ARELLANO’s thrilling 62-58 win over Mapua on Friday to end its NCAA Season 101 group stage campaign finally gave clarity on this season’s playoff picture.
The win allowed the Chiefs to take the final twice-to-beat incentive in Group A as they finished with a 7-6 record, tied with the Cardinals with a better point differential between the two of them.
By beating Mapua, the Chiefs also gifted Perpetual the top spot in the group regardless of what happens in the Altas’ final game of the season against the Chiefs with eight wins in the tournament
READ: Arellano claims playoff incentive with thrilling win over Mapua
In the other group, San Beda will walk away as the top seed of the group regardless of what happens in its rivalry match against Letran this Sunday, while St. Benilde sits pretty as the second seed due to the win-over-the-other criteria.
Even if the Red Lions and the Blazers end up tied at 9-4 with a San Beda loss and a Benilde win to close out the tournament, San Beda has two wins over St. Benilde this season.
Same can be said about the situation of the Blazers and the Knights, as even if they end up tied at 8-5 with a Benilde loss and a Letran win, CSB has two wins over Letran this season
With everything clear now, let’s take a look at the playoff picture.
Perpetual, San Beda get luxury of rest, scouting
By claiming the top seed of their respective groups, the Altas and the Red Lions won’t be playing until Friday, November 28 as they await the winner of the play-in games which will be played this Tuesday, November 25.
The Altas await the winner of the clash between the JRU Heavy Bombers and the EAC Generals – two teams they beat in the crossover matches this season.
The Red Lions on the other hand, will be waiting for the winner between the San Sebastian Stags and the Lyceum Pirates. San Beda blew out San Sebastian in its lone meeting, but it suffered its worst loss this season at the hands of Lyceum, making this an interesting meeting should Lyceum go through.
Chiefs hold advantage in showdown with fancied Knights
All eyes were on Letran entering this season as one of the most stacked squads in the tournament, while few people talked about Arellano.
Surprise, surprise – it’s going to be the Chiefs who will be holding the twice-to-beat advantage when they face off in the crossover quarterfinals on Wednesday, November 26.
While the Chiefs’ blazing finish after ending the classification phase with a four-game winning streak is the reason for them getting the twice-to-beat, the Knights will have to look back on that slow start for ending third in their group after opening the tournament with an 0-3 record in the so-called ‘Group of Death’.
Still, coach Chico Manabat knows better than to relax, especially as they got blownout by Letran, 83-65, in their first meeting this season.
Finals rematch goes early
It wasn’t farfetched to expect St. Benilde and Mapua to meet again in the finals this season, especially with how the format of the tournament was set and the two squads still looking pretty stacked.
They’d be meeting again in the playoffs, sure, but this time it will be in the quarterfinals with the Blazers having two chances of sending the Cardinals packing early.
Mapua will only have itself to blame after going down 4-5 in its first nine games of the tournament – keeping the door open for Arellano to steal the incentive, something the Chiefs took advantage of by beating the Cardinals.
More bad news for Mapua? It got absolutely dominated by Benilde in its lone meeting this season.
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