"Sweet 16" Finals - Win or Go Home

May 27, 2009

The last phase of the search for the best collegiate basketball teams for the current season is the “Sweet 16” Finals. This is when the gathering of the 16 top collegiate teams nationwide happens. For the 2009 Philippine Collegiate Championship, the games for the“Sweet 16” Finals are scheduled to start on 16th November 2009.

Nine teams are automatically qualified as members of the “Sweet 16”. These are the top four teams of the UAAP and NCAA and the CESAFI Champion from Cebu City. Completing the line up of this elite group are the top three of the Luzon-MetroManila Qualifying Zonal and the top four of the VisMin-MetroManila Qualifying Zonal.

Games in the “Sweet 16” Finals are “knock-out affairs”, either you win or go home. The last team standing is crowned as the National Collegiate Champion.

The 16 teams are divided into two main groups with two brackets. In Group X, bracket 1 are: UAAP Champion, Luzon-MM Zonal Qualifier #3, NCAA #3 and UAAP #4; in bracket 2 are: NCAA #2, VisMin-MM Zonal Qualifier #3, CESAFI Champion and Luzon-MM Zonal Qualifier #1.

In Group Y, bracket 1 are: NCAA Champion, VisMin-MM Zonal Qualifier #4, NCAA #4 and VisMin-MM Zonal Qualifier #1; in bracket 2 are: UAAP #2, Luzon-MM Zonal Qualifier #2, UAAP #3 and VisMin-MM Zonal Qualifier #2 

The following are the pairings for the first round of the “Sweet 16” Finals:

Group X
          UAAP Champion        vs.      Luzon-MM Zonal Qualifier #3
          NCAA Third Placer     vs.     UAAP Fourth Placer
          NCAA Runner-up        vs.     VisMin-MM Zonal Qualifier #3
          CESAFI Champion      vs.      Luzon-MM Zonal Qualifier # 1
         
Group Y
          NCAA Champion        vs.     VisMin-MM Zonal Qualifier # 4
          NCAA Fourth Placer   vs.     VisMin-MM Zonal Qualifier # 1
          UAAP Runner-up        vs.     Luzon-MM Zonal Qualifier # 2
          UAAP Third Placer      vs.    VisMin-MM Zonal Qualifier # 2