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This article is about the NCAA Philippines Basketball Championship. For the ongoing 2006-2007 tournament, see NCAA Season 82. 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 Philippines Basketball Championship
Sport	Basketball
Founded	1924
No. of teams	8
Country	Philippines
Current champions	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 current champions are the San Beda Red Lions for the Seniors and the San Sebastian Staglets for the Juniors.

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 1 Participating schools 2 Tournament format 2.1 Tie-breakers 2.2 Elimination Round sweep 2.3 Previous formats 3 NCAA basketball champions 3.1 Double championships 3.2 Latest champions 4 History 5 Scoring records 6 Origin of team monickers 7 Memberships 8 References 9 See also

Participating schools as of NCAA Season 75
Letran Knights Squires	St. Benilde Blazers LSGH Greenies	JRU Heavy Bombers Light Bombers	Mapua Cardinals Juniors team currently inactive.
PCU Dolphins Baby Dolphins	San Beda Red Lions Red Cubs	San Sebastian Stags Staglets	UPHSD Altas Altalettes

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, dubbed by the press 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.

• 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.)

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).

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.

Main article: List of NCAA Philippines 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 Athletics Association of the Philippines) is second with 14 titles, closely followed by San Beda with 12.

There is a separate division for high school student-athletes, the Juniors division. The defunct Mapua 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 28 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).

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: Mapua 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.

Season	Seniors'			Juniors'
	Winner	Series	Loser	Winner	Series	Loser
2002	San Sebastian Stags	2-1	St. Benilde Blazers	San Beda Red Cubs	2-1	Letran Squires
2003	Letran Knights	2-1	San Sebastian Stags	San Beda Red Cubs		Letran Squires
2004	PCU Dolphins	2-0	UPHDS Altas	San Beda Red Cubs	2-1	Letran Squires
2005	Letran Knights	2-1	PCU Dolphins	San Sebastian Staglets	2-0	San Beda Red Cubs
2006	San Beda Red Lions	2-1	PCU Dolphins	San Sebastian Staglets	2-0	PCU Baby Dolphins

• 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.
• 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.
• 1958: The Ateneo Blue Eagles defeated the La Salle Green Archers, 105-103, via overtime, at the Championship Game.
• 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, the Ateneo and San Beda had their melee at the Araneta Coliseum. This led to a closed-door match, wherein Ateneo's Pons Valdez's last shot was disallowed ^[1], giving San Beda the victory. This was also a time of much violence, perpetrated by different schools. This violence led to the Ateneo's leaving the NCAA, which led them to the UAAP. 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.^[2] La Salle went to the UAAP, but was denied membership on their first try (with a vote of 5-2, with Ateneo 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. 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.
• 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.

See also: NCAA history and rivalries

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.^[3]

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.

• 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 Scottish/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 English 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.^[4]

• 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.

• UAAP Basketball Champions

National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) Season 83 v • d • e

Seniors: Letran Knights | St. Benilde Blazers | JRU Heavy Bombers | Mapúa Cardinals PCU Dolphins | San Beda Red Lions | San Sebastian Stags | UPHSD Altas

Juniors: Letran Squires | JRU Light Bombers La Salle Greenies | PCU Union Baby Dolphins San Beda Red Cubs | San Sebastian Staglets | UPHSD Altalettes

NCAA South | List of seasons | Championship events

Basketball in the Philippines v • d • e
Professional competitions BAP-SBP Amateur competitions Philippine Basketball Association Philippines (W) Philippine Basketball League National Basketball Conference RP Dream Team Min-Vis Basketball Association Metropolitan Basketball Association RP Centennials College hoops (UAAP, NCAA; Champions)