The UAAP Season 84 is set to kick off next Saturday, March 26, with a tight schedule prepared for men's basketball action at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Scheduled every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, the UAAP will hold four games in a day with timeslots of 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m., and 7 p.m.
This meant that all eight universities will have the chance to play in a single day.
There are seven initial game days, should everything go as planned, starting from the opener March 26 (Saturday), March 29 (Tuesday), March 31 (Thursday), April 2 (Saturday), April 5 (Tuesday), April 7 (Thursday), and April 9 (Saturday), with all games to be held at the MOA Arena.
For the opener, Far Eastern University and University of Santo Tomas will set the pace of men's hoop action at 10 a.m; Adamson University will battle National University at 1 p.m.; the first Battle of Katipunan between defending champions Ateneo de Manila University and University of the Philippines will commence at 4 p.m.; and host De La Salle University and University of the East will cap off the night at 7 p.m.
On April 2, the classic rivalry between La Salle and Ateneo will be seen, for the first time again in two years without collegiate action, at 7 p.m.
Ateneo and UST will bring back memories of their UAAP Season 82 Finals rivalry when the two teams meet on April 9 at 4 p.m.
All eyes will still be on Ateneo, who bagged the UAAP title for three straight years, sans the likes of three-time Finals Most Valuable Player Thirdy Ravena, Isaac Go, and Nieto twins --- Matt and Mike, Adrian Wong, and 2018 ROTY awardee Angelo Kouame.
The Growling Tigers clawed their way en route to the best-of-three Finals showdown with the Blue Eagles after taking down the Tamaraws and the Fighting Maroons, who had a twice-to-beat advantage then, in the stepladder rounds.
UST's Beninese center Soulemane Chabi Yo, who took his act to Europe, was named Season 82 Most Valuable Player while Mark Nonoy, who jumped ship from UST to La Salle, was hailed Rookie of the Year.