NCAA Season 84 basketball tournaments

NCAA Season 84

Host school	Mapúa Institute of Technology
Men's Finals 1 2 3 Wins  San Beda Red Lions 72 60 85 2  JRU Heavy Bombers 68 62 69 1
Duration	September 24–29, 2008
Arena(s)	Araneta Coliseum
Finals MVP	Sam Ekwe
Winning coach	Frankie Lim
Semifinalists	Letran Knights  Mapúa Cardinals
TV network(s)	Studio 23
Juniors' Finals 1 2 Wins  San Sebastian Staglets 83 77 2  Letran Squires 81 70 0
Duration	September 24–26, 2008
Arena(s)	Araneta Coliseum
Finals MVP	Arvie Bringas
Winning coach	Raymond Valenzona
Semifinalists	JRU Light Bombers  La Salle Greenies
TV network(s)	Studio 23

The basketball tournaments of National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) 84th season hosted by the Mapúa Institute of Technology began on June 28 at the Araneta Coliseum with Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando as the keynote speaker (however, Fernando was later tasked to lead the cleanup efforts caused by Typhoon Frank, he sent his daughter instead). All subsequent elimination round games will be held at Cuneta Astrodome. The theme of the season is "To The Fore at 84".

The games began on June 28 at the Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City with a quadruple-header.^[1]

The first two games along with seniors' games every Wednesday and Friday will be aired on Studio 23. The remaining elimination round games were at the Cuneta Astrodome at Pasay, except for the last game which was held at the Araneta Coliseum.

The San Beda Red Lions and the San Sebastian Staglets both defended their titles successfully, with the Red Lions winning against the JRU Heavy Bombers in three games and the Staglets sweeping the elimination round and their finals series against the Letran Squires. San Beda is now the three-time champion while San Sebastian won their fourth consecutive title.

New rules

	Qualified for the Finals
	Qualified for semifinals with twice to beat advantage
	Qualified for semifinals
	Qualified for the first round
	Qualified for knockout game

The NCAA Policy Board approved two new rule changes concerning the basketball events:^[2]

• The "challenge" rule: A head coach can challenge a three-point shot to the referee via the use of a video replay; if the challenge is revoked, the team is charged with a timeout or assessed with a technical foul if it has no timeouts left.
• Hand check fouls will be disallowed.
• Fouls away from the ball during inbounds would result in automatic unsportsmanlike fouls.

Seniors' tournament

Preseason events

With Caloy Garcia leaving the team and being elevated to the head coach position at Welcoat Dragons, Red Bull Barako assistant coach Gee Abanilla was tapped in as the new CSB Blazers coach for the 84th season.^[3] Abanilla coached the Barakos for a few wins while head coach Yeng Guiao was away on the campaign trail at the 2007 election.

Elimination round

Results

The score given first is for the team indicated at the left-most column.

	Team won both games
	Teams split both games
	Team lost both games

Left \ Top	Letran	Benilde	JRU	Mapua	PCU	San Beda	SSC-R	UPHD
Letran		88–75 90–65	83–69 72–76	67–60 52–69	73–62 60–54	67–71 63–65*	71–67 73–76	63–62 74–66
Benilde			67–75 60–87	57–63 66–56	69–65 47–63	20–0 74–91	48–65 58–51	61–54 65–75*
JRU				68–52 61–72	60–58 74–59	79–74 59–71	54–57 47–52	74–57 51–48
Mapua					77–71 63–60	56–85 53–48	86–80 62–64	76–65 75–51
PCU						63–72 67–72	64–71 58–62	65–61 59–51
San Beda							84–83* 62–58	70–48 72–55
SSC-R								55–60 68–36
UPHD

*overtime game

Postseason teams

San Beda Red Lions

The defending champions opened the season with a 29-point blowout against season host Mapua; it seems another championship run by San Beda as they won 5 consecutive victories, including an overtime thriller against San Sebastian. However, CSB put their game against San Beda under protest as Sam Ekwe donned last year's uniform. The NCAA Management Committee ruled in favor of CSB, on the same day JRU used their outside shooting to shock San Beda giving them two losses in one day.

