NCAA Final Four (Philippines)

Final team standings for men's basketball since 1999.

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.
• 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,

Results

Main article: List of NCAA Final Four results (Philippines)

Statistics

Appearances

Team	Semifinal appearances	Last semis appearance	First semis appearance	Finals appearances	Highest seed
Letran	10	2011	1998	5	1st
CSB	3	2002	2000	2	2nd
JRU	10	2011	1999	3	1st
Mapúa	7	2010	2001	-	3rd
PCU	4	2006	2002	3	2nd
San Beda	8	2011	1998	6	1st
SSC-R	10	2011	1998	8	1st
UPHSD	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
AUF	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		--	--
Arellano	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Letran	1	4				1	3	1	3	2	3	4		3
CSB			3	4	2
EAC	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
JRU		2	1	1	4	3				3	2	3	3	4
Lyceum	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Mapúa				3		4		3	4	4	4		4
PCU					3		2	2	2			--	--	--
San Beda	4						4		1	1	1	1	1	1
SSC-R	2	1	4	2	1	2		4				2	2	2
UPHSD	3	3	2				1

Win-loss statistics

Semifinals and knockout games Team Pld W L PCT  PCU 7 5 2 0.714  San Beda 11 8 3 0.700  CSB 6 4 2 0.667  Letran 16 9 7 0.571  SSC-R 17 8 9 0.467  JRU 14 6 8 0.461  Mapúa 11 3 8 0.273  UPHSD 6 1 5 0.167

Finals Team Pld W L PCT  Letran 12 8 4 0.667  SSC-R 17 9 8 0.600  San Beda 14 10 4 0.600  PCU 2 4 4 0.500  CSB 4 2 2 0.500  JRU 8 2 6 0.250  UPHSD 2 0 2 0.000  Mapúa 0 -- -- --

Entire playoffs Team Pld W L PCT  San Beda 24 17 7 0.650  Letran 28 17 11 0.615  CSB 10 6 4 0.600  PCU 15 9 6 0.600  SSC-R 33 15 18 0.483  JRU 22 8 14 0.381  Mapúa 11 3 8 0.273  UPHSD 8 1 7 0.125

Series statistics

Semifinals Team Pld W L PCT  SSC-R 9 7 2 0.750  PCU 4 3 1 0.750  CSB 3 2 1 0.667  Letran 10 5 5 0.625  San Beda 7 5 2 0.667  JRU 9 3 6 0.375  UPHSD 4 1 3 0.250  Mapúa 6 0 6 0.000

Finals Team Pld W L PCT  Letran 5 4 1 0.800  San Beda 6 5 1 0.800  CSB 2 1 1 0.500  SSC-R 7 3 4 0.500  PCU 3 1 2 0.333  UPHSD 1 0 1 0.000  JRU 2 0 3 0.000  Mapúa 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:

1. 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%)
2. 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%).
3. The #3 seed has beaten the #4 once
   • With San Beda sweeping the elimination round, there were two semifinal rounds for 2010.
4. 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:

1. The #1 seed has beaten the #2 seed 7 times (64%)
2. The #2 seed has beaten the #1 seed 2 times (18%)
3. 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.
4. The #4 seed has beaten the #2 seed 1 time (9%)
5. 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	39	CSB	JRU	2001 Semifinals
Most rebounds	Calvin Abueva Sam Ekwe	23** 19	SSC-R  San Beda	San Beda  JRU	2009 Finals 2008 Finals
Most assists	Michael Gonzales Jason Castro	10	SSC-R  PCU	CSB  UPHDS	2002 Finals 2004 Finals
Most steals	RJ Jazul	8	Letran	JRU	2008 Semifinals
Most blocks	Mark Andaya Sam Ekwe	7* 6	Letran  San Beda	PCU  PCU	2004 Semifinals 2006 Finals

*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 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.

See also

• UAAP Final Four

References