Philippines NCAA

The NCAA was founded in 1924 on the initiative of Regino R. Ylanan, a physical education professor of the University of the Philippines (UP). The original members were the Ateneo de Manila, De La Salle College, Institute of Accounts (now as Far Eastern University), National University (NU), San Beda College (SBC), the University of Manila, the University of the Philippines, and the University of Santo Tomas (UST).

The decision of the board of directors to file papers of incorporation with the then Bureau of Commerce in 1930 led to protests from the University of the Philippines, which was the only public institution among member schools, saying that it would lead to commercialization. National University and the University of Santo Tomas sided with the University of the Philippines on the matter. This led into the formation, via an Article of Agreement, of a triangular meet among NU, UP and UST, with the Board of Control's condition that NCAA events should take precedence. The league established came to be known as the "Big Three," and in 1932, the Article of Agreement was renewed.

In 1936, the University of the Philippines, National University and University of Santo Tomas withdrew permanently from the NCAA and continued with their own league, while Far Eastern University (FEU) withdrew on its own. Six schools remained in the league and became known as the "old-timer six" – Ateneo de Manila, Colegio de San Juan de Letran, De La Salle College, José Rizal College, Mapúa Institute of Technology and San Beda College. Also in 1936, league's basketball games were transferred to the newly completed Rizal Memorial Coliseum, owing to its accessibility among the schools, since most schools were in Manila.

In 1938, Far Eastern University, National University, the University of the Philippines and the University of Santo Tomas formed the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, a rival intercollegiate league.

The NCAA experienced a golden age during the postwar years. The Loyola Center at the Ateneo campus became the new home of the league. Due to the home court advantage of the Ateneo, Blue Eagles' games were held on the old Rizal Memorial.

The 1950s will be known in the annals of history as one of the best decades of the NCAA. The start of the decade was the glory year of the fabled Letran Murder Inc. Eventually, it will be the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles and San Beda Red Lions who would be locking horns during the fabled era.

The decade produced legendary collegiate players like Carlos Loyzaga (San Beda), Lauro "the Fox" Mumar (Letran), and Francisco Rabat (Ateneo) among others.

The 1950s was also known as the decade of the Crispulo Zamora Cup. The Crispulo Zamora Cup was the trophy to be awarded by the NCAA for the first team to get three championship crowns.

The Letran Knights started with their 1950 campaign bannering their legendary Murder Inc. However, they lost steam when San Beda and Ateneo traded championships thereafter. San Beda won the crown in 1951 and the 1952 season. Ateneo stopped San Beda in 1953 and secured the 1954 championship. The 1955 season was the deciding year for the Crispulo Zamora Cup which San Beda eventually won.

In the post Zamora Cup era, La Salle made their own statement by winning the crown in 1956. Still, Ateneo was undaunted and secured the 1957 and 1958 trophy. A third straight post-Zamora crown was only foiled by San Beda in 1959 ending the legendary decade of the 1950s.

NCAA basketball champions formed the core of the Filipino team sent to international competitions during 1960 and 1961 in Japan. The opening of the Araneta Coliseum, the largest indoor arena in the Philippines, prompted the league to transfer the championship round there.

By the 1960s, the league experienced problems such as eligibility of players and interscholastic hooliganism. This led to disagreements among member schools, and as a result the 1962–63 season was suspended, and the following two seasons were held in a loose conference format, where the home and away system was used. San Sebastian College - Recoletos joined the league in 1969. Trinity College of Quezon City also joined in 1974, the league's golden anniversary, according to newspapers and other publications of that year. (However, the NCAA's official website states that Trinity joined the league in 1985; see next section.)

After the riotous games of the late 1970s, several of the founding members left the league. The Ateneo de Manila University left the league in 1978 due to violence, which also marred a championship series with San Beda, while La Salle left after a riotous game with Letran in 1980. Ateneo de Manila was accepted in the UAAP in 1978, while La Salle had to wait for six years to become a UAAP member. San Beda left the league in 1983, reasoning that the college focused on school-based sports activities like intramurals.