The Red Lions recovered with a win against their marquee game against Letran and PCU but Mapua gave their own version of an upset when they used slow ball against the Red Lions to win the game. San Beda recovered with wins against Perpetual, revenge against both CSB and JRU and another close game against San Sebastian. The Red Lions capped off the elimination round as the #1 seed by sending Letran to the classification round for 2nd-4th places after Borgie Hermida scored on a buzzer-beaten to make them win the game in overtime at the Araneta Coliseum.

Letran Knights

Letran won the first six games of the season, including a come-from-behind win against UPHSD, but faltered in the first round finale against San Beda in which the ball slipped from Reymar Gutilban's hands to land at the end lines in the dying seconds. After a win against CSB, Letran lost the next two games against JRU and San Sebastian. After a win against also-ran UPHSD, Mapua whipped the Knights in the Battle of Intramuros despite not scoring a field-goal in the fourth quarter.

Continuing the pattern, Letran beat PCU in their last NCAA game since they'll take a leave of absence. In the elimination round finale, Letran was on the verge of winning a twice-to-beat advantage but a game went into overtime. In the extra period, Letran was leading by 4 points when San Beda rallied to lead by two. RJ Jazul scored on a driving lay-up with 5 seconds remaining but Borgie Hermida scored a buzzer-beater with a looper from the free-throw line to seal San Beda's third straight semifinal appearance with the twice to beat advantage. Letran now had to go through a series of games to determine if they'll qualify for the Final Four.

JRU Heavy Bombers

The Bombers were blown out by Letran on opening day and were beaten by San Sebastian in the closing minutes in their second game. The Heavy Bombers regrouped and won their next eight games, including an upset against San Beda where they capitalized on their streaky three-point shooting. Ironically it was San Beda that finished the streak when they had a decisive run in the fourth quarter to prevent a JRU comeback.

San Sebastian continued their mastery of the Bombers with another win against them. After a win against PCU, JRU had an outside chance of clinching a twice to beat advantage provided they beat Mapua which was on a must-win situation. The Cardinals were riding on a three-game winning streak and capitalized on the momentum to force three teams tied with 9-5 records; with the loss of Letran against San Beda, those four teams would undergo a series of games to determine which teams will clinch the nos. 2 to 4 seeds.

Mapua Cardinals

Mapua was blown away by the Red Lions on opening day with a 29-point drubbing, but the Cardinals recovered by winning their next 3 games in a span of a week. After a win against CSB, Letran won the first Battle of Intramuros, and they were beaten by JRU and San Sebastian. Mapua dealt San Beda their only loss in the second round with a slow-down game in which they took a shot at the very end of the shot clock to throw off the Red Lions' fast-paced game, with Kelvin dela Peña proclaiming on the post-game interview that they're back.

The Cardinals were dealt with a disappointing loss against the also-ran CSB Blazers, and they had to win all of their games to force a tie for the last qualifying berth. With them winning all of their games, including the second Battle of Intramuros, and a do-or-die game against JRU in their last game of the eliminations, the Cardinals forced a four-way tie for #2.

The Cardinals became the only team to beat the Red Lions twice this season, with two consecutive win in the second round and the first elimination round.

San Sebastian Golden Stags

SSC-R lost its first two games against UPHSD and Mapua, but the stags emerged victorious against JRU in the first round. After losing to the Red Lions, the stags did not lose their faith in nothing more than joining the final four this season and "reliving the glory days" (their consecutive domination in the 90's) as they started their 8 winning streak against PCU and CSB in the first round and extending their run in the second round as they defeated PCU for the second time, dethroning Mapua Cardinals at the number 4 spot, UPHSD, CSJL, JRU and CSB. They lost again to San Beda Red Lions in a close match. Ending at 9-5 did not assure them of a final four seat even if they finished one match earlier than MIT, JRU, and CSJL as they lost against JRU and losing again to MIT in the Head-toHead match for the final four. Even if the stags was granted the #2 seed in the face-off match, they were not able to enter the final four in the season 84.

