In sports, thefinal four is the last four teams remaining in aplayofftournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of asingle-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in the semi-final round play another single-elimination game whose winner is the tournament champion. In some tournaments, the two teams that lose in the semi-final round compete for third place in aconsolation game.
The term "final four" is most often used in the United States and in sports heavily influenced by that country; elsewhere, only the term "semi-finals" is in common use. Previously, it was believed that the phrase "final four" first appeared in print in a 1975 article for theOfficial Collegiate Basketball Guide, whose author Ed Chay was a sportswriter for theCleveland Plain Dealer. Chay stated that theMarquette basketball team "was one of the final four" duringthe previous season's tournament. The myth that "final four" was first used in 1975 is refuted by the fact that the term "final four" was in widespread use in descriptions of the NCAA basketball tournament by the 1960s.[1] For example, Bill Mayer of the Kansas-basedLawrence Daily Journal World wrote in 1966, "What a great year it could be if ...KU ... could advance to the NCAA Final Four by winning the regional here."[2] TheNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) later trademarked the term.[3][4]
The oldest and most common use of the term is in reference to the final four teams in the annual NCAA basketball tournaments: each Final Four team is the champion from one of four regions of the tournament. These regional champions then travel from the four separate sites of their regional rounds to a common venue for the Final Four. A team must advance through multiple rounds of play—typically winning four to five consecutive games in a field of 64 (or 68) teams—to qualify for the Final Four. These four teams are matched against each other on the last weekend of the tournament. The Final Four of themen's Division I tournament is traditionally held on a Saturday, while the Final Four of thewomen's Division I tournament is usually played on a Friday.
The NCAA also uses "Final Four" for other sports besides basketball, such asmen's andwomen's volleyball championships. Forice hockey tournaments, the NCAA uses a variation of the term—"Frozen Four".
Because the term is now aregistered trademark of the NCAA in the United States, no other organizations in that country can use the phrase to refer to their tournaments. Organizations in other countries may officially do so. Many basketball organizations outside the U.S. use the term for the semifinal and final rounds of their tournaments such as theFIBA Americas League (FIBA Americas League Final 4), theEuroLeague (EuroLeague Final Four), theChampions League (Champions League Final Four), theIsraeli Premier League, thePhilippine NCAA, and theUniversity Athletic Association of the Philippines. TheCEV Champions League in volleyball also uses "Final Four" for its final rounds.[citation needed]
Despite the NCAA's registration of "Final Four" as a trademark, the term is still widely used by sportswriters, fans etc. to denote participants in semifinal rounds of professional postseason playoffs, such as those of theLeague Championship Series inMajor League Baseball, the conference championship games in theNational Football League, and the conference championship series in both theNational Basketball Association and theNational Hockey League.
"Final Four" was used to refer to the crew ofSTS-135, the final Space Shuttle mission.[5][6]
The term has also been used in some television shows to denote the last remaining four contestants, such as the Philippine TV seriesStarStruck and the reality showSurvivor.[citation needed]
Was a mere passing reference by Ed Chay, the late Plain Dealer sportswriter, in a story he wrote on page 5 of the 1975 Official Collegiate Basketball Guide. 'Outspoken Al McGuire of Marquette, whose team was one of the final four in Greensboro, was among several coaches who said it was good for college basketball that UCLA was finally beaten,' Chay wrote. Previously, it was erroneously reported that the first capitalized use of 'Final Four' was in the NCAA's 1978 basketball guide, when (as shown above) Final Four was in capitalized use at least by 1966.
