UAAP Season 84

UAAP Season 84 was the 2021–22 athletic year of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). The Season 84 theme was "Fully Alive, Champions for Life" and the season's host was the De La Salle University. With the limitations brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, UAAP Season 84 only held men's basketball, men's and women's 3×3 basketball, women's volleyball, men's beach volleyball, cheerdance, taekwondo poomsae; and men's and women's chess tournaments as its events for the season. UST was declared UAAP general champion based on eight sporting events. Only the men's basketball, women's volleyball, and cheerdance were televised. The opening ceremony of Season 84 was presented virtually.

A new logo for the UAAP, selected from among the entries of a design competition, was unveiled during the opening ceremony for this season.

The season held its opening ceremony last March 26, 2022 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. For Season 84, all basketball games were played in only one venue, the SM Mall of Asia Arena, unlike in previous seasons, games were played in 2 or 3 venues.

Overview
UAAP Season 84 started with the men's basketball tournament on March 26, 2022, and was held in a full "bubble" set-up during the first four playing dates of the first round, meaning no fans were allowed inside the playing venue. However, on April 5. 2022, which was the fifth playing date of the basketball tournament, the UAAP opened its doors to fans at the Mall of Asia Arena. Ticket selling started on April 2, 2022.

Team staff and players were kept in their bubble setups, which necessitated closing off the patron and ringside areas to fans. Only lower box, upper box, and general admission tickets were offered to the public, and students were given discounts for the latter two sections. The league required all players to be fully vaccinated to be able to play. Booster shots were not required. Two shots were sufficient to meet the fully vaccinated requirement. Basic health and safety protocols were enforced in the venue, such as mask-wearing and social distancing. Fans were also not allowed to eat inside the event bowl, instead, the concourses outside were designated as eating areas.

The women's indoor volleyball tournament kicked off on May 5, 2022, and ran concurrently with other sports like beach volleyball, 3×3 basketball, taekwondo poomsae, and chess.

The UAAP capped Season 84 with four more events in the final week of May and the first week of June. The league announced the schedule of the remaining events in a press conference during the Cheerdance Competition on May 22, 2022,

The UAAP men's beach volleyball made its comeback after three years on May 27, 28, and 29 and on June 3, 4, and 5 at SM Sands By the Bay in Pasay City. Poomsae was staged on May 31 at Mall of Asia Arena. The UAAP went out of town for the 3×3 competition in Calatagan, Batangas on June 2 and 3. The chess tournament was held from June 1 to 5 at the Far Eastern University campus in Manila.

The UAAP had a successful return in the pandemic era, completing the Season 84 men's basketball tournament capped by a dramatic championship finish by the University of the Philippines dethroning Ateneo in Game 3 of the Finals best of three series. The Cheerdance Competition also returned on Sunday, May 22, 2022, with FEU claiming the crown for the first time in 13 years. In the UAAP Season 84 poomsae tournament held on May 31, 2022, at the Coral Way of SM Mall of Asia Arena, the UST Tiger Jins won gold in the men's, women's, and mixed team divisions to end La Salle's two-season reign. The University of Santo Tomas ruled the UAAP Season 84 3×3 men's basketball tournament on Friday, June 3, 2022, at CaSoBe resort in Calatagan Batangas. The University of Santo Tomas ruled the UAAP men's beach volleyball tournament for the third straight season following a 28–26, 21-15 conquest of National University Sunday, June 5, 2022, at Sands SM By The Bay.

The women's volleyball tournament also finished its first round of elimination on May 19, 2022, and resumed after a one-week break by starting the second round of elimination. The elimination round ended on June 9. NU, La Salle, UST and Ateneo were the top 4 teams after the elimination round. NU swept the elimination round with a 14–0 win-loss record and qualified outright for the Finals. La Salle, UST and Ateneo qualified to the stepladder semi finals of the tournament. Fourth-seeded Ateneo eliminated third-seeded UST in the first phase of the stepladder semis played on June 14, 2022, at SM MOA. Ateneo swept UST in 3 sets (3-0). With this win, Ateneo moved up the ladder and played second-seeded La Salle in the second phase of the stepladder semis on June 16, 2022. La Salle had a twice-to-beat advantage being the second-seeded team. La Salle ended Ateneo's cinderella run in the semifinals with a 3–0 sweep of Ateneo. La Salle moved on to the best-of three series Finals to battle NU for the championship. NU won game 1 of the Finals with La Salle at the Mall of Asia Arena on June 18, 2022. Rookies of the derailed Season 82 were all eligible for the Rookie of the Year Award in the UAAP Season 84 women's volleyball tournament. Season 82 was not counted as a playing year of the player"s 5-year eligibility.

