entertainment conglomerate. The corporation was the merger of Alto Broadcasting System which at that time owned by James Lindenberg and Antonio Quirino, and the Chronicle Broadcasting Network ...
's UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
channel Studio 23
Studio 23
Studio 23 is a Filipino television network owned by the ABS-CBN Corporation. The network is named for its flagship station in Metro Manila, DWAC-TV, which is carried on UHF channel 23...
nationwide, being produced by ABS-CBN Sports
ABS-CBN Sports
ABS-CBN Sports is the sports division of the Philippine media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation, which airs some of the notable sports events in the Philippines....
. Prior to Studio 23, the games were broadcast irregularly by different broadcast partners. Since 2009, the games are also aired in high definition, through Balls
Balls (TV channel)
Balls is a Filipino sports television network owned by Creative Programs, Inc., a subsidiary of ABS-CBN. It is managed by the sports division of ABS-CBN Corporation, ABS-CBN Sports. The channel operates non-stop 24/7.-History:...
subsidiary Balls HD.