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.
28-519: 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
56-547: A memorandum of agreement giving the broadcasting network the right to air the league's games for another five-year period starting UAAP Season 73 . The UAAP Season 72 basketball tournament began on July 11, 2009 at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City. The tournament host was Far Eastern University and tournament commissioner was Jose "Joe" Lipa, Jr. The opening ceremonies and the opening day doubleheader were
84-484: Is "the first time that this is happening." Montinola clarified that the UAAP is not "rushing things" to determine which among the three networks have the best offer, and declined to comment on the financial offers, saying, "We [UAAP, GMA 7, ABS-CBN and Solar] are still far from that discussion." On October 4, right before the tip-off of Game 2 of the men's basketball finals, the UAAP and ABS-CBN agreed in principle and signed
112-587: 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
140-623: Is the 1993–1994 season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines , which was hosted by the Far Eastern University . It was the coverage by Silverstar Sports aired on New Vision 9 channel 9. The University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers , headed by a young Dennis Espino swept the elimination round to clinch their first championship since 1967. The Final Four format
168-528: The Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City . The event was shown live on TV by Studio 23 and was hosted by Boom Gonzalez, Megan Young and the various UAAP courtside reporters. Cheer dance competition is an exhibition event. Points for the general championship are not awarded to the participants. Host team in boldface . "Order" refers to order of performance. The general champion is determined by
196-405: The Araneta Coliseum . The men's basketball tournament and the women's volleyball tournament were aired by ABS-CBN 's UHF Studio 23 for the tenth consecutive year. The opening ceremonies for the 72nd UAAP games was held at the Araneta Coliseum last July 11, 2009. The opening rites featured different student organizations from the host Far Eastern University including other participants from
224-549: 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. Notes: Notes: Note: FEU
252-642: 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
280-730: The Tan Yan Kee Student Center of the University of Santo Tomas . After fourteen rounds, the FEU Tamaraws came up on top, dominating both the Seniors Men and Women Tournaments. It could have scored a first ever triple championship in the UAAP Chess competition but its juniors team finished second to the Baby Falcons of Adamson. The UAAP Cheerdance Competition was held on September 13, 2009 at
308-524: The UAAP expiring on March 31, 2010, two other TV networks are bidding for exclusive television rights for the league, although ABS-CBN has the right of first refusal . Solar Entertainment Corporation 's sports section Solar Sports will join the bidding for the TV rights, with a Solar official naming GMA Network as another interested party. The UAAP has been broadcast by ABS-CBN for ten years already at their UHF station Studio 23. UAAP president Anton Montinola said
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#1732776193147336-584: The UAAP removed the twice-to-beat advantage for the #2 seed in the stepladder series, to remove the "undue advantage." Current format: Former formats: 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,
364-456: The bidding, submitting theirs at a UAAP board meeting on March 19, 2009. In order to strengthen its position, ABS-CBN's bid includes airing the men's basketball championship series at their flagship VHF station Channel 2 instead of airing it on Studio 23, where ABS-CBN has aired the men's basketball tournament for the past nine seasons. Solar will air it on VHF C/S 9 of which they a block-timer. All three submitted five-year bids. GMA will air
392-464: 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
420-418: 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
448-438: The first programs in the Philippines to be broadcast in high definition , although only SkyCable subscribers with HD boxes were able to watch them. Qualified to the semifinals with the twice-to-beat advantage Qualified to the semifinals The UAAP Season 72 taekwondo tournaments were held on September 16, 2009 at the University of Santo Tomas Gymnasium. Qualified to
476-712: The games on its VHF channel Q . Despite the TV rights row on the Pacquiao-Hatton boxing bout between ABS-CBN on one hand and Solar Sports and GMA on the other, Solar has confirmed it will stand by their UAAP bid, with Solar offering a possible linkage either to ABS-CBN's The Filipino Channel (on which the games currently air) or to GMA Pinoy TV to air the games internationally. With ABS-CBN's current contract worth P 75 million, Montinola has expressed delight that "there are three TV networks that are very, very much interested to become our partner next season," noting that it
504-491: 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
532-461: The league considers "to project the league not just nationally but also globally" due to "a lot of followers abroad, mostly alumni". Montinola further said the league has been satisfied with ABS-CBN's coverage of both the basketball and volleyball games. The volleyball tournament was even moved from the first semester (July–October) to the second semester (November–March) to maximize the TV coverage. Confirming Solar's earlier revelation, GMA has joined
560-461: 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. *game went into overtime . UAAP Season 56 UAAP Season 56
588-457: The other 7 UAAP member universities. With the season's theme One Color. One Goal. the event participants wore white costumes, symbolizing unity in the league, introduced the league member universities through flags and the sarimanok , bearing the member schools' respective colors. The schedule of the sporting events will be changed this season. Badminton will be held in the first semester, instead of chess. With ABS-CBN's contract to broadcast
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#1732776193147616-494: 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. Starting In Season 85 ,
644-402: 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. 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
672-634: The semifinals Qualified to the semifinals The UAAP Judo Championships was held on October 4, 2009 hosted by the Ateneo de Manila University at the Blue Eagle Gym . It was a one-day tournament. The UAAP Track and Field Championships was held on February 7, 2010 at the Rizal Memorial Track and Football Stadium . The UAAP Season 72 chess tournament started on January 10, 2010 at
700-405: The sweeper a 1–0 lead in a virtual best-of-five . 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
728-507: 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. 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
756-408: 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: 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
784-432: Was supposed to be in its first year of application but since the rules stipulated that once a team wins all of their elimination round games, the postseason is scrapped and that team is declared the automatic champion. UAAP Season 72 UAAP Season 72 was the 2009–2010 season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines . It was hosted by Far Eastern University , with opening rites on July 11, 2009 at
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