Colegio de San Juan de Letran's chairman awarded the Head of Sports Varsity and External Relation to the host by giving him the NCAA Flag and to host NCAA Season 97 in the closing ceremony.[1] The Commission on Higher Education held a COVID-19 vaccination drive for the NCAA's student athletes which led the NCAA Management Committee (MANCOM) to seriously consider the return of face-to-face events after solely holding online events in the last season due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.[2]
The opening of season 97 was originally scheduled to begin on March 5, 2022 but was postponed to March 26, 2022 and tipped-off at St. Benilde Gym.[3][4][5]
NCAA Season 97, which has the theme of “Stronger Together. Buo ang Puso”, will have a five gamedays a week calendar (Tuesday-Wednesday & Friday-Sunday). Two games will take place during each gameday. The NCAA will only hold a single round-robin tournament with a play-in. The third- and fourth-ranked teams will face off after the regular season to determine the third seed. The loser of the game will face the winner of the bout between the fifth and sixth-ranked schools to determine the fourth seed.[6]
The season will be held with five gamedays a week calendar, with two games being played in each gameday. These gamedays are scheduled between Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.[7]
Source: GMA Network-NCAA Rules for classification: 1) Number of wins; 2) match points; 3) sets ratio; 4) points ratio; 5) head-to-head record (H) Host Notes:
^As Benilde won all of their elimination round games, the stepladder format will be used instead of the regular Final Four format.