UAAP Season 72 basketball tournaments

UAAP Season 72
Madrama
Host school	Far Eastern University
Duration	October 1–8, 2009
Arena(s)	Araneta Coliseum
Finals MVP	Rabeh Al-Hussaini
Winning coach	Norman Black (2nd title)
Semifinalists	FEU Tamaraws; UST Growling Tigers
TV network(s)	Studio 23, The Filipino Channel, Balls HD
Duration	October 3–6, 2009
Arena(s)	Filoil Flying V Arena
Finals MVP	Amby Almazan
Winning coach	Emily Vega
Semifinalists	De La Salle Lady Archers; UST Tigresses
TV network(s)	Studio 23, The Filipino Channel, Balls HD
Duration	October 3–8, 2009
Arena(s)	Filoil Flying V Arena (Games 1 & 2); Araneta Coliseum (Game 3)
Finals MVP	Kiefer Ravena
Winning coach	Jamike Jarin
Semifinalists	UST Tiger Cubs; FEU–D Baby Tamaraws
TV network(s)	Studio 23, The Filipino Channel, Balls HD

The University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 72 basketball tournaments are the basketball events of UAAP's 2009–10 season.

Far Eastern University was the season host and the tournament kicked off with a doubleheader on July 11 at the Araneta Coliseum. At the conclusion of the season, the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the Ateneo Blue Eaglets successfully defended their men's and juniors' championships, beating the UE Red Warriors and the De La Salle Junior Archers in the Finals; the Adamson Lady Falcons reclaimed the women's championship beating the defending champions FEU Lady Tamaraws in their own Finals series.

ABS-CBN UHF channel Studio 23 broadcast the men's tournament for the tenth consecutive year, and renewed their contract with the UAAP for another five years.

Preseason

NCAA Season 84 commissioner Joe Lipa will take over from last season's commissioner Chito Narvasa this season after he was appointed by the UAAP Board.^[1]

Major rule changes are:

Instituting a more thorough system in breaking ties after the elimination round to determine seedings,
Teams may now challenge the validity of a three-point field goal at any point of the game via instant replay,
During the final two minutes of the game and in overtime, jump ball situations will be settled by a jump ball in the necessary area (free-throw lane or center circle). The possession arrow will be turned off and is not in use.

Major rules that are retained are:

The adhesive pro-grip is still banned.
Teams are still limited to two foreign nationals in their rosters, with only one allowed to play at a time.

League president Anton Montinola of Far Eastern University said that the method in breaking ties will use "common sense" as the tournament is prolonged by holding unnecessary matches.^[2]

Commissioner Joe Lipa also instructed referees, which come from Philippine Basketball Association, Philippine Basketball League and BRAASCU, to limit unnecessary technical fouls. Furthermore, a "no ID, no sitting on the bench rule" will be implemented to avoid what happened last season when La Salle coach Franz Pumaren was slapped a technical foul for not wearing his ID.^[3] Lipa said that the referees "must have the integrity" and their diverse backgrounds should not be a drawback for Lipa had been an advocate of having diverse groups of referees participating in a single tournament "instead of having the attitude of being parochial."^[4]

Due to the high demand of tickets for Ateneo-La Salle games, host FEU has devised a way for allocating tickets for fans of the two schools, although the Ateneo-La Salle game will still be a part of a doubleheader, tickets will be sold separately for the Ateneo-La Salle and the following FEU-UE game. The patrons who only have tickets for one game has to watch only the game stated on their tickets and has to leave when the other game is being held. The two-hour gap between the games was to allow Araneta Coliseum personnel to clear the arena for the second game. During last year's finals series between Ateneo and La Salle, the crowd was estimated to be at least 22,000.^[5]

Men's tournament

Teams

Team	University	Coach
Adamson Soaring Falcons	Adamson University (AdU)	Leo Austria
Ateneo Blue Eagles	Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU)	Norman Black
De La Salle Green Archers	De La Salle University (DLSU)	Franz Pumaren
FEU Tamaraws	Far Eastern University (FEU)	Glenn Capacio
NU Bulldogs	National University (NU)	Manny Dandan
UE Red Warriors	University of the East (UE)	Lawrence Chongson
UP Fighting Maroons	University of the Philippines Diliman (UP)	Aboy Castro
UST Growling Tigers	University of Santo Tomas (UST)	Pido Jarencio

