The Asiabasket 2025 continues their promise to give opportunities for young basketball players in the Philippines to make their way into the big leagues.
With this years’ College Campus Tour, it showcases some of the best collegiate players fans should be excited to watch when the new seasons of UAAP and NCAA tournament begins later this year.
Let’s find out how this year’s tournament is presented and who are the teams competing.
UAAP x NCAA and more
Just like last years’ College Campus Tour, the Asiabasket has again brought out the household universities both from the UAAP and NCAA tournament. Only this time, they added new and competitive universities and added a new experience to the tournament.
There are 6 teams representing the UAAP and it is headlined by last year’s Finalists, the Green Archers of the De La Salle University. Along with them are their archrivals, the Blue Eagles of the Ateneo University. While the other teams are Far Eastern University, National University, Adamson University and University of the East.
6 teams are also representing the NCAA division, headlined by the last year’s NCAA Season 100 champions, Mapua University as well the team they faced in the Finals match, the College of Saint Benilde. The other teams are University of Perpetual Help System DALTA, Lyceum of the Philippines University, San Beda University and Emilio Aguinaldo College
The other two participating universities are Philippine Christian University – Dasmariñas and the St. Clare College of Caloocan.
Tournament Format
The tournament will start from March 16 and will end on May 11. 14 teams are divided into two groups in a single round-robin format. The Asiabasket 2025 College Campus Tour will adapt in a single-game elimination format even during the entirety of the Playoffs up until the Championship.
The last three teams from each group will be eliminated, while the remaining top four teams will advance into the knockout quarterfinals.
Here are the 14 teams divided:
GROUP A
- De La Salle University
- Ateneo University
- University of the East
- Emilio Aguinaldo College
- San Beda University
- Philippine Christian University – Dasmariñas
- St. Clare College of Caloocan
GROUP B
- Far Eastern University
- Adamson University
- National University
- Mapua University
- College of Saint Benilde
- Lyceum of the Philippines University
- University of Perpetual Help System DALTA
For the first time in league history as well, it will adapt a home-and-away format in order for athletes to play in their home school.
These are the venues of the tournament:
- UPSHD Gymnasium (Perpetual)
- Moro Lorenzo Sports Center (Ateneo)
- University of the East Gymnasium (UE)
- Emilio Aguinaldo College Gym (EAC)
- College of Saint Benilde Gym (CSB)
New Stars are Born
With the likes of Mike Philips emerging as the face of the DLSU and Ian Espinosa making a huge leap in becoming the primary primary scoring option of ADMU, these young players are making themselves to be the focal point of defensive schemes for their opponents.
There are also other lesser known players making their mark in the collegiate division and impressing their coaches as they hope to continue in having a lot of playing minutes come the NCAA and UAAP tournament begins later this year.
Jimmy Reyes and Janti Miller showing flashes of greatness for San Beda, while Jethro Bacud is getting the nod from EAC. Joe Gulapa from Mapua and Matthew Montebon from Adamson are captivating the spotlight as the tournament progresses.
More than ever, Asiabasket is definitely making the collegiate basketball scene here in the Philippines more competitive than it used to be.
