The tournament is composed of 18 teams, eight are from the UAAP and the remaining ten are from the NCAA.[2] These squads are grouped into two, each consisting of nine teams.[3] Meanwhile, their junior counterparts will also join the tournament, except for UE Junior Warriors, with Xavier School as the lone guest team for this division. The juniors' teams are grouped into three, each consisting of six teams.[2]
Due to different number of groups in men's and juniors' division, each has its own competition format.
Men's division
The tournament format for men's division are as follows:[3]
During elimination round, teams will only play against teams in their group in a single round-robin schedule.
At the end of the eliminations, the top four teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinal round.
At the quarterfinals:
Seeds #1 in group A meets #4 of group B (QF1)
Seeds #2 in group B meets #3 of group A (QF2)
Seeds #1 in group B meets #4 of group A (QF3)
Seeds #2 in group A meets #3 of group B (QF4)
Winner of QF1 meets winner of QF2 while QF3 winner meets QF4 winner in the semifinals.
Winners of the semifinals will play for the Final round, while losers will battle for third place.
The quotient system shall be applied in case of a tie in the standings between two or more teams.
Only one foreign player shall play at a time in the court.
Juniors' division
The tournament format for junior's division are as follows:
During elimination round, teams will only play against teams in their group in a single round-robin schedule.
The top six teams in overall standings, regardless of the group, will play for the quarterfinal round. The seeds #1 and #2 teams automatically advances to the semifinals.
At the quarterfinals, team #3 meets #6 while #4 meets #5.
At the semifinals, winners of the playoffs between #3 and #6 will face team #1, while #2 will play against the winner between #4 and #5.
Winners of the semifinals will play for the Final round, while losers will battle for third place.
The quotient system shall be applied in case of a tie in the standings between two or more teams.
Source: [citation needed] Legend: Blue = left column team win; Red = top row team win. Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.
Number of asterisks (*) denotes the number of overtime periods.
Source: [citation needed] Legend: Blue = left column team win; Red = top row team win. Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.
Number of asterisks (*) denotes the number of overtime periods.
Source: [citation needed] Legend: Blue = left column team win; Red = top row team win. Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.
Source: [citation needed] Legend: Blue = left column team win; Red = top row team win. Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime. Notes:
Source: [citation needed] Legend: Blue = left column team win; Red = top row team win. Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.