The tournament begins with a double round eliminations, where a team meets its opponent twice in a season. The four top teams qualify for the postseason.
The postseason is divided into the semi-finals and the Finals. In the semi-Finals, the top four teams based on team standings (and tiebreakers, if applicable) from the elimination round qualify. The two top seeds have a twice to beat advantage, that is they must be beaten twice in order to be eliminated. The lower seeds, on the other hand, can be eliminated when they are defeated once.
The surviving teams face off in a best-of-three Finals, where the team which notches two wins first wins the championship.
If a team wins all of the games in the elimination round, the step ladder format is used, where the unbeaten team has a bye up to the best-of-three Finals. The third and fourth seed will figure in a knockout game; the winner of that game will face the second seed with a twice-to-win disadvantage. The surviving team meets the first seed at the Finals.
Source: Wikipedia
The previous format used (prior to 1993) was that the two top teams after a double round eliminations would qualify for the Finals, with the first seed possessing the twice to beat advantage. If a team survives the elimination round unbeaten, they are declared as the automatic champions. After UST's sweep in 1994, the automatic champion provision was removed and the step-ladder format was adopted
Subject: The UAAP Tournament Format 
Sat Jun 26, 2010 11:23 am
