UNDEFEATED so far in the ongoing NCAA Season 97 seniors basketball tournament, rivals Letran and San Beda were the first two teams to clinch at least a spot in the play-in tournament as they have hurdled their first six foes in this campaign.
With the Knights and the Red Lions being the juggernauts that they are, it seems like the two are heading into a collision course come the final day of the eliminations with only one team finishing the eliminations unscathed.
Letran still has Jose Rizal University and San Sebastian in its schedule, while San Beda has Mapua and St. Benilde before the Knights and the Red Lions face off in the much-anticipated Finals rematch come April 29.
No NCAA setpladder semis
But regardless if Letran or San Beda finishes the eliminations with a perfect 9-0 record, there won't be any stepladder semifinals this year in contrast to the case in the past seasons.
NCAA Management Committee (Mancom) chairman Dax Castellano of hosts St. Benilde confirmed that the traditional automatic Finals berth incentive given to teams who sweep the elimination phase won't be observed this season with the shortened one-round preliminary phase and the introduction of the play-in tournament.
That means that the biggest prize up for grabs in the eliminations will be clinching one of the top two spots which comes with a twice-to-beat advantage in the semifinals.
Teams ranking third to sixth will undergo the NBA-inspired play-in tournament with the no. 3 and 4-ranked teams after the eliminations playing for the no. 3-seed.
The winner of the game between the fifth and sixth-ranked teams will then face the loser of the aforementioned game to fight for the no. 4-seed in the Final Four.
Midway through the eliminations and teams are already jostling for position in the play-in phase with Mapua (5-2) currently placing third followed by St. Benilde (4-3), Emilio Aguinaldo College and San Sebastian (3-4), Arellano (2-4), and Perpetual (2-5).
Fiba rules will be used to break ties, meaning teams sporting identical records will be separated by either win-over-the other rule in case there are only two, or by point differential if there are three or more.
The last two teams standing in the playoffs will face off in the best-of-three championship series.
There have only been four instances in the past that the NCAA has gone to a stepladder semis since the institution of the Final Four format.
The first was in Season 73 in 1997 where San Sebastian completed a 12-0 sweep en route to the championship, before it was accomplished again by San Beda in Season 86 back in 2010 where it went 16-0 in the eliminations before claiming the throne.
Unfortunately, the last two teams to complete a run of perfection ended up as runner-ups. Lyceum went 18-0 in Season 93 back in 2017 only to fall to San Beda in the Finals, while San Beda also cruised to an 18-0 record in Season 95 back in 2019 just to lose to Letran in the championship series.
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