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:
The two-round preliminaries, where a team plays the other teams twice. The four teams with the worst records are eliminated.
The semifinals, wherein the No. 1 seeded team plays the 4th seeded team and the No. 2 seeded team plays the 3rd seeded team. Both No. 1 and No. 2 seeded teams possess the twice to beat advantage, while the No. 3 and No. 4 teams have to win twice.
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 virtualbest-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]
Format
Current format:
Regular Final Four Round - If no team sweeps the elimination round:
Seeds No. 1 and No. 2 teams possess the twice-to-beat advantage
Team No. 1 meets No. 4 while No. 2 meets No. 3 in the semifinals.
The semifinal winners advance to the Finals.
The team that wins 2 games in the Finals wins the championship.
Stepladder Final Four Format - If a team sweeps the elimination round:
Seed No. 1 advances to the Finals.
Seed No. 2 advances to the semifinals.
Teams No. 3 and No. 4 face off to meet No. 2 in the semifinals in a one-game playoff.
In the finals, either the No. 1 seed or the other opponent has to win only twice
If two teams are 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,
Former formats:
From 2008 to 2016, seed No. 1 (when winning all elimination round games) earned a thrice-to-beat advantage (or a 1−0 incentive lead in a best-of-five Finals series). The No. 1 seed only had to win twice, while the other opponent had to win thrice.
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 TelevisionVHF 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.
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.
Longest streak of consecutive championships: Ateneo (2008–12), 5.
As of 2022, the winner of Game 1 won the championship 20 times out of 28 (71%).
Semifinals statistics
Most lopsided game: La Salle vs NU, 111–85, 2001 (26 points)
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:
The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed in 25 out of the 27 times (93%).
The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 20 times on the first game (80%).
The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 5 times on the second game (20%).
The only times the No. 1 seed was beaten by the No. 4 seed were during the NU-UST matchup in 2013 (UST won), and the Ateneo-NU matchup in 2014 (NU won).
The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed 20 out of 28 times (71%).
The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed 15 times on the first game (75%).
The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed 5 times on the second game (25%).
Out of the 8 times the No. 2 seed was beaten, the No. 2 seed was UE thrice (38%) and Adamson twice (25%).
The No. 4 seed has beaten the No. 2 seed 1 out of 1 times (100%).
The only time the No. 2 seed was beaten by the No. 4 seed was during the UST-UP matchup in 2019 (UST won) due to the stepladder format.
The No. 3 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 1 out of 2 times (50%).
With UE sweeping the elimination round, there were two semifinal rounds for 2007.
With Ateneo sweeping the elimination round, there were two semifinal rounds for 2019.
The No. 1 seed skipped the semifinals twice (7%; in 2007, when UE swept the elimination round, and in 2019, when Ateneo swept the elimination round)
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:
The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 2 seed 11 of 18 times (64%)
The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed 5 of 8 times (63%)
The No. 1 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 1 of 1 times (100%)
The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 1 seed 7 of 18 times (36%)
The No. 2 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed 1 of 2 times (50%)
The No. 3 seed has beaten the No. 1 seed 3 of 8 times (38%)
The No. 4 seed has beaten the No. 2 seed 1 of 2 times (50%)
The No. 1 seed has won the championship 17 of 29 times (59%)
