UAAP Season 88 basketball tournaments

Starting this season, the high school division tournaments were rebranded into "16U tournament" from last season's junior high school tournament, while the boys' and girls' tournaments were rebranded into "19U boys' tournament" and "19U girls' tournament", respectively. The UAAP is expected to use the UAAP Final Four format for tournaments with 7 teams or more. There are five tournaments in two divisions: the collegiate division tournaments and the 16-under tournament of the high school division are being held in the first semester of the academic year. Meanwhile, the 19-under boys' and 19-under girls' tournaments will be held in the second semester. The under-19 girls' tournament, which only has 4 teams, will see the top two teams qualify to the best-of-three finals. Former Ateneo varsity player Jai Reyes has been named commissioner, with Jong Uichico as consultant, and Dino Lee, Mikko Abello and Ginny Velarde as deputy commissioners. The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) requested the UAAP to allow their players to apply for the PBA season 50 draft while the UAAP season is ongoing. The UAAP rejected the PBA's request, citing the need to consistently apply their eligibility rules across all events, not just men's basketball. The UAAP rebranded the Mythical Five award (in basketball) as the "Elite Team" across all sports. == Referee compensation ==

This season, the UAAP introduced a tiered system for compensation for its referees. Referees officiating men's tournaments matches get per game, for boys' tournaments matches and for girls' and women's tournaments matches. In the previous season, referees are paid per game regardless of tournament. This caused backlash insisting that pay either should be equal or the female tournaments should have not been reduced. Reyes argued that referees in the men's tournaments have to contend with faster pace of play for men's games, justifying higher compensation. Women's tournaments participants such as coaches and players said that they were offended by the UAAP's actions By October 22, the UAAP's commissioner's office revised the referees' compensation, basing it on the referees' status, instead of the tournament, with pay not based on the sex of the participants of the game that is being officiated. == Teams ==

Men's basketball is a mandatory event in the UAAP, where all 8 universities are required to field in teams. The 19-under girls' tournament is a demonstration sport and is not mandatory. Coaching changes == Venues ==

The University of Santo Tomas Field in Manila hosted the opening ceremonies. The main venues for the basketball tournament are the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City and Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. Due to Metro Manila hosting the 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship, several venues are unavailable during the first week, forcing UST to host games at the on-campus Quadricentennial Pavilion. The UAAP's return to the newly-renovated Blue Eagle Gym is its first after 20 years for the men's tournament and 6 years for the women's tournament. == Squads ==

Each team has a roster of up to 16 players. Only one "foreign student-athlete", non-Filipinos who are otherwise known as "imports" elsewhere, is allowed to be on the active roster. Starting next season, the UAAP will allow up to two imports in their pool, with still one allowed on the active roster, while another is available on the reserve list. The change is to provide teams with "roster security". == Men's tournament ==

The tournament began on September 20, 2025 with Ateneo defeating FEU in overtime, and ended on December 17, 2025. Team standings Match-up results Scores Results on top and to the right of the grey cells are for first-round games; those to the bottom and to the left are second-round games. Bracket Semifinals The top two seeds have the twice-to-beat advantage where they have to win just once, while their opponents twice, to progress. (1) NU vs. (4) La Salle The NU Bulldogs become the first team to clinch a semifinals berth after their victory against Adamson. They then clinched the twice-to-beat advantage with their win against UE. UP's loss to La Salle gave the #1 seed to NU. La Salle's elimination round finale win against Ateneo gave them the #4 seed. {{basketballbox {{basketballbox (2) UP vs. (3) UST The UP Fighting Maroons clinched the semifinal berth after winning against Adamson. With UP's loss to La Salle, they settled for the #2 seed. UST clinched the #3 seed after La Salle's defeat of Ateneo in the elimination round finale. Meanwhile, the De La Salle Green Archers clinched their third consecutive Finals berth. This is the third consecutive time La Salle and UP met in the finals. • Finals Most Valuable Player: La Salle won against UP to claim the championship. Awards The end-of-season awards were handed out prior to game 2 of the finals at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. • Most Valuable Player: • Rookie of the Year: • Elite Team: • • • • • Player of the Week The Collegiate Press Corps awards a "player of the week" throughout the season: Statistical leaders FEU's Janrey Pasaol topped the statistical points race after the elimination round. Statistical points leaders Season player highs Game player highs Season team highs Game team highs • Wello Lingolingo of UE was suspended for 3 games after incurring an unsportsmanlike foul against La Salle's Kean Baclaan. Lingolingo served out UE's first round game with FEU, and the first two games of the second round. • Coach Chris Gavina of UE was suspended for 4 games after an expletive-ridden rant on the postgame press conference after their loss against La Salle. Gavina served out UE's first round game with FEU, and the first three games of the second round. RJ Argamino coached UE against FEU, and on the rest of the games Gavina was suspended. • Gelo Santiago of NU was suspended for 5 games after incurring a disqualifying foul against Ateneo's Waki Espina. Santiago served out his suspension against La Salle, Adamson, FEU, UE, and UST. • Vhoris Marasigan of La Salle was suspended for 1 game after incurring a disqualifying foul against NU's Omar John. Marasigan will supposedly serve his suspension against Ateneo, but with the postponement of that game, he served out his suspension on their game against FEU. • EJ Gollena of La Salle was suspended for 1 game after incurring a disqualifying foul against UP's Francis Nnoruka. Gollena will serve his suspension against Ateneo. == Women's tournament ==