SSC-R were the only team to win against JRU Heavy Bombers in the Elimination Round. Sharing with the said team the highest winning streak of 8 matches.

Classification games

After a tight race for the final four, it was announced that the Management Committee will meet to determine how to break the ties.^[4]

After the games of September 5, it was decided that the system used by FIBA would be used to break ties and assign seedings.^[5]

After San Beda's win against Letran, four teams were tied from 2nd to 5th, with only 4 teams advancing to the semifinals. The four teams were ranked on the basis of their head-to-head records.

Team	W	L	H2H		PD
San Beda	11	3	--	--	--
SSC-R	9	5	4–2	--	--
Mapúa	9	5	3–3	1–1	+10
Letran	9	5	3–3	1–1	−10
JRU	9	5	2–4	--	--

The four teams will then undergo a mini-tournament to determine the 2nd, 3rd and 4th seeds. The winners of the first round will meet to decide the 2nd seed (a de facto best of three series) while the losers will meet to decide the 4th seed. The loser of that game will be eliminated from contention while the winner will face San Beda in the semifinals.^[6]

Bracket

	Classification round				Second-seed playoff
	San Sebastian	53
	JRU	57
					JRU	69
					Letran	53
					Fourth-seed playoff
	Mapúa	52		San Sebastian	54
	Letran	62			Mapúa	63

Classification round

Second-seed playoff

Fourth-seed playoff

Bracket

	4th-seed playoff (top) 2nd-seed playoff (bottom)				Semifinals #1 & #2 have twice-to-beat advantage						Finals Best-of-three series
					1	San Beda	51	60
	San Sebastian	54			4	Mapúa	53	53
	Mapúa	63
											1	San Beda	72	60	85
											2	JRU	68	62	69
	Letran	53			2	JRU	63
	JRU	69			3	Letran	61

Semifinals

San Beda–Mapua series

San Beda and Mapua exchange leads until late in the 4th quarter in which Mapua led 51-38 when San Beda had a 13-2 run until the last 12.5 seconds. Ian Mazo turned the ball over for Mapua which led to San Beda taking a last crack at the basket; after the time out, Pong Escobal missed a hurried three-pointer and Mapua extended the series to a deciding second game.^[7]

Mapua would run out of gas in the second game as San Beda coach Franklie Lim observed that they were tired after an extended playoff run; although they gave the Red Lions a fight, a shot by Ogie Menor in the final 1:10 put the game out of reach for the Red Lions to clinch their finals berth.^[8]

JRU–Letran series

With Letran up by three in the final 1:43, John Melegrito turned the ball over for a John Wilson lay-up. Mark Cagoco's defense caused RJ Jazul to turn the ball over anew, and James Sena scored in the next possession to put JRU up for good. Marvin Hayes helped in defending Jazul to force another turnover; Jazul fouled Cagoco to stop the clock. As Cagoco split his free throws, Jazul has a last chance to tie the game but Wilson blocked his shot as time expired, leading JRU to their first finals series since 2001.^[9]

Finals

Controversies

Wrong uniform

San Beda's Sam Ekwe wore a different uniform from his teammates on San Beda's 71-54 victory against CSB; he instead wore the 2007 uniform. As a result, CSB filed a protest that could overturn San Beda's victory.^[10]

The Management Committee forfeited San Beda's win against CSB on a decision released on July 23.^[11]

Awards

The season's awardees were awarded at halftime of the first game of the finals series. They are:^[12]

• Most Valuable Player: Sam Ekwe (San Beda)
• Rookie of the Year: Allan Mangahas (Mapua)
• Mythical team:
  • Sam Ekwe (San Beda)
  • Jason Ballesteros (San Sebastian)
  • Marvin Hayes (JRU)
  • Neil Pascual (Mapua)
  • RJ Jazul (Letran)
• Defensive Player of the Year: Jason Ballesteros (San Sebastian)
• Players of the week:
  • June 28-July 6: RJ Jazul (Letran)^[13]
  • July 7–14: Kelvin dela Peña (Mapúa)^[14]
  • July 15–21: Pong Escobal (San Beda)^[15]
  • July 22–28: James Sena (JRU)^[16]
  • July 29-August 5: Sam Ekwe (San Beda)^[17]
  • August 6–13: Jason Ballesteros (San Sebastian)^[18]
  • August 14–20: James Sena (JRU)^[19]

Juniors' tournament

Games began on June 30 at the Cuneta Astrodome at Pasay.