Elimination round

Team standings

Pos	Team v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Ateneo Blue Eagles	13	1	.929	—	Twice-to-beat in the semifinals
2	FEU Tamaraws (H)	11	3	.786	2	Twice-to-beat in the semifinals
3	UE Red Warriors	10	4	.714	3	Twice-to-win in the semifinals
4	UST Growling Tigers	6	8	.429	7	Twice-to-win in the semifinals
5	Adamson Soaring Falcons	5	9	.357^[a]	8
6	De La Salle Green Archers	5	9	.357^[a]	8
7	NU Bulldogs	3	11	.214^[b]	10
8	UP Fighting Maroons	3	11	.214^[b]	10

Source: ABS-CBN Sports
Rules for classification: 1) winning percentage; 2) if tied for #2 or #4, one-game playoff; 3) head-to-head record; 4) head-to-head point differential; 5) overall point differential
(H) Hosts
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Head-to-head record: Adamson 1–1 La Salle (Adamson +5)
^ ^a ^b Head-to-head record: NU 1–1 UP (NU +8)

Match-up results

	Round 1							Round 2
Team ╲ Game	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Adamson
Ateneo
La Salle
FEU
NU
UE
UP
UST

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
= Win; = OT win; = Loss; = OT loss

Results

Results to the right and top of the gray cells are first round games, those to the left and below are second round games.

v t e Team	AdU	ADMU	DLSU	FEU	NU	UE	UP	UST
Adamson Soaring Falcons		51–61	63–64*	60–63	70–76	91–95**	72–68	75–76
Ateneo Blue Eagles	61–52		76–72*	63–59	75–47	72–57	58–68	93–77
De La Salle Green Archers	55–61	65–81		51–65	68–48	46–65	73–63	101–92**
FEU Tamaraws	84–75	73–74	71–69*		82–57	76–72	75–67	90–63
NU Bulldogs	50–79	54–75	63–61	66–76		59–73	74–64	89–104
UE Red Warriors	60–56	75–80	66–64	87–72	70–58		77–69*	88–92
UP Fighting Maroons	61–74	75–93	83–78	74–86	78–76	72–81		85–95
UST Growling Tigers	64–83	70–80	64–68	67–75	79–58	67–77	93–88

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = left column team win; Red = top row team win.
Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.

Bracket


Semifinals (Nos. 1 & 2 have twice-to-beat advantage)				Finals (Best-of-three series)



1	Ateneo		81

4	UST		64
				1	Ateneo	78	68	71

				3	UE	71	88	58
2	FEU	74	72

3	UE	84	78

Semifinals

(1) Ateneo vs. (4) UST

The Ateneo Blue Eagles had the twice-to-beat advantage.

Studio 23

September 20

Ateneo Blue Eagles	81–64	UST Growling Tigers
Ateneo wins series in one game

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City

(2) FEU vs. (3) UE

The FEU Tamaraws had the twice-to-beat advantage.

Studio 23

September 19

FEU Tamaraws

74–84

UE Red Warriors

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City

Studio 23

September 24

FEU Tamaraws	72–78	UE Red Warriors
UE wins series in two games

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City

Finals

Studio 23

October 1

Ateneo Blue Eagles

78–71

UE Red Warriors

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City

Studio 23

October 4

Ateneo Blue Eagles

68–88

UE Red Warriors

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City

Studio 23

October 8

Ateneo Blue Eagles	71–58	UE Red Warriors
Ateneo wins series 2–1

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City

Finals Most Valuable Player: Rabeh Al-Hussaini (Ateneo Blue Eagles)

Awards

UAAP Season 72 men's basketball champions
Ateneo Blue Eagles Fifth title, second consecutive title (19th title including NCAA championships)

Most Valuable Player: Dylan Ababou (UST Growling Tigers)
Rookie of the Year: Jeric Teng (UST Growling Tigers)