The tournament started on September 24 with UP winning over Adamson. And ended on December 14, 2025. Elimination round The UAAP postponed the November 9 games due to the predicted effects of Typhoon Uwan (Fung-wong). Team standings Match-up results Scores Results on top and to the right of the grey cells are for first-round games; those to the bottom and to the left are second-round games. Bracket Stepladder playoffs (3) Ateneo vs. (4) Adamson Adamson and Ateneo qualified to the stepladder quarterfinals. (2) NU vs. (3) Ateneo NU awaits the winner of Ateneo vs. Adamson playoff. Finals The finals is a best-of-three playoff. The UST Growling Tigresses, by virtue of winning all 14 elimination round games, qualified to their third consecutive finals. The NU Lady Bulldogs, for their part, clinched their 11th consecutive finals berth, and will face the Tigresses for the third consecutive finals. Awards The end-of-season awards were handed out prior to game 2 of the finals at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. • Most Valuable Player: • Rookie of the Year: • Elite Team: • • • • • Player of the Week The Collegiate Press Corps awards a "player of the week" throughout the season: Discipline • Coach Haydee Ong of UST was suspended after being called for two technical fouls on their game against Adamson. Ong will serve out her suspension on their game against Ateneo. Sen Dysangco coached the Tigresses against the Blue Eagles. == 19U boys' tournament ==

The 19U boys' tournament started on January 11, 2026, with Ateneo defeating UE. Elimination round Team standings Match-up results Scores Results on top and to the right of the grey cells are for first-round games; those to the bottom and to the left of it are second-round games. Bracket == 19U girls' tournament ==

The 19U girls' tournament started on January 11, 2026, with NUNS defeating Ateneo. Elimination round Team standings Match-up results Scores Results on top and to the right of the grey cells are for first-round games; those to the bottom and to the left are second-round games. == 16U tournament ==

The tournament began on September 20, 2025 with FEU Diliman defeating Ateneo. Elimination round The UAAP postponed the November 9 games due to the predicted effects of Typhoon Uwan (Fung-wong). Adamson's victory against UE clinched the playoffs berth for the former, and eliminated the latter. Adamson qualified to the stepladder quarterfinals. FEU's defeat by UST in their elimination round finale relegated them to the stepladder quarterfinals. (2) UST vs. (3) FEU Diliman UST clinched a semifinals berth after winning against Ateneo. The Tiger Cubs clinched the #2 seed with their defeat of FEU Diliman in the elimination round finale. They then clinched the twice-to-beat advantage after winning against FEU Diliman. After winning all elimination round games, including the finale against UST, the Bullpups clinched an outright finals berth. The FEU Diliman Baby Tamaraws qualified to its first 16U finals after defeating previous season's finalists UST. Awards The end-of-season awards were handed out prior to game 2 of the finals at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. • Most Valuable Player: • Rookie of the Year: • Elite Team: • • • • • == See also ==