Elimination round

SSC-R's sweep

Opponent	Score
UPHD	88-61
MHSS	119-25
JRU	89-65
San Beda	77-73*
Letran	79-70
LSGH	71-65
MHSS	101-30
UPHD	99-61
Letran	88-80
LSGH	83-65
San Beda	60-43
JRU	97-88*
*Overtime
Offense	87.58
Defense	60.50
Margin	+27.08

Keith Agovida of JRU broke NCAA scoring record held by Letran Squire Marlon Bola Bola's 70 points as he scored 82 points in JRU's 127-49 rout of Malayan Science.^[20]

It was the first time in NCAA history that the San Beda Red Cubs failed to enter the Final Four round and was also the first time that a team had swept the eliminations since 2000. The San Sebastian Staglets thereafter advanced to the finals automatically.

Rivalry games

Bracket

	Semifinals One-game playoff					Semifinal Knockout game						Finals Best-of-three series
												1	San Sebastian		83	77
						2	Letran	94				2	Letran		81	70
	3	JRU (OT)	95			3	JRU	93
	4	LSGH	89
*if necessary

First round

Semifinal

Finals

Awards^[12]

• Finals Most Valuable Player: Arvie Bringas (San Sebastian)
• Season Most Valuable Player: Keith Agovida (JRU)
• Rookie of the Year: Jarelan Tampus (Letran)
• Mythical team:
  • Keith Agovida (JRU)
  • Arvie Bringas (San Sebastian)
  • Jarelan Tampus (Letran)
  • Martin Reyes (LSGH)
  • Glenn Khobuntin (Letran)
• Defensive Player of the Year: Keith Agovida (JRU)

Broadcast notes

ABS-CBN's UHF channel Studio 23 is the sole coverer of the games, covering all men's games since opening day held on a Wednesday and Friday (except for the last two games on opening day). 101.9 For Life!, ABS-CBN's FM radio station, delivers updates on game dates.

NCAA College Hoops airs every Monday afternoons as a supplement for the main NCAA coverage. It is hosted by Andrei Felix and San Beda courtside reporter Pia Boren.

Playoff broadcasters are:

Game	Play-by-play	Analyst	Courtside reporters
JRU-San Sebastian playoff	Andrei Felix	Allan Gregorio	Cassie Umali and Carla Rivera
Letran-Mapua playoff	Bill Velasco	Butch Maniego	Meg Punzalan and Jean King
Fourth-seed game	Andrei Felix	Butch Maniego	Carla Rivera and Jean King
Second-seed game	Bill Velasco	Allan Gregorio	Meg Punzalan and Cassie Umali
San Beda-Mapua semifinal game 1	Bill Velasco	Allan Gregorio	Pia Boren and Jean King
JRU-Letran semifinal	Andrei Felix	Butch Maniego	Cassie Umali and Meg Punzalan
San Beda-Mapua semifinal game 2	Bill Velasco	Allan Gregorio	Pia Boren and Jean King
Juniors' Finals Game 1	Andrei Felix	Jude Roque	Carla Rivera and Meg Punzalan
Seniors' Finals Game 1	Bill Velasco	Butch Maniego	Pia Boren and Cassie Umali
Juniors' Finals Game 2	Andrei Felix	Jude Roque	Carla Rivera and Meg Punzalan
Seniors' Finals Game 2	Bill Velasco	Allan Gregorio	Pia Boren and Cassie Umali
Seniors' Finals Game 3	Bill Velasco	Allan Gregorio	Pia Boren and Cassie Umali

Champion rosters

See also

• UAAP Season 71 basketball tournaments
• 2008 Philippine Collegiate Championship

References

External links

• NCAA official website

Preceded by Season 83 (2007)	NCAA basketball seasons Season 84 (2008)	Succeeded by Season 85 (2009)