NCAA Basketball Championship (Philippines)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the NCAA Philippines Basketball Championship. For the ongoing 2007-2008 tournament, see NCAA Season 83. For a list of champions, see List of NCAA Philippines basketball champions. For the American counterpart, see NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
| NCAA Basketball Championship (Philippines) | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Sport | Basketball |
| Founded | 1924 |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country(ies) |  Philippines |
| Most recent champion(s) |
San Beda Red Lions (Seniors'), San Sebastian Staglets (Juniors') |
| Official website | www.NCAA.org.ph |
The National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament is held every first semester of the academic year (from June up to October). Each year, eight schools vie to win the two championships: the Juniors and Seniors. 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 league's foundation in 1924, except during World War II and the mid-1960s when scandals rocked the league.
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.
Notably, the first champion of this event was crowned in 1925, 14 years before the U.S. NCAA tournament was instituted.
Contents |
[edit] Participating schools
| Participating schools as of NCAA Season 83 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letran Knights Squires |
St. Benilde Blazers LSGH Greenies |
JRU Heavy Bombers Light Bombers |
Mapua Cardinals Juniors team currently inactive. |
San Beda Red Lions Red Cubs |
San Sebastian Stags Staglets |
[edit] Tournament format
Since 1996, the eight member schools field in their varsity teams in a double round eliminations, 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.
[edit] Tie-breakers
- If two teams are tied, the statistic that would be looked upon is the regular season series between the two teams. If a team sweeps the regular season series (that is, won the two games against the other team), no playoff will be held, and the team which swept the series automatically gets the higher seed. (Example: 2004-05 Season when PCU and UPHDS were tied with 10-4 records for the 1st seed. UPHDS swept their regular season series, which led to UPHDS taking the first seed, while PCU settled for the second seed.)
- Exemption: If the teams are tied for the 4th seed, a playoff will be held, regardless of the regular season series outcome.
- If there are more than two teams tied, the statistic that well be looked upon is the total quotient (points scored minus points conceded, much like the goal difference statistic used in association football). The two teams with the strongest quotients will play the playoff and all other team/s are automatically eliminated. (Example: 2004-05 Season when the Cardinals, Stags and Red Lions were all had 7-7 records for the 4th seed. By virtue of weaker quotient, San Sebastian was eliminated, and Mapua & San Beda played the playoff game.)
[edit] Elimination Round sweep
If any event a team finishes the elimination round undefeated, that team will advance outright to the Finals. The third and fourth seed 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. The first seed holds a twice to beat advantage in the Finals (the Finals would not be a best of three affair).
[edit] Previous formats
Prior to 1996, when the NCAA had, for most part of its history, six teams, employed a double round robin tournament. 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.
[edit] NCAA basketball champions
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.
Colegio de San Juan de Letran won the Seniors Basketball title a record 16 times. The Ateneo de Manila (now with the University Athletic Association of the Philippines) is second with 14 titles, closely followed by San Beda with 13.
There is a separate division for high school student-athletes, the Juniors division. The defunct Mapúa High School has the most championships, with eighteen. San Beda High School is second, with sixteen titles.
San Beda College leads the overall tally with 29 basketball titles, followed closely by Letran with 26. Among defunct members, Ateneo has the most number of championships, with 23.
The current champions are the San Beda College Red Lions (seniors), and the San Sebastian College - Recoletos Staglets (juniors).
[edit] Double championships
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 2005, only six schools were able to win the double championship:
- 1925-26: University of the Philippines, Manila
- 1926-27: University of the Philippines, Manila
- 1933-34: Ateneo de Manila
- 1937-38: Ateneo de Manila
- 1939-40: De La Salle College
- 1965-66: Mapúa Institute of Technology
- 1975-76: Ateneo de Manila University
- 1976-77: Ateneo de Manila University
- 1978-79: San Beda College
- 1979-80: Colegio de San Juan de Letran
- 1983-84: Colegio de San Juan de Letran
Ateneo de Manila University has the most number of double championships, with four.
