Field set for the 12th NBTC National Finals

Coming this March 18-24 at the Mall of Asia Arena

The field is now official for the 12th edition of the Chooks-to-Go NBTC National Finals, presented by SM.

Scheduled between March 18-24, it is considered as the de facto tournament to determine the best HS school team in the country, as it involves the champion teams from the different top tier HS basketball tournaments, as well as getting the best of the rest through its qualifiers. It's part of the grassroots project of the NBTC to unearth the best young basketball players in the country.

“We have seen the National Finals grow by leaps and bounds in our 12-year history,” said NBTC Program Director Alex Compton. “Not only in the number of competing teams and how it has become a showcase for all our high school and international talent, but also in terms of the National Finals become a major sporting event in the country. Every high school cager has dreams of making it to the National Finals and the All-Star Game.”

This year's edition saw qualifiers strewn across 105 cities nationwide, whittled down to sixteen regional champions.

Calayan Educational Foundation (Lucena)
St. Augustine (Pampanga)
Southern Philippines College (Cagayan de Oro)
St. Mary's College of Tagum
University of Perpetual Help System Laguna
St. Louis of Don Bosco (Dumaguete)
STI - West Negros University
Sto. Domingo National High School (Legazpi)
Narvacan National High School (Candon)
University of Baguio
Isabela College (Cauayan)
Lyceum - Cavite
Sta. Clarita International School (Iloilo)
Dolores National High School (Eastern Samar)
Zamboanga del Sur National High School
Holy Trinity College (General Santos)

These sixteen schools join the eight schools that have already been seeded into the tournament as champions or runners-up in their respective leagues

UAAP (Champion: Nazareth-NU / Runner-Up: Ateneo de Manila)
NCAA (Champion: Mapua/Malayan / Runner-Up: La Salle-Greenhills)
NBTC Cebu (Champion: Southwestern University-PHINMA / Runner-Up: University of San Jose-Recoletos)
MMBL (Champion: San Beda / Runner-Up: Letran)

Two more schools were given berths by the selection committee in Hope Christian High School and Far Eastern University.

Completing the cast of squads for the so-called Super 32 are six invited overseas-based teams:

FilAm Sports USA
Durham Crossover (Canada - Toronto)
AusPinoy (Australia)
Camp David (New Zealand)
Team Italy Europe Basketball
Top Flight Hoops (Canada - Vancouver)

Notable players from the overseas squads that have previously played in the National Finals are Matthew Daves (from Durham Crossover to Ateneo de Manila), Kamaka Hepa, Jalen Green, and Kihei Clark (all three with FilAm Sports USA, Kamaka now at University of Texas-Austin, Jalen now at Prolific Prep and considered as one of the top recruits in his HS class, Kihei now at the University of Virginia).

Green has affirmed his return to participate in the National Finals, in a video message that was aired during the press conference on Monday.

The format from last year is retained for this upcoming edition, where there is a seeding round to determine who are the 9-16 and 25-32 seeds in the Super 32. The losers from the Super 32 matchups move into their consolation round bracket to determine the Div II champion.

The Bullpups make their return to defend their Div I title, while a new Div II champion will be crowned with the absence of defending champions La Salle-Lipa.

Aside from the National Finals, the NBTC will also have other events taking place during the week. The NBTC Coaches Convention has been moved from its original October schedule to March 22-24, while the NBTC High School All-Star Game takes place on March 23.

Team Heart and Team Hustle make their return, as Kai Sotto and Joel Cagulangan made their choices this past weekend to comprise their All-Star rosters.

Serving as sponsors for the Chooks-to-Go NBTC National Finals presented by SM include: Exped, Freego, Purefoods, Go for Gold, Gatorade, Huawei, Molten, Epson, Arbiel Bus Line, Victory Liner, and Delta Neo Solutions.

Those interested in watching the National Finals can do so via SM Tickets. Make sure to check out the NBTC's Facebook page for updates.