The Final Four of the UAAP Season 88 Men’s Basketball tournament is all but set with the NU Bulldogs, UP Fighting Maroons, and UST Growling Tigers securing the first three spots. The Bulldogs got to the Final Four first and will be the top seed, with the Fighting Maroons not far behind. The Growling Tigers punched their ticket to the Big Dance on Sunday with a swashbuckling triumph over NU.
Now, all that’s left is for any of the La Salle Green Archers, Ateneo Blue Eagles, and FEU Tamaraws to complete the Final Four cast. So, what needs to happen for these three squads to catch that last bus to the playoffs? We break down the scenarios for you below:
La Salle Green Archers (7-6)
Remaining Game: ADMU (Nov. 26)
What it needs to do: Beat ADMU.
For the Green Archers, all they have to do is beat archrivals Ateneo and they’ll be in the Final Four. Recent form suggests the Green Archers would be capable of doing so after defeating second-running UP on Saturday. However, the Blue Eagles know they can beat their rivals from Taft as they did it already in the first round with an 81-74 triumph.
Ateneo Blue Eagles (6-7)
Remaining Game: La Salle (Nov. 26)
What it needs to do: Beat La Salle, pray for a UST victory.
Ateneo’s path to the Final Four is a bit tougher compared to La Salle, but it starts with the Blue Eagles repeating over the Green Archers. That’s just one part of the equation, though. The second part is that Ateneo needs UST to beat FEU. In such case, Ateneo and La Salle will meet again for a playoff to get to the playoffs.
Now, in case Ateneo beats La Salle on Wednesday and UST loses to FEU, a three-way tie among the Green Archers, Blue Eagles, and Tamaraws will happen. In this case, the three squads will play a stepladder playoff to determine the last team to make it to the Final Four. First, La Salle and FEU will battle it out. Then, the winner will play Ateneo for the fourth and last ticket to the Big Dance.
FEU Tamaraws (6-7)
Remaining Game: UST (Nov. 26)
What it needs to do: Beat UST, pray for an Ateneo victory.
FEU’s path to the Final Four mostly mirrors that of Ateneo as the Tamaraws need to beat UST and then hope for an Ateneo victory over La Salle to force that three-way tie at 7-7. Then, the Tamaraws will have to survive two win-or-go-home games to get into the Big Dance via backdoor.
More Final Four Permutations: The Curious Case of La Salle and UST
Unless something out of this world happens on Wednesday, UST is all but guaranteed to face UP in a no. 2 vs. no. 3 face-off. However, there’s a remote chance that the Green Archers can overtake the Tigers for the third spot. But that will only happen if La Salle blows out Ateneo by more than 30 points and UST loses to FEU by over 30.
That’s the only way the Green Archers win a tiebreak against the Tigers in case they both finish at 8-6. Coincidentally, the two teams split their season series, with each team winning by nine—meaning they will be tied in the first two tiebreakers (head-to-head record and head-to-head point differential). Both teams also scored the same number of points in their two meetings (170), leaving them tied in that tiebreaker, too. UST, though, is ahead in points differential—+63 as against +4—against all teams after 13 games.
Now, there’s probably no way La Salle can leapfrog UST anymore, but it certainly needs to take care of business against Ateneo to seal that last Final Four slot. Needless to say, there’s a lot at stake on Wednesday when the Green Archers take on the Blue Eagles and the Tamaraws face off against the Tigers.
Wednesday’s all-important games will take place at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
