NBTC awards UAAP, NCAA slots

NBTC

The NBTC Competition Committee has made their decision regarding the two berths designated to the UAAP and the NCAA.

With the leagues still having their finals scheduled so close to the 2023 SMART-NBTC National Finals presented by SM, which has been scheduled to take place from March 15-19, organizers have decided that the losing semifinalists from both leagues will be awarded the spots.

Two spots have already been locked in after the University of Santo Tomas and Mapua-Malayan lost their respective semifinal matches in the last couple of days.

The remaining two spots are yet to be decided, as both La Salle-Greenhills and NU Nazareth School forced do-or-die matches against San Beda and Far Eastern University, respectively.

NBTC Program Director Eric Altamirano shares, "We are pumped to have teams from the UAAP and NCAA be part of this year's National Finals. We're confident that with what we've seen in their mother leagues, they can only raise the level of competition as they have done in the past editions of the NBTC."

These four teams are slated to face either PCU-Cavite, Batang Tiaong (Quezon), Team Tarlac, and Royal Star Trading Don Bosco (Dumaguete), as a result of the seeding draw a week ago to determine the Super 24 matchups that is to be played on March 15.

The Super 24 winners will be designated into Division 1, whilst the rest will be in Division 2. The twelve teams in each division will be sorted into four division of three, with round robin matches slated for March 16 and 17. The top team of each group advances into the semifinals on March 18.

The championship of both division will take place on March 19, alongside the final of the inaugural Girls Have Next tournament presented by Fil-Nation Select, as well as the Under Armour-NBTC All-Star Game and its accompanying side events.

Games will be streamed online through the Facebook pages of the NBTC, SMART Sports, and Puso Pilipinas.

The 2023 SMART-NBTC National Finals is presented by Smart, SM, Strong Realty and Development Corp., Under Armour, and Molten, and is sponsored by Tecno, Regent, Rebel Sports Pilipinas, MNL Kingpin, Gatorade, Swish App, Victory Liner, Darlington, Coach E Basketball School, Lighthouse Events, and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.