Mapua University, the host of NCAA Season 101, is set to tweak the tournament format for basketball and volleyball when the new season kicks off in October 2025. 

Mapua received the hosting rights from Season 100 host Lyceum of the Philippines University.

For Season 101, both basketball and volleyball will feature a group stage bracket with the 10 member schools set to be divided into two pools based on specific criteria. 

Once the rankings are determined after the two rounds, there will then be a play-in stage where the fourth and fifth-ranked teams will compete for the last playoff spot. 

Melchor Divina, Mapua's representative to the NCAA management committee, said Season 101 will also introduce a crossover quarterfinals round, where the teams will duke it out in a best-of-three affair before advancing to the next round. 

Divina said the new tournament format is inspired by both the NBA and the US NCAA, which they hope will entice more engagement from the public, especially from the students of participating schools. 

"Gagawa kami ng kakaibang tournament format, pinaghalo namin ‘yung NBA, US NCAA. May play-in, meron na ring quarterfinals sa basketball at volleyball," Divina said.

"Para exciting at ‘di porket fifth place ka wala ka nang chance. Nilagyan lang namin ng additional excitement lang. Kahit nasa ilalim ka may chance ka pa rin," he added.

The tentative date for the opening is October 1, 2025. 

"October 1, tentative kasi ayun ‘yung availability ng Araneta. Aaralin pa namin kasi that is Wednesday kasi for the past years weekends [and opening] e. Ano ang impact ‘pag weekdays, mas marami ba ang tao so ia-assess pa namin," he said.

(Original story written by Bea Micaller of GMA Integrated News)