The UAAP provisionally changed its rule on the number of players in the basketball and volleyball rosters due to COVID-19 positive cases. Each team submitted a 16-player roster for basketball and 14-player roster for volleyball plus four reserves. Any of the four reserves may be elevated to the regular lineup only to replace a player in the regular line-up who is COVID positive and for no other reason, including injury. The four reserves did not give up a year of eligibility if they have not been elevated. If a reserve is elevated and plays no more than three games, the season is not counted against his years of eligibility.

UAAP also announced that the league amended one of its player eligibility rules temporarily. Players who were 26 years old were allowed to play for their universities provided they did not turn 27 before the May cutoff, were still enrolled and had a playing year left. Previously, the league only allowed players up to the age of 25 to play. This rule will be reverted to normal by Season 85.

The league began Season 85 in September.

Basketball
The tournament started on March 26, 2022. Basketball games were played four times a day and three times a week. The reason behind the quick tournament was to prevent the student-athletes from being holed up in a bubble for too long. The men's basketball still followed the same format: A double-round group stage, semi-finals (final four), and best-of-three finals. All teams played in each of the play dates. This means that they played three times a week starting on March 26. The games were played every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with tip-offs at 11 a.m., 1, 4 and 7 p.m. However, the playing days of the Final Four games will run on a Wednesday, Friday and Sunday schedule instead of the elimination round schedule of Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The UAAP basketball season ended on May 13 or before the PBA plans its next draft. This allowed outgoing UAAP players to apply for the PBA draft without jeopardizing their varsity eligibility.

Volleyball
The UAAP Season 84 women's volleyball tournament started on May 5, 2022, under a closed-circuit setup at the Mall of Asia Arena, unlike the men's basketball tournament where it was a bubble setup.

Similar to the men's basketball tournament, however, the UAAP provisionally changed its rule on the number of players on the volleyball roster due to the still COVID-19 situation. Each team submitted a 14-woman roster plus four reserves. Any of the four reserves may be elevated to the regular lineup only to replace a player in the 14-man roster who is COVID positive and for no other reason, including injury. The four reserves did not give up a year of eligibility if they were not elevated. If a reserve is elevated and played no more than three games, the season is not counted against his years of eligibility.

Cheerdance
The UAAP Season 84 cheerdance competition was held on May 22, 2022, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay. Cheerdance competition is an exhibition event. Points for the overall championship are not awarded to the participating schools.

General championship summary
The general champion is determined by a point system. The system gives 15 points to the champion team of a UAAP event, 12 to the runner-up, and 10 to the third placer. The following points: 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 are given to the rest of the participating teams according to their order of finish.

Media
In 2020, after canceling UAAP Season 83, the UAAP announced a new media rights deal with Cignal TV. The contract runs until 2026. In September 2021, both parties announced the creation of UAAP Varsity Channel, a high definition TV channel initially airing best UAAP games, and eventually live games and repeats. Just prior this season's opening, both parties announced that live UAAP games would be aired on One Sports free-to-air channel with final four and finals games on TV5, UAAP Varsity Channel on pay TV, and Cignal Play on over-the-top streaming. In Cignal TV's coverage, courtside reporters are now called "correspondents," and several personalities openly associated with UAAP member schools are including in the TV coverage. Personalities who covered the UAAP in the ABS-CBN broadcast were also included. In May 2022, international viewers can now watch UAAP games through streaming site iWantTFC after ABS-CBN made a partnership deal with Cignal.

Sports Broadcasters for Basketball

Sports commentator
 * Bea Daez-Fabros
 * Boom Gonzalez
 * Mico Halili
 * Nikko Ramos
 * Jude Turcuato

Color commentator
 * Norman Black
 * Jvee Casio
 * Larry Fonacier
 * Allan Gregorio
 * Isaac Go
 * Jett Manuel
 * LA Tenorio
 * Jason Webb
 * Willy Wilson