The Blue Eagles have had several rivalries throughout the years. Before the NCAA was founded and into the early years after its foundation (1924), Ateneo's fiercest basketball rivals were the UP Fighting Maroons (then known as the Maroon and Greens). Ateneo won its first NCAA seniors basketball title in 1928 while the San Beda Red Lions won their first in 1927, and the two went on to develop a rivalry during the 1930s that lasted up to the 1970s. The two schools dominated the NCAA as they traded championships, back-to-back and three-peats. When Ateneo left the NCAA in 1978, it had the most number of basketball championship titles in that league at 14 to the 10 of San Beda.