With the NCAA Season 93 Seniors Basketball tournament set to begin in less than a month, the Grand Old League released its tentative first round schedule, Friday night.
Opening day will be held on Saturday, July 8, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. As per tradition, the opening ceremonies will be held at 12:00nn and will be followed by the match-up of the host versus the reigning champions. This season, the opener will be season-hosts San Sebastian College-Recoletos Golden Stags taking on NCAA Season 92 champions San Beda Manila Red Lions. This will be followed by last season’s third placers Mapua University Cardinals taking on silver finishers Arellano University Chiefs at 4:00pm.
However, as promised by the league, the NCAA on Tour will return this season. The league will devote Thursdays to this, with Arellano, Mapua, San Sebastian, Letran, EAC, and Perpetual hosting the games for the first round.
Thursday, July 13 (Arellano University, Manila City)
4:00pm Arellano vs. San Sebastian
Thursday, July 20 (Mapua University, Manila City)
4:00pm Mapua vs. Perpetual
Thursday, July 27 (San Sebastian College-Recoletos, Manila City)
4:00pm San Sebastian vs. JRU
Thursday, August 3 (Colegio de San Juan de Letran, Manila City)
4:00pm Letran vs. Saint Benilde
Thursday, August 10 (Emilio Aguinaldo College, Manila City)
4:00pm EAC vs. Lyceum
Thursday, August 17 (University of Perpetual Help System, Las Pinas City)
4:00pm Perpetual vs. San Beda
Due to this, Tuesdays and Fridays will feature triple-headers, with all games being held at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City. The rivalry game between San Beda and Letran will take place on Tuesday, July 25, at 4:00pm.
The round will tentatively end on Friday, August 22. The Finals rematch pitting San Beda and Arellano will take place at 2:00pm, while JRU take on Mapua at 4:00pm to end the round.