Published September 22, 2025 6:42pm

Updated September 22, 2025 6:42pm

The NCAA will implement a new group stage tournament format for both basketball and volleyball starting Season 101, with plans to implement it until at least Season 103.

Melchor Divina, chairman of the NCAA management committee for Season 101, confirmed the development on Monday, saying that the three-year trial will serve as an evaluation period to determine whether the new structure will be adopted permanently.

“We’ll continue, as of now, until Season 103, and after that we will decide if we will continue it,” said Divina.

Under the new format, the league’s ten teams will be split into two groups of five. Each team will face opponents within its group twice and teams from the other group once. After the group stage, the fourth and fifth-ranked teams from each group will play a knockout game in a play-in to complete the quarterfinals lineup.

The top eight teams will advance to a crossover quarterfinal, where the top two seeds will enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage. Both the semifinals and finals will follow a best-of-three series format.

READ MORE | Mapua, LPU in Group A; Benilde, San Beda, Letran pooled in B as NCAA unveils new basketball format

This marks a significant shift from the traditional Final Four system, where only the top four teams after a double round of eliminations advanced to the playoffs, and the rest were eliminated.

The league, however, had tried to experiment with its format in 2022 in Season 97 where a new version included play-in games between the 3rd to 6th ranked teams to finalize the Final Four bracket.

Now entering a new century, the NCAA aims to reboot its competition format.

“‘Yung new format was brought about by our desire to bring more exciting games. For the first 75 years of the NCAA, the champion was determined by round champion then the next 25, nag-Final Four tayo,” Paul Supan, JRU’s representative to the management committee, said. 

“So now, as we usher in the new century, we want to have fresh format for our student-athletes. That’s the rationale behind adapting the new format.”

“And we’ll see from there. We hope we’ll make it as exciting as we perceive it so it will stay for the longest time.”

Divina added that the same format will be implemented in men’s and women’s volleyball, but will have a different draw with the previous rankings as the basis. 

—JMB, GMA Integrated News