The NCAA basketball championships are the basketball championships of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) (NCAA). There are two tournaments, usually held concurrently, the seniors' tournament for male collegiate students, and the juniors' tournament for male senior high school students. If a school wins both championships in one season, it said that they have won the "double championship."
The championship is continually contested since the NCAA's foundation in 1924, except during World War II, during the mid-1960s when scandals rocked the association, in 1980 when the tournament was aborted by the Basketball Association of the Philippines, and from 2020 to 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to NCAA Season 98 (2022), the juniors' tournament was held concurrently with the men's tournament, in the first semester or from June to November. Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, NCAA Season 97 meant to be played in 2021 was postponed to early 2022, and the juniors' tournament was cancelled. The men's tournament of NCAA Season 98 was then played from September to December, then the juniors' tournament from January to March. The NCAA then kept this schedule for all succeeding seasons until NCAA Season 101 (2025), where they reverted back to both men's and juniors' tournament being held concurrently.
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.
Tournament formats Every tournament host school proposes its own tournament format every season. From the end of World War II until 1997, and since 1997, the tournament format has been stable, save for things such as one game playoffs when there are tied teams; in same cases, elimination round results determined the tiebreaker, but on other tournaments playoffs were used.
Historical formats
Two round format In its early years, the NCAA had all of its teams divided into groups, where each team plays the team from its group once, then the top teams from each group play in the championship round, where the top ranked team is named the champion.
Split season format Prior to 1997, when the NCAA had, for most part of its history, six teams, it employed a split season format. 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.
In some years, 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 may 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.
Play-in tournament The 2021 tournament, held in early 2022, was in a special format used only for that season. There was only one round of eliminations, and a play-in tournament was held for teams that finished third to sixth; after that, the regular Final Four format was used.
Final Four format From 1997 to 2024, all member schools have fielded their varsity teams in a double round elimination tournament, 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.
In cases of tie, the NCAA has had one game playoffs on some seasons, while none on others.
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 seeds 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.
Previously, the first seed holds a twice to beat advantage in the finals (the finals would not be a best of three affair), until 2008, the finals was in a best-of-three series even if a team swept the elimination round.
Since 2010 the team who sweeps the elimination round will automatically go to the finals with a thrice-to-beat advantage and a 1-0 edge over their opponent, their opponent needs to beat them thrice while the team who sweeps the 2-round elimination will just have to beat their opponents twice.
Current format In 2025, the NCAA announced a modification of the overall format of both the men's and juniors' tournaments in response of Metro Manila hosting the 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship, which caused the NCAA to delay the opening in October than the usual September due to venue availability.
The current format revealed that all teams will be divided into two groups of five teams, with each team playing the teams on its group twice, then teams on the other group once, for a total of 13 games each. The top three teams in both groups will advance to quarterfinals, while the top two teams clinches twice-to-beat advantage. The two-lowest ranked teams per group, on the other hand, faces off in a play-in game to determine the final two slots in the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, the No. 1 team in each group will face the No. 4 team from the opposite group, while the No. 2 team in each group will face the No. 3 team from the opposite group. Four teams then advances to the semifinals and two teams advances to the finals, while the semifinal losers battle it out for third place. Both the semifinals and finals round are best-of-three series.
Currently, the current format is in a three-year trial period that will be used until Season 103 (2027–28) to evaluate its long-term viability and will be determined if it will become a permanent fixture.
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. 1928: Letran joined the NCAA. On the same year the Squires won their first juniors championship and then went on winning two more, thus establishing NCAA's first three consecutive juniors championships. 1936: UP and UST withdrew permanently from the NCAA. FEU also withdrew. 1939: A pair of Ateneo-De La Salle Final games were held at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. The juniors De La Salle team defeated the Ateneo juniors team, while later on the day the De La Salle seniors team defeated the Ateneo seniors team. The De 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 De 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. 1967: De La Salle chose the up-and-coming La Salle Green Hills as their new Juniors' counterpart after the original De La Salle High School was phased out. 1972: The JRC Heavy Bombers won their last (as of 2023) NCAA title, with all of the team's starting five being drafted to the newly formed Philippine Basketball Association three years later. 1973: The SSC-R Golden Stags, led by David Supnet, won their first ever NCAA Seniors Basketball crown. 1974: First round pennant winners De La Salle defeated second round pennant winners Ateneo 90-80 to win the NCAA championship. Lim Eng Beng, who held the all-time points per game average (32 ppg) breaks NCAA record of most points scored in a game (55 pts). 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,NCAA Through Time (currently unavailable) INQ7.net . March 28, 2006 giving San Beda the victory. 1978: Association-wide violence led to the withdrawal of Ateneo de Manila from the NCAA. At the time Ateneo de Manila left, it had the most titles in men's basketball, a record that would only be tied and surpassed in 2003.History of the Ateneo de Manila University. 2005, 2006, 2007 Executive Planners. Published by the Ateneo de Manila University. San Beda withdrew in 1982 but came back in 1986. 1979: Letran was declared as the winner by beating Mapua Cardinals with the score of 63-62 in the second round of the tournament and the fact that they were also the champion in the first round tournament. The team was so strong that no one was able to match their firepower as the team was so strong in all the departments and it took the Knights four years in the making before becoming the champion of the association. The team's lineup was headed by Ramon San Juan (G-F), Ted McKinney (C), Itoy Esguerra (F), Bong Aninon (F), Nonie Robles (G-F), Tim Coloso (G) Eddie Baldomero (G), Bobby Valenzuela (C), Tony DeLeon (C), Mon Navales (G), William Alberto (G) and Boyet Olano (G). Ramon San Juan was voted Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Some of the Letran team players were products of their Varsity High School Team namely: Ted McKinney, Ramon San Juan, William Alberto and were also part of the 1976 National Inter-Secondary Champion Team that was held in Baguio City wherein they beat their NCAA rival San Beda College with the score of 52-51.
During the 1979–80 NCAA season, Colegio de San Juan de Letran achieved a double championship by winning both the Juniors and Seniors divisions of the NCAA Basketball Championship. The Muralla-based Knights were also declared General Champions by the NCAA Management after accumulating the highest overall points across all sanctioned sports competitions that season. The achievement marked the first time Letran secured the General Championship while capturing both basketball titles in the same year.