UAAP Final Four

The UAAP Final Four refers to the playoffs 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".

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 (1993–94). Previously the postseason was a championship series between the top two teams, with the #1 seeded team holding the twice to beat advantage, i.e., they have to win only once to clinch the championship. The #2 team has to win twice.

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

• The two-round eliminations, where a team plays the other teams twice.
• The semifinals, wherein the #1 seeded team plays the 4th seeded team and the #2 seeded team plays the 3rd seeded team. Both #1 and #2 seeded teams possess the twice to beat advantage, while the #3 and #4 have to win twice.
• The finals is a best of three series.

On the first year of the implementation of the Final Four playoffs, 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 finals will instead advance to the best-of-3 finals automatically. While the #2 team will have the twice to beat advantage in the semifinals where it awaits the winner of the game between the #3 and #4 teams.

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 rounds. 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 the unavailability of the Araneta Coliseum, two tie-breaker games, and two semifinal games. The Red Warriors became rusty causing them to lose the championship series 2–0 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 but 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.

For the men's tournament, 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, usually the team with the the best points difference gets a bye to the final tiebreaker game against the winner/s of the teams with the lower points difference. In Season 72 (2009–10), the league abolished the tiebreaker games and instead will use "common sense" in determining seedings for the playoffs in case of ties.

In juniors' and women's tournaments, 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.

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.
  • Seed #2 advance to the semifinals with the twice to beat advantage.
  • 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 UAAP Final Four results

Television and radio

The Final Four is the culmination of the UAAP basketball season and 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.

Beginning year 2000, the UAAP 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.

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! airs updates during and after the games, but not blow-by-blow coverages.

Statistics

Appearances

Team	Semifinal appearances	Last semis appearance	First semis appearance	Finals appearances	Highest seed
Adamson	1	2006	2006	-	4th
Ateneo	11	2009	1999	6	1st
La Salle	14	2008	1994	13	1st
FEU	12	2009	1994	6	1st
NU	1	2001	2001	-	4th
UE	11	2009	1994	2	1st
UP	2	1997	1996	-	3rd
UST	11	2009	1994	5	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
	Suspended
	Not in the league
1	Semifinals seed

School	Year
	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09
Adamson													4
Ateneo						3	2	2	3	1	3	3	1	3	1	1
La Salle	1	2	1	3	1	1	1	1	1	4	2	2		2	2
FEU	4	4		1	2	4	3	3		2	1	1			3	2
NU								4
UE	2	3	4		3				2	3	4	4	2	1	4	3
UP			3	4
UST	3	1	2	2	4	2	4		4				3	4		4

Series statistics

Semifinals

Team	Pld	W	L	PCT
La Salle	14	13	1	0.983
Ateneo	11	7	4	0.636
FEU	12	6	6	0.500
UST	11	5	6	0.455
Adamson	1	0	1	0.000
NU	1	0	1	0.000
UP	2	0	2	0.000
UE	11	1	10	0.091

Finals

Team	Pld	W	L	PCT
UST	5	4	1	0.800
FEU	6	4	2	0.667
Ateneo	6	3	3	0.500
La Salle	13	5	8	0.385
UE	2	0	2	0.000
Adamson	0	--	--	--
NU	0	--	--	--
UP	0	--	--	--

Finals statistics

• Most lopsided game: La Salle 72-47 FEU, 1998 Game 1 (25 points)
• Closest game: Several games, all one-point leads:
  • UST 77-76 La Salle, 1994 Game 3
  • FEU 65-64 La Salle, 1997 Game 2 (championship clincher)
  • Ateneo 73-72 UST, 2006 Game 1
  • La Salle 64-63 UE, 2007 Game 1
• Finals appearances: La Salle, 12
• Consecutive finals appearances: La Salle, 9 (1994-2002)
• Championships: UST (1993-96, 2006) and La Salle (1998-2001, 2007), 5 (including UST's 1993 sweep)
• Consecutive championships: UST (1993-96) and La Salle (1998-2001), 4
• As of 2008, the winner of Game 1 won the championship 10 times out of 15.

Semifinals statistics

• Most lopsided game: La Salle vs NU, 111-85, 2001 (26 points)
• Closest game: Several games, all one-point wins.
• Semifinal appearances: La Salle, 14 (1994-2005, 2007-08)
• Consecutive semifinal appearances: La Salle, 12 (1994-2005)

Most frequent matchups

The five most frequently played matchups are:

Matchup	Semifinals	Finals	Total
Ateneo vs. La Salle	3	4	7
La Salle vs. UST	4	3	7
FEU vs. La Salle	3	4	7
FEU vs. UE	4	0	4
Ateneo vs. FEU	2	1	3

Seeds

In the 15 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 all 15 times (100%).
   • The #1 seed has beaten the #4 seed 3 times on the second game (23%)
2. The #2 seed has beaten the #3 seed 9 times (60%).
   • The #2 seed has beaten the #3 seed 6 times on the second game (43%).
     • Out of those 6 times the #2 seed was beaten, the #2 seed was UE thrice.
3. The #3 seed has beaten the #4 times once
   • With UE sweeping the elimination round, there were two semifinal rounds for 2007.
4. The #1 seed skipped the semifinals once (7%; in 2007, when UE swept the elimination round)

A victory of the #3 seed in a series is considered a big upset considering that the #3 seed has to win twice, not to mention the perceived superiority of the #2 seed when compared to the #3 seed.

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 6 times (43%)
2. The #1 seed has beaten the #3 seed 3 times (21%)
3. The #2 seed has beaten the #1 seed 2 times (14%)
4. The #3 seed has beaten the #1 seed 3 times (21%)
5. The #1 seed has won the championship 9 times (64%)

Individual single-game records

Stats since the 2001 season.

Statistic	Name	Total	School	Opponent	Stage
Most points	Ken Bono	33	Adamson	Ateneo	2006 Semifinals
Most rebounds	Jervy Cruz	18	UST	UE	2006 Semifinals
Most assists	Macky Escalona Mike Cortez Mike Cortez	9	Ateneo  La Salle  La Salle	Adamson  Ateneo  NU	2006 Semiinals 2002 Finals 2001 Semifinals
Most steals	Elmer Espiritu Pocholo Villanueva	5	UE  La Salle	Ateneo  UE	2008 Semifinals 2007 Finals
Most blocks	Nonoy Baclao	7	Ateneo	La Salle	2008 Finals

See also

• NCAA Final Four (Philippines)