With the withdrawal of Ateneo de Manila, league games returned to the old Rizal Memorial and to the PhilSports Arena, since the Loyola Center was now the location of the UAAP tournament. Also with the withdrawal of the three founding members, most daily publications tagged the NCAA as "an ironic journey from sports to violence."

As the league was reduced to four members, new membership was actively pursued. Perpetual Help College of Rizal was accepted as a member in 1984. A year later, Trinity College of Quezon City finally was accepted as a full member after being a probationary member for more than a decade, according to publications of that period). However, Trinity was not able to meet league requirements and was dropped from the league in 1986, the same year San Beda returned (despite sports articles in newspapers that year stating Trinity voluntarily left the league).

Measures were taken to prevent major brawls from starting such as the patrolling by the respective faculties of the member schools, to control the behavior of the crowd were implemented as part of the remedy to ensure the security during the NCAA games.

The addition of Philippine Christian University and De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde in the late 1990s brought the league membership to eight schools .

Television coverage of NCAA basketball games was discontinued in the 1980s and 1990s by the TV networks due to the bad image of the League and frequent brawls during games. After several years of non television coverage of NCAA basketball games, television coverage was resumed by Vintage Television in 1998. The majority of the basketball games were aired live on IBC 13 until 1999. In 2000, the league switched the TV coverage from Vintage to the MCI group and games aired on People's Television Network but which aired only a single game of each playing day until the NCAA games were produced by Silverstar Sports in 2001.

A major breakthrough occurred when the league, upon the initiative of host school San Beda, made a move that switched the television coverage of NCAA games from MCI group to ABS-CBN on March 18, 2002. Previously, only the Final Four and the Championship games were televised, but with the five-year contract inked with ABS-CBN, a majority of the elimination round basketball games were also aired, giving the league bigger exposure to fans, students and alumni. ABS-CBN would later air the games on its international affiliate, The Filipino Channel, making the games viewable to alumni and fans abroad.

The NCAA has set its plan of expansion. Division II, as it will be called, will be composed of newly admitted schools. The league has already visited and issued invitations to schools such as Arellano University, Emilio Aguinaldo College and the Lyceum of the Philippines University.

In 1998, the affiliated schools in the Calabarzon region and southern Metro Manila established NCAA South, an offshoot of the league. The schools of NCAA South do not compete with the schools in the main league.

The return of a Mapúa Juniors team, which took a leave of absence beginning Season 81 (2005–06) was scheduled in Season 83 (2007–08). Malayan High School will represent the Mapúa Institute of Technology in the Juniors Division of the NCAA. This newly established High School would only be fully operational by school year 2007–08. However, the scheduled return of the Mapua Junior varsity team did not materialize and instead it resumed participation in Season 84 (2008–09).

After it was revealed that several players of the PCU juniors' basketball team enrolled with spurious documents, PCU's seniors and juniors teams were suspended in the 2007–08 season. The seniors teams participated in the 2008–09 season, but all teams would take an indefinite leave of absence starting with the 2009–10 season. As a result, the Management Committee conducted a search for PCU's replacement but it was decided that such replacements would be deferred to Season 86 (2010–11). The league opted to invite guest teams instead, with Angeles University Foundation (AUF), Arellano University (AU), and Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) being the invitees, and being eligible to win championships. In Season 86, AU's and EAC's status were upgraded to probationary membership. Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU), which had earlier sought membership, was accepted as a guest team in the Season 87 (2011–12). Arellano became a regular member in Season 89 (2013–14) after meeting the league requirements, this is then followed by EAC and Lyceum in Season 91 (2015–16).

Due to the loss of the congressional franchise of ABS-CBN, the NCAA had to find a new broadcast partner. Later, it was announced that the GMA Network beat TV5 in a bid to acquire the broadcast rights for the next six seasons starting with Season 96 (2020–21), which is currently encompassing the association's centennial season in 2024–25.