NCAA basketball championships (Philippines)

The NCAA basketball championships are the basketball championships of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) (NCAA). There are two tournaments, usually held at the same time, the seniors' tournament for male collegiate students, and the juniors' tournament for male senior high school students. If a school wins both championships in one season, it said that they have won the "double championship."
The tournament commences with a double-round robin of eliminations, where the four teams with the best records advance to the semifinals, with the two top seeds clinching the twice-to-beat advantage. The winners in the semifinals meet in a best-of-3 finals series, in order to determine the champion.
The championship is continually contested since the NCAA's foundation in 1924, except during World War II, during the mid-1960s when scandals rocked the association, in 1980 when the tournament was aborted by the Basketball Association of the Philippines, and from 2020 to 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to NCAA Season 98 (2022), the juniors' tournament was held concurrently with the men's tournament, in the first semester or from June to November. Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, NCAA Season 97 meant to be played in 2021 was postponed to early 2022, and the juniors' tournament was cancelled. The men's tournament of NCAA Season 98 was then played from September to December, then the juniors' tournament from January to March. The NCAA then kept this schedule for all succeeding seasons.
The athletic nicknames of the different teams variously came from the school's founders, or from a distinct quality that separated a school from the others.
In its early years, the NCAA had all of its teams play each other teams once, then the top 4 teams play in the championship round, where the top ranked team is named the champion.
Prior to 1997, when the NCAA had, for most part of its history, six teams, it employed a split season format. The winner of the first round (the team with the highest standing) would notch the first Final berth, while the winner of the second round would notch the second Final berth.
If a team manages to have the best overall record, yet fails to win either round, that team will play the winner of the second round in a playoff game, to face the winner of the first round in the Championship game. The games of the Championship round are all single-elimination matches, until the 1980s when the Championship game was expanded to a best-of-three series.
If a team manages to win both rounds (not necessarily a sweep), the Championship round will be omitted, and that team will be declared outright champions.
In cases of tie, a playoff game will be played to determine which team won the round. If more than two teams are tied, each team will play the teams they are tied with once. If for example, a team won the first round, and is tied with another team for first place at the second round, a playoff game will be played to determine which team wins the round. If the team that won the first round wins in the playoff game, the Championship round will be omitted, since the team won both rounds. If the other team wins, a Championship round will held, since two different teams won the two rounds.
The 2021 tournament, held in early 2022, was in a special format used only for that season. There was only one round of eliminations, and a play-in tournament was held for teams that finished third to sixth; after that, the regular Final Four format was used.
Since 1997, all member schools have fielded their varsity teams in a double round elimination tournament, where the schools play each other twice. The four teams with the best records advance to the crossover semifinals, popularly known as the Final Four.
The two top teams have a twice to beat advantage. The lower ranked teams need to win twice against the higher ranked teams to advance to the best-of-three finals, where the first team to reach two wins becomes the NCAA basketball champion.
In cases of tie, the NCAA has had one game playoffs on some seasons, while none on others.
If any event a team finishes the elimination round undefeated, that team will advance outright to the finals. The third and fourth seeds will have a sudden-death game to determine the opponent of the second seed. Then, the winner of the sudden-death match between the second seed and third/fourth seed advances to the finals to face the first seed.
Previously, the first seed holds a twice to beat advantage in the finals (the finals would not be a best of three affair), until 2008, the finals was in a best-of-three series even if a team swept the elimination round.
Since 2010 the team who sweeps the elimination round will automatically go to the finals with a thrice-to-beat advantage and a 1-0 edge over their opponent, their opponent needs to beat them thrice while the team who sweeps the 2-round elimination will just have to beat their opponents twice.
Some of the Letran team players were products of their Varsity High School Team namely: Ted McKinney, Ramon San Juan, William Alberto and were also part of the 1976 National Inter-Secondary Champion Team that was held in Baguio City wherein they beat their NCAA rival San Beda College with the score of 52-51.
It was a double victory for the Muralla-based cagers as they dominated in winning the Jrs and Srs NCAA Basketball Championship that year. They were also declared the General Champion by the NCAA Management for winning most of the events that the NCAA has provided. It was very sweet for the Knights for getting that award as it was their first time dominating all events.
Basketball, as the most popular sport in the Philippines, receives the most attention from the press and the sports-minded public. As a result, the NCAA Seniors Basketball championship is the most coveted title among the NCAA events.
San Beda has the most Seniors basketball title a record 22 times, followed by Colegio de San Juan de Letran with 20 and the Ateneo de Manila (now with the University Athletic Association of the Philippines) is third with 14.
There is a separate division for high school student-athletes, the Juniors division. San Beda High School has the most titles with 23 while the Malayan High School of Science (formerly Mapúa High School) won 22.
San Beda University leads the overall tally with 45 basketball titles, followed by Letran with 33. Among defunct members, Ateneo has the most championships, with 23.
The current champions are the Mapúa Cardinals (seniors), and the Letran Squires (juniors).
When a school wins both the Juniors (or Midgets pre-1925) and Seniors tournament at the same season, the school is said to have won the double championship.
As of 2023, only seven schools were able to win the double championship:
Ateneo de Manila University, San Beda College and San Sebastian College-Recoletos have the most double championships with six apiece. San Beda College also has the most consecutive double championships with five.
Players of all nationalities were eligible for all awards, until NCAA Season 95 (2019), where a separate category was made for foreigners. From NCAA Season 96 (2020) onwards, rosters were restricted to Filipinos.
Was originally named "Most Outstanding Player" in the 1990s.
This award has only been awarded in the men's tournament.
This award has only been awarded in the men's tournament.
This award has only been awarded in the men's tournament.
Lim Eng Beng of the De La Salle Green Archers currently holds the most points scored in an NCAA seniors' game when he scored 55 points in the 1974 season as he led De La Salle Green Archers to the championship. He scored an average of 32 points in that season which remains the all-time record in average points per game in Philippine Men's NCAA.
In 2009, Joshua Saret of the JRU Light Bombers scored 89 points against the AUF Baby Danes to shatter the all-time high mark set by ex-teammate Keith Agovida at 82 points on September 5, 2008, against the Malayan Red Robins.
Prior to their record-breaking feats, Marlon Bola Bola of the Letran Squires held the single-game record of 71 points in 1970.
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