The UAAP Final Four refers to the postseasons of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) tournaments. The term "final four" came from the National Collegiate Athletic Association of the United States' men's Division I basketball tournament which is colloquially called as the "final four" in that country. "Final Four" is now a registered trademark exclusive to the American NCAA and no other organizing body within the U.S. can use that name in referring to their tournaments. History The Final Four in which the four teams (out of eight) with the best records qualify for the postseason playoff games was instituted in Season 56 (1993–94). Previously the postseason was a championship series between the top two teams, with the No. 1 seeded team holding the twice to beat advantage, i.e., they have to win only once to clinch the championship. The No. 2 team has to win twice. The tournament is now conducted in three stages with the institution of the Final Four playoffs: The two-round preliminaries, where a team plays the other teams twice. The four teams with the worst records are eliminated. The semifinals, wherein the No. 1 seeded team plays the 4th seeded team and the No. 2 seeded team plays the 3rd seeded team. Both No. 1 and No. 2 seeded teams possess the twice to beat advantage, while the No. 3 and No. 4 teams have to win twice. The finals, which is a best of three series. On the first year of the implementation of the Final Four playoffs, the University of Santo Tomas swept the group stage, and following the then existing rules, the Glowing Goldies were awarded the championship outright. After that season, the UAAP revised the rule so that the team that sweeps the regular stage will instead advance to the best-of-3 Finals automatically. While the No. 2 team will have the twice to beat advantage in the semifinals where it awaits the winner of the game between the No. 3 and No. 4 teams. The revised postseason format was implemented in Season 57 (1994–95) but it was not until Season 70 (2007–08) that a team swept the group stages. The University of the East was the first to accomplish this feat under the new format, causing the sweep clause to be used. UE thus automatically advanced to the Finals but this reward became a bane as the Red Warriors