The UAAP Final Four refers to the postseasons 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" in that country. "Final Four" is now a registered trademark exclusive to the American NCAA and no other organizing body within the U.S. can use that name in referring to their tournaments.
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 No. 1 seeded team holding the twice to beat advantage, i.e., they have to win only once to clinch the championship. The No. 2 team has to win twice.
The tournament is now conducted in three stages with the institution of the Final Four playoffs:
On the first year of the implementation of the Final Four playoffs in men's basketball, 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 regular stage will instead advance to the best-of-3 Finals automatically. While the No. 2 team will have the twice to beat advantage in the semifinals where it awaits the winner of the game between the No. 3 and No. 4 teams.[1]
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 round. 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 several factors, namely, the unavailability of the playing venue (Araneta Coliseum), two tie-breaker games and two semifinal games. The Red Warriors became rusty, so to speak, 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 and will have a thrice-to-beat advantage. This meant that the number 1 seeded team 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.[2]
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, the team with the best points difference gets a bye to the final tie-breaker game against the winner/s of the teams with the lower points difference. In Season 72 (2009 - 10), the league introduced the "common sense" rule in determining seedings for the playoffs in case of ties.[3] This means not all ties in the semifinals will be broken by a one-game playoff. 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. Starting Season 79, however, the thrice-to-beat advantage for the top-seeded team (in cases of the double elimination round sweep) was removed, but the stepladder semifinals format (second-seeded team still with the twice-to-beat advantage against the 2 lower-seeded teams in the Final Four) and the automatic Finals slot incentive for the top-seeded team remained.[4]
Starting In Season 85, the UAAP removed the twice-to-beat advantage for the #2 seed in the stepladder series, to remove the "undue advantage."[5]
5 games in the Finals wins the championship.
See main article: List of UAAP Final Four results.
The Final Four 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.
From 2000 to 2020, the UAAP Finals 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. Since July 2009, the UAAP is also aired in high definition through cable channel Balls, via their channel Balls HD. Upon signing a new contract at the conclusion of UAAP Season 72 in October 2009, the Finals will be aired through VHF television channel ABS-CBN 2, beginning in 2010 and renewed again in October 2013 at the conclusion of UAAP Season 76. 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! aired updates during and after the games, but not blow-by-blow coverages. In 2010, radio coverage of the games were aired on DZRJ-AM 810.
Starting the 2021-2022 season, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of ABS-CBN on free television since 2020, the UAAP has signed new broadcast rights with Cignal TV, resulting in the establishment of the UAAP Varsity Channel dedicated to live broadcasts and archived games of the league across selected events. One Sports and TV5 have also signed in to televise the games live nationwide, with the latter catering to all post-season matches for both basketball and volleyball tournaments.
| Team | Semifinal appearances | Last semis appearance | First semis appearance | Finals appearances | Highest seed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 2022 | 2006 | - | 2nd | ||
| 23 | 2023 | 1999 | 15 | 1st | ||
| 22 | 2023 | 1994 | 17 | 1st | ||
| 22 | 2021 | 1994 | 10 | 1st | ||
| 7 | 2023 | 2001 | 1 | 1st | ||
| 12 | 2009 | 1994 | 2 | 1st | ||
| 7 | 2023 | 1996 | 4 | 1st | ||
| 16 | 2019 | 1994 | 9 | 1st |
| Champion | ||
| Runners-up | ||
| Semifinalist, lost with twice to beat advantage | ||
| Semifinalist, lost with twice to win disadvantage | ||
| Lost in 4th-seed playoff | ||
| Suspended | ||
| Tournament cancelled | ||
| 1 | elimination round ranking | |
| Game was forfeited. |
| School | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | ||||||
| 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 7 | |||||
| 7 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 6 | |||||
| 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| bgcolor=gold | 3 | bgcolor=gold | 1 | bgcolor=gold | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
a.2021-22 season was played in early 2022.
Note: FEU was awarded the 2004 championship title due to La Salle's fielding of ineligible players from 2003 to 2005 thus forfeiting their wins and revoking La Salle's final team standings from those seasons.
The most frequently played matchups are:
| Matchup | Semifinals | Finals | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| FEU vs. La Salle | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| Ateneo vs. FEU | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| Ateneo vs. La Salle | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| La Salle vs. UST | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| Ateneo vs. UST | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| FEU vs. UE | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Ateneo vs. UP | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Ateneo vs. UE | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| La Salle vs. UE | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| FEU vs. UST | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Ateneo vs. Adamson | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| UST vs. NU | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| La Salle vs. Adamson | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| La Salle vs. NU | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| La Salle vs. UP | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| UE vs. UST | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| UP vs. UST | 2 | 0 | 2 |
In the 29 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:
A victory of the No. 3 seed in a series is considered a big upset considering that the No. 3 seed has to win twice, not to mention the perceived superiority of the No. 2 seed when compared to the No. 3 seed.
In the finals, the advantage of the No. 1 seed isn't as pronounced since the competing teams have to win the same number of games:
Stats since the 2001 season.
| Statistic | Name | Total | School | Opponent | Stage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most points | 38 | 2018 Finals | ||||
| Most rebounds | Raymar Jose | 23 | 2016 Semifinals | |||
| Most assists | Renzo Subido | 12 | 2019 Semifinals | |||
| Most steals | 5 | 2008 Semifinals 2007 Finals | ||||
| Most blocks | 8 | 2021 Finals |