[edit] Latest champions
| Season | Seniors' | Juniors' | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Series | Loser | Winner | Series | Loser | |||
| 2003 |  Letran |
93-71 77-85 64-59 |
 San Sebastian |
 San Beda |
Letran | |||
| 2004 |  PCU |
70-68 72-60 |
 UPHDS |
San Beda |
2-1 | Letran | ||
| 2005 | Letran |
74-79 78-60 62-54 |
PCU |
San Sebastian |
83-76 81-69 |
San Beda |
||
| 2006 | San Beda |
71-57 50-72 68-67 |
PCU |
San Sebastian |
57-55 65-41 |
PCU |
||
| 2007 | San Beda |
76-68 76-64 |
Letran |
San Sebastian |
90-72 88-83 |
Letran |
||
[edit] History
- 1924: The NCAA began its first season. In basketball, the Ateneo de Manila won the Midgets title, De La Salle College won the Juniors title, and the University of the Philippines won the seniors title.
- 1927: San Beda won their first Seniors title in the NCAA's fourth season.
- 1936: UP and UST withdrew permanently from the NCAA. FEU also withdrew.
- 1939: A pair of Ateneo-La Salle Final games were held at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. The juniors La Salle team defeated the Ateneo juniors team, while later on the day the La Salle seniors team defeated the Ateneo seniors team. The La Salle seniors team captured their first NCAA Basketball title.
- 1941: Ateneo de Manila and Jose Rizal College won the last basketball championships before the start of World War II.
- 1947: The Championship Game went into the last shot, which led to La Salle winning the first basketball championship after the Pacific War, against Mapua.
- 1950: At the final game of the elimination round, the Letran Knights were assured of a title, for they've won the two rounds, but the San Beda Red Lions beat them on the final non-bearing game, depriving them of a season sweep.
- 1955: San Beda won the three-legged Crispulo Zamora Cup defeating Ateneo de Manila.
- 1962: At the Final game, a riot ensued when Mapua supporters alleged that a referee favored the Ateneo team. The Eagles won the game, and the championship.
- 1972: The JRC Heavy Bombers wins their last (as of 2005) NCAA title, with all of its starting five being drafted to the newly formed Philippine Basketball Association three years later.
- 1974: First round pennant winners La Salle defeated second round pennant winners Ateneo 90-80.
- 1977: In the 1977 Finals series, Ateneo de Manila and San Beda had their melee at the Araneta Coliseum. This led to a closed-door match, wherein Ateneo de Manila's Pons Valdez's last shot was disallowed as time expired [1], giving San Beda the victory.
- 1978: League-wide violence led to the withdrawal of Ateneo de Manila from the NCAA. At the time Ateneo de Manila left, it had the most number of titles in men's basketball, a record that would only be tied and surpassed in 2003.[2][3] San Beda withdrew in 1982 but came back in 1986.
- 1980: La Salle fans and Letran supporters engaged themselves in a brawl during the second round of eliminations in the 1980 season. The Rizal Memorial Coliseum was wrecked apart as the two sides ripped apart the chairs bolted to the ground and threw them as weapons. The Basketball Association of the Philippines aborted the 1980 season and suspended Letran in all events. In 1981, the league readmitted Letran, which led to La Salle withdrawing from the NCAA.[4] La Salle went to the UAAP, but was denied membership on their first try (with a vote of 5-2, with Ateneo de Manila and UST voting against). La Salle was finally admitted to the UAAP in 1986.
- 1982: Samboy Lim led the Knights to two pennants, scrapping the Championship round, with the only loss coming from the San Sebastian Stags led by their star player Paul Alvarez. This would be start the three-year championship streak of Letran.
- 1989: Only on their fifth year at the league, Perpetual Help barged into the Finals, led by Bong Hawkins. However, they were beaten by the defending champions, San Sebastian, in the three game series.
- 1991: Benny Cheng of Mapua scored on the last second of the deciding Game 3 to deny San Beda the championship, at ULTRA. Mapua snapped their "once in a sixteen years" championship curse as San Beda extended their title drought to 14.
