2018 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship


The 2018 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship occurred from November 24th, 2018 to December 2nd, 2018 in Stanford, California at the Avery Aquatic Center. This was the 50th NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship. Eight teams across from all divisions participated in this championship.

Schedule

November 24November 29December 1December 2
First RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinalsChampionship

Qualification

The six-member selection committee selected eight institutions based on a wide number of factors, primarily number of wins, rigor of schedule, level of availability, an indication of an upward trend or winning consistently, and RPI.
InstitutionConferenceRecordAppearanceLast bid
George WashingtonA-1022–62nd2017
Long Beach StateBig West13–1112th1991
Pomona–PitzerSCIAC24–83rd2017
PrincetonIvy League19–106th2015
StanfordPac-1220–232nd2014
UCLAPac-1222–434th2017
UC San DiegoCCAA19–515th2015
USCPac-1228–333rd2017

Seeding

Likewise with the criteria mentioned above, seeding was based on level of ranking, geographic proximity to the finals site, and a projected low level of academic commitments missed. The pots outlined feature what level in the championship institutions competed in, ranging from competing away in the first round for Pot 4 to skipping to the semifinals in Pot 1.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
USCUCLAPrincetonGeorge Washington
StanfordUC San DiegoLong Beach StatePomona–Pitzer

Bracket

The championship featured a knockout format where schools that lost were eliminated from the tournament.

Honors

The following distinctions were distributed concluding the championship to athletes that had superior performance of some kind in the championship.

Team rankings

InstitutionRanking
USCNo. 1
StanfordNo. 2
UCLANo. 3
UC San DiegoNo. 4
Long Beach StateNo. 5
George WashingtonNo. 6
PrincetonNo. 7
Pomona–PitzerNo. 8