UAAP Basketball Championship

Infobox sports league
title=UAAP Basketball
logo=Uaap_logo.gif
pixels=150px
sport=Basketball
founded=1938
teams=8
country=PHL
champion=Ateneo Blue Eagles (Men's)
FEU Lady Tamaraws (Women's)
Ateneo Blue Eaglets (Juniors')The University Athletic Association of the Philippines holds its basketball tournaments from July to October of a calendar year.

The tournament is divided into two divisions, the Seniors' division, which is further divided into the Men's tournament, for male collegiate players, and the Women's tournament for female collegiate players; the other division is the Juniors' for male high school players.

As of the 2005-06 season, all eight universities send their varsity teams to the Men's, Women's, and Juniors tournaments.

The champion teams of the 2008-09 season are the Ateneo Blue Eagles of the men's division, the FEU Lady Tamaraws for the women's division, and the Ateneo Blue Eaglets for the juniors' division.

Tournament format

The tournament begins with a double round eliminations, where a team meets its opponent twice in a season. The four top teams qualify for the postseason.

The postseason is divided into the semi-finals and the Finals. In the semi-Finals, the top four teams based on team standings (and tiebreakers, if applicable) from the elimination round qualify. The two top seeds have a twice to beat advantage, that is they must be beaten twice in order to be eliminated. The lower seeds, on the other hand, can be eliminated when they are defeated once.

The surviving teams face off in a best-of-three Finals, where the team which notches two wins first wins the championship.

If a team wins all of the games in the elimination round, the step ladder format is used, where the unbeaten team has a bye up to the best-of-three Finals. The third and fourth seed will figure in a knockout game; the winner of that game will face the second seed with a twice-to-win disadvantage. The surviving team meets the first seed at the Finals.

The previous format used (prior to 1993) was that the two top teams after a double round eliminations would qualify for the Finals, with the first seed possessing the twice to beat advantage. If a team survives the elimination round unbeaten, they are declared as the automatic champions. After UST's sweep in 1994, the automatic champion provision was removed and the step-ladder format was adopted (see above).

UAAP basketball champions

Early years

The UAAP founded by FEU, NU, UP and UST on 1938.

Third expansion

De La Salle added.*Note: Jun Limpot studied at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde while playing as a member of the De La Salle University-Manila varsity team.

Finals

Notes:
* Teams marked with an asterisk (*) have pulled out of the UAAP.
* UE and UST's juniors totals includes championships before 1977.
* FEU's totals includes disputed 1991 championship where De La Salle did not attend the replayed Game 3, and the disputed 2004 championship, where De La Salle forfeited the championship due to unknown fielding of ineligible players.
**Includes one championship as University of the Philippines, Manila.
***Prior to 1980, the UST Junior Goldies had 6 UAAP Juniors titles

Final Four records

:"For men's statistics, see UAAP Final Four."{| class="wikitable"
+Junior's basketball tournament
- ! University !! Number of
appearances !! Last
appearance !! Finals
appearances !! Highest
seed !! Postseason
record (W-L)
- align="right"
align="left"| Adamson || 12 || 2008 || 3 || 1st || 7-16 (.304)
- align="right"
align="left"| Ateneo || 15 || 2008 || 14 || 1st || 38-14 (.730)
- align="right"
align="left"| De La Salle Zobel || 8 || 2008 || 2 || 1st || 5-8 (.384)
- align="right"
align="left"| FEU || 8 || 2008 || 2 || 2nd || 5-8 (.384)
- align="right"
align="left"| NU || 1 || 2007 || - || 4th || 1-1 (.500)
- align="right"
align="left"| UE || 1 || 2003 || - || 4th || 0-1 (.000)
- align="right"
align="left"| UPIS || 6 || 2006 || 2 || 1st || 6-8 (.429)
- align="right"
align="left"| UST || 9 || 2004 || 9 || 1st || 17-21 (.447)

Facts and trivia

*Droughts
**Men's Championships:
***Ateneo Blue Eagles: 2008
***La Salle Green Archers: 2007
***UST Growling Tigers: 2006
***FEU Tamaraws: 2005
***UP Fighting Maroons: 1986
***UE Red Warriors: 1985
***Adamson (AdU) Falcons: 1977
***NU Bulldogs: 1954
**Juniors' Championships:
***Ateneo Blue Eaglets: 2008
***La Salle Junior Archers: 2007
***UPIS Junior Maroons: 2002
***UST Tiger Cubs: 2001
***Adamson (AdU) Baby Falcons: 1993
***FEU Baby Tamaraws: 1987
***UE Red Pages: 1981
***NU Bullpups: 1973
**Men's Finals Appearances:
***Ateneo Blue Eagles: 2008 (def. La Salle)
***La Salle Green Archers: 2008 (def. by Ateneo)
***UE Red Warriors: 2007 (def. by La Salle)
***UST Growling Tigers: 2006 (def. Ateneo)
***FEU Tamaraws: 2005 (def. La Salle)
***Adamson (AdU) Falcons: 1992 (def. by FEU)
***UP Fighting Maroons: 1986 (def. UE)
***NU Bulldogs: 1977 (def. by Adamson)
**Juniors' Finals Appearances:
***Ateneo Blue Eaglets: 2008 (def. FEU)
***FEU Baby Tamaraws: 2008 (def. by Ateneo)
***La Salle Junior Archers: 2007 (def. Ateneo)
***UPIS Junior Maroons: 2005 (def. by La Salle)
***USTHS Tiger Cubs: 2004 (def. by Ateneo)
***Adamson (AdU) Baby Falcons: 2003 (def. by Ateneo)
***UE Red Pages: 1986 (def. by Ateneo)
***NU Bullpups: 1984 (def. by Ateneo)
*Championship Streaks:
**The UE Red Warriors owns the longest championship run in UAAP Seniors Basketball, with seven straight championships (including a shared title), from 1965 to 1971,
* The University of Santo Tomas won the Juniors', Women's and Men's championship in the 1994-95 season, the only instance where the three championships were won by a school in one school year.

ee also

* NCAA Philippines Basketball Championship

Related links

* [http://uaapforums.yehey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1151 The UA
]