- 1997: San Sebastian led by Romel Adducul made the last 14-0 Seniors sweep (as of 2006) in the tournament. Facing San Beda in the Finals with a twice to beat advantage, the Red Lions responded with a last second three-pointer that prevented a a San Sebastian championship. But on the deciding game, the Stags won, capping off a five-year run as NCAA champions, with an overall record of 15-1.
- 2000: College of Saint of Benilde won their first NCAA seniors title, despite joining the league a season earlier. This marks the fastest win for any new school in the league since the World War. In the Juniors Finals series, The Letran Squires qualified outright for the Finals with a 14-0 record. They were beaten twice be the Mapua Red Robins in the Finals. This was the last Juniors championship of the Mapua Institute of Technology.
- 2004: The seniors Finals series featured two teams who have never won the seniors championship before: Philippine Christian and Perpetual Help. Philippine Christian won the series in two games, with Gabby Espinas becoming the first-ever Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year within the same season.
- 2005: Letran won their 16th championship to remain the winningest team in NCAA history. they won 11 straight games which is the longest in six years but were cut short by a loss to Mapua in their 12th game. it's also a sweet revenge for them as they beat their tormentors, the PCU Dolphins who knocked them out in the Final 4 a year before.
- 2006: San Beda finally broke their 28-year championship drought as they edged out three-time finalist PCU in the final game that went to the last shot.
- 2007: San Beda won their first back to back title since 1978 sweeping the Letran Knights in two games.
- See also: NCAA history and rivalries
[edit] Scoring records
Lim Eng Beng of the La Salle Green Archers currently holds the most points scored in an NCAA game. He scored 55 points in the 1974 season when he led the Green Archers to the championship. He scored an average of 32 points in that season.[5]
The leading scorer for the seniors' 2005 tournament was Leo Najorda of San Sebastian Stags (now playing for Red Bull Barako) who posted a 17.6 points per game average. In the seniors' 2006 tournament, Khiel Misa of UPHD posted a 16.6 points per game average. Yousif Aljamal of San Beda is 2007's top scorer, averaging 17.1 points per game.
[edit] Origin of team monikers
- CSB Blazers: As homage to the school which introduced several pioneering courses in the country.
- JRU Heavy Bombers: World War II Japanese vintage bombs on their campus.
- Mapua Cardinals: From Major League Baseball's franchise, the St. Louis Cardinals.
- Letran Knights: The founder was a Knight of Malta.
- PCU Dolphins: Originally, the PCU administration chose a killer whale, but they instead chose a mammal close to their heart, the dolphin.
- San Beda Red Lions: Derived from the ancient British heraldic symbol, the Red Lion Rampant, which symbolizes courage. The Red Lion is a fitting symbol for a school named after the Venerable Bede of England, a Benedictine Saint and a great British intellectual.
- San Sebastian Stags: A stag symbolizes a Christian who, filled with moral ideas, runs fast to God swiftly yet quietly in pursuit of his goals.
- UPHSD Altas: The monicker ‘Altas’ comes from the Latin word “height,” symbolizing UPHSD's aspirations for further greatness. At the same time, it comes from the initials of the school founder, Dr. Antonio L. Tamayo.[6]
[edit] Memberships
- San Beda College is the only remaining founding member of the league.
- San Beda, along with JRU, are the schools with the longest span of membership, with 79 years.
- The newest school to join the league is College of Saint Benilde which joined the league in 1998.
[edit] References
- ^ NCAA Through Time (currently unavailable) INQ7.net . March 28, 2006
- ^ History of the Ateneo de Manila University. 2005, 2006, 2007 Executive Planners. Published by the Ateneo de Manila University.
- ^ See also [1]
- ^ Blast from the Past Greenarcher.net. April 8, 2006
- ^ 100 point scorers Mindspring.com. April 17, 2006
- ^ The League of Extraordinary Players The LANCE. June 2005 issue
[edit] See also
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