| Wide: | yes |
| San Beda–Letran men's basketball rivalry | |
| Team1: | San Beda Red Lions |
| Team1logo: | San Beda colors.svg |
| Team2: | Letran Knights |
| Team2logo: | Letran colors.svg |
| Sport: | Men's basketball |
| Mostrecent: | November 24, 2023 (Filoil EcoOil Centre, San Juan) San Beda, 77–68 |
| Nextmeeting: | TBA |
| Alltimerecord: | NCAA Final Four (Philippines) appearances ----Titles |
| Currentstreak: | San Beda, 4 (2022–present) |
| Longeststreak: | San Beda, 15 (2007–2012) |
The San Beda–Letran rivalry is a multiple sport competition between two Philippine schools. This rivalry is between Mendiola's San Beda and Muralla's Letran. The rivalry is played at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines).
As of October 2016, the San Beda Red Lions have more collegiate championships in the seniors' division compared to the Letran Knights. San Beda has 112 seniors' collegiate championships while Letran has 94. Letran leads the General Championships Tally with 9 titles with San Beda having 7.
San Beda leads Letran 9–4 in different all-time sports categories.
Both schools have yet to win collegiate championships in cheerleading.
Letran leads the General Championship race with 9–7.
As of October 2016, the San Beda Red Cubs leads the rivalry in the juniors' division with 102 championships while the Letran Squires has 70 championships. The Red Cubs also lead the general championships tally with 14 compared to the Squires' 8 general championships.
San Beda leads Letran 6–5 in different all-time sports categories.
San Beda leads the General Championship race with 14–8.[1]
The rivalry started on October 28, 1950, when Letran and San Beda meet in the finals for the first time. Letran then was led by Lauro Mumar while San Beda was led by Carlos Loyzaga. Letran is on the verge of sweeping the tournament to become eventual champions (the Final 4 format was not yet implemented), but San Beda beat them to arrange a championship showdown with the Knights. In the finals, Letran got their sweet revenge as they beat San Beda to get their second title in the NCAA. The Letran team was called "Murder Inc." by the late Willie Hernandez because of their merciless brand of basketball. After that historic match, San Beda kept on winning many championships until the 1970s while Letran ended the 1970s with six championships. During the 1980s the NCAA saw the downfall of the San Beda basketball program while Letran peaked and became a powerhouse team.
The final four was instituted in 1997;[2] [3] 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.
With the exit of their fierce rivals, Ateneo for San Beda and La Salle for Letran, some say the rivalry has died down because of their heaven and earth situation not until in 2006 when the Lions won their 12th championship after 28 years. During that same year San Beda won twice against Letran and denied the Knights to gain a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four.
In 2007, San Beda and Letran played for the championship for the second time which was dubbed "The Dream Finals" because it featured two NCAA teams who have very rich basketball history and tradition. In this series, San Beda had a championship score to settle with Letran (to avenge their defeat in the finals 57 years prior). The Red Lions eventually swept the Knights, 2–0. San Beda's Rogemar Menor was named as the 2007 NCAA Finals MVP. Right now they are the most anticipated games in the NCAA which led to bringing the games at the Araneta Coliseum. They are also compared to UAAP's Ateneo–La Salle where in some columnists say it is the "icing in the cake" of today's NCAA.
Both teams are expected to meet at least 2 times per year.
Since 2007, San Beda leads the rivalry 28–7 but if the game on July 21, 2010, favored San Beda, San Beda will still be the leader of the rivalry but with a better record of 29–6.
For comparison, these are the rankings of these two teams since the Final Four format was introduced.
| Team ╲ Year | 1998 | 2001 | 2004 | 2006 | 2007 | 2009 | 2010 | 2012 | 2013 | 2018 | 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor=silver | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 7 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=silver | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=silver | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 2 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=silver | 1 | bgcolor=D3D3D3 rowspan=2 | C | 3 | 4 | bgcolor=gold | 3 | |
| 3 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 4 | 7 | 6 | 6 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | 3 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | 3 | bgcolor=silver | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | bgcolor=silver | 3 | bgcolor=silver | 2 | 6 | bgcolor=gold | 2 | 6 | 5 | 3 | bgcolor=gold | 3 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 2 | 9 |
| Team ╲ Year | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor=silver | 2 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=silver | 2 | bgcolor=silver | 2 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=silver | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 2 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=silver | 1 | 1 | 3 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=D3D3D3 rowspan=3 | C | bgcolor=D3D3D3 rowspan=3 | C | 2 | 5 | ||
| 3 | 4 | bgcolor=silver | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | 6 | 5 | bgcolor=silver | 2 | 7 | 7 | bgcolor=silver | 2 | bgcolor=silver | 2 | bgcolor=silver | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 7 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | 2 |