Top 5 brace for berth in NC Final 4

The 84th NCAA basketball tournament is headed for a wild and wooly finish.

Whatever happens in the San Beda-Letran showdown on Wednesday, at least three playoff games are needed to settle seedings in the Final Four.

A San Beda victory would mean the Lions automatically gain top seeding and the Knights are relegated into a four-way tie at second place with the Jose Rizal Bombers, San Sebastian Stags and Mapua Cardinals – all with 9-5 win-loss records.

To break the tie, the team with the highest quotient takes on the squad with the worst while No. 2 and No. 3 clash the first of two classification playoffs.

The winners battle for the No. 2 seeding while the losers slug it out in a do-or-die battle for the No. 4 seeding in the semifinals.

A Letran victory, on the other hand, would force a tie between the Knights and the Lions at No. 1 and a three-way logjam among the Bombers, the Stags and the Cardinals at No. 3.

In this scenario, both Letran and San Beda would be assured of the twice-to-beat incentive but they would still settle the No. 1 spot in a playoff.

The last two spots would be contested by San Sebastian, Jose Rizal and Mapua in a series of playoffs.