2017 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship

The 2017 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship occurred from November 25, 2017, to December 3rd in Los Angeles at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center. This was the 49th NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship. Eight teams across from all divisions participated in this championship.

2017 NCAA
Men's Water Polo tournament
Teams8
FormatSingle-elimination
Finals siteUytengsu Aquatics Center
Los Angeles, California
ChampionsUCLA Bruins (11th title, 20th title game, 30th Final Four)
Runner-upUSC Trojans (22nd title game, 27th Final Four)
Semifinalists
Winning coachAdam Wright (3rd title)
MVPAlex Wolf ((UCLA))
TelevisionNCAA

Schedule

edit
November 25 November 30 December 2 December 3
First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship

[1]

Qualification

edit

The six-member selection committee selects 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.[2]

Institution Conference Record Appearance Last bid
California MPSF 20–3 29th 2016
George Washington A-10 17–11 1st
Harvard Ivy League 23–7 2nd 2016
Pacific WCC 19–5 3rd 2013
PomonaPitzer SCIAC 24–10 2nd 2016
UC Davis Big West 22–6 6th 2016
UCLA MPSF 19–4 33rd 2016
USC MPSF 25–3 32nd 2016

[3]

Seeding

edit

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.[2] 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 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
UCLA UC Davis Pacific PomonaPitzer
California USC Harvard George Washington

Bracket

edit

The championship featured a knockout format where schools that lost were eliminated from the tournament.[1]

 
First RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinalsChampionship
 
              
 
25 November – Stockton
 
 
Pacific16
 
30 November – Los Angeles
 
PomonaPitzer2
 
Pacific13
 
 
 
UC Davis12
 
UC Davis – Bye0
 
2 December – Los Angeles
 
UC Davis – Bye0
 
Pacific9
 
 
 
UCLA11
 
UCLA – Bye0
 
 
 
UCLA – Bye0
 
UCLA – Bye0
 
 
 
UCLA – Bye0
 
UCLA – Bye0
 
3 December – Los Angeles
 
UCLA – Bye0
 
UCLA7
 
 
 
USC5
 
California – Bye0
 
 
 
California – Bye0
 
California – Bye0
 
 
 
California – Bye0
 
California – Bye0
 
2 December – Los Angeles
 
California – Bye0
 
California11
 
 
 
USC12
 
USC – Bye0
 
30 November – Los Angeles
 
USC – Bye0
 
USC16
 
25 November – Cambridge
 
Harvard4
 
Harvard15
 
 
George Washington13
 

Harvard's play-in win over George Washington was the first-ever victory for a school outside California in a non-consolation game in tournament history. (As of 2019, however, California schools still maintain a perfect record against teams outside the state.)

Honors

edit

The following distinctions were distributed concluding the championship to athletes that had superior performance of some kind in the championship.[3]

All-tournament Teams

edit

First Team

Athlete Institution
Luca Cupido California
Blake Edwards USC
Max Irving UCLA
Matteo Morelli USC
Alex Roelse UCLA
Marko Vavic USC
Alex Wolf (MVP) UCLA

Second Team

Athlete Institution
McQuin Baron USC
Matt Farmer UCLA
John Hooper California
Luke Pavillard Pacific
Nicolas Saveljic UCLA
Ben Stevenson Pacific
James Walters USC

Tournament scoring leader

edit
Athlete Institution Goals
Luke Pavillard Pacific 10

Team rankings

edit
Institution Ranking
UCLA No. 1
USC No. 2
California No. 3
Pacific No. 4
UC Davis No. 5
Harvard No. 6
George Washington No. 7
PomonaPitzer No. 8

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "2018 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship Bracket" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  2. ^ a b "2017–18 Pre-Championship Manual // NCAA Men's Water Polo" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  3. ^ a b "National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championships Records Book" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved 1 July 2018.