The NCAA Season 97 men's basketball tournament was the

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tournaments of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA; ) is an athletic association of ten private colleges and universities in Metro Manila, Philippines. Established in 1924, it is the oldest collegiate athletic association in the country. It i ...

for its 2021–22 season. This was the first tournament since the

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, and since

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after the planned 96th season was cancelled because of the pandemic. Only the men's tournament for college students was held; the juniors' tournament for senior high school students last held in 2019 was canceled. The Letran Knights won all games to become champions undefeated, defeating the Mapua Cardinals in the finals. Rhenz Abando was named season MVP.

Tournament format

The season will be held with five gamedays a week calendar, with two games being played in each gameday. These gamedays are scheduled from Tuesday to Sundays. *

Round robin tournament A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

* Teams will be ranked by

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. * Top two teams will be given the

twice-to-beat advantage There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

in the semifinals. Next four teams will participate in the play-in tournament. ** Third and fourth placed teams will play for the third seed ** Fifth and sixth placed teams will play for a berth in the fourth seed playoff, to face the loser of the third seed playoff. * The finals shall be a

best-of-three series There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

Teams

All ten schools are participating.

Coaching changes

Venues

St. Benilde Gym in

La Salle Green Hills La Salle Green Hills ("LSGH") is a private Catholic school run by the Philippine District of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Ortigas Avenue, Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. It was established in 1959 by the D ...

(LSGH),

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is the exclusive venue of the tournament. All games will be held

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, with teams being transported to LSGH from their schools every game day. In April, the NCAA announced that fans will be allowed back to watch the games at the venue for the last game day of the elimination round, the play-in tournament, semifinals, and finals, which was held at the

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Squads

Each NCAA team can have up to 15 players on their roster. Starting this season, all teams in all sports are banned from including foreigners in their rosters. Squads were released on March 22.

Elimination round

Team standings

Match-up results

Scores

Results on top and to the right of the dashes are for first-round games.

Play-in tournament

Third seed playoff

This is between the teams that finished 3rd and 4th after the elimination round; the winner is the #3 seed and advances to the semifinals against the #2 seed, while the loser is relegated to the fourth seed playoff.

Qualifying playoff

This is between the teams that finished 5th and 6th after the elimination round; the winner advances to the fourth seed playoff, while the loser is eliminated.

Fourth seed playoff

The winner is the #4 seed and advances to the semifinals against the #1 seed.

Bracket

Game went into overtime

Semifinals

The top 2 seeded teams have the

. In case a team wins all elimination round games, the stepladder format won't be used since the elimination round is shortened to just one round instead of the usual two.

(1) Letran vs. (4) Perpetual

This is the first meeting between Letran and Perpetual in the playoffs. Letran qualified to its third consecutive playoffs, while Perpetual returned to the playoffs after missing out the 2019 tournament.

(2) Mapúa vs. (3) San Beda

This is the first meeting between Mapúa and San Beda in the semifinals since

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and fourth overall. Meanwhile, this is Mapúa's first semifinals appearance since

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and the first time they have the twice-to-beat advantage. while it will be the first time since

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

when San Beda does not have the twice-to-beat advantage.

Finals

The finals is a

. This is the first meeting between Letran and Mapúa in the finals during the Final Four era, the first since 1979 where Letran won the title, and is a part of the Battle of Intramuros rivalry, so named after the district of Manila both schools are located at. Letran is in its second consecutive finals appearance, while Mapúa is in its first finals appearance since 1995. * Finals Most Valuable Player: * Coach of the Year:

All-Star Game

An all-star game pattered after the

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is the annual all-star game hosted each February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's All-star, star players. Since 2022, it was held on the third Sunday of ...

was held after the tournament. It included 2 teams, "Team Saints" or the schools named after Catholic saints and figures, and "Team Heroes", for those named after Filipino dignitaries and heroes. Each team has two all-stars from each school, and several male contract stars of Sparkle, GMA's talent agency. * All-Star Game MVP: Enoch Valdez (Team Heroes) * Celebrity MVP: Jose Sarasola (Team Saints)

Awards

The awards were given prior to Game 2 of the men's Finals. *Most Valuable Player: *Rookie of the Year: *Mythical Five: ** ** ** ** ** *Defensive Player of the Year: *All-Defensive Team: ** ** ** ** ** ** *Most Improved Player: *Sportsmanship Award:

Perpetual Altas The Perpetual Altas and Lady Altas, or the UPHSD Altas and Lady Altas, are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) teams of the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA. They are also popularly known as the Perps. Since join ...

Statistical leaders

Game player highs

Season player highs

This were for games played during the elimination round.

References

External links

gmanetwork.com/ncaa
GMA coverage website {{NCAA-PH men's basketball 97 Basketball events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021–22 in Philippine college basketball