Top-ranked UCLA receives the No. 1 overall pick

INDIANAPOLIS – The UCLA men’s water polo team (23-2) has secured an at-large bid to the 2024 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championship and received the No. 1 seed, placing the Bruins in their first quarterfinal game, the NCAA Men’s Water Polo Committee announced Monday announced tomorrow at his Selection Show.

The eight teams competing for the National Collegiate Men’s Water Polo Championship will compete Dec. 6-8 at the Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford. A new champion will be crowned this season as the Bruins virtually eliminated three-time defending champion California in the semifinals of the MPSF Championship Tournament. MPSF tournament champion USC was seeded second. UCLA is seeking its 13th NCAA title in the sport and the school’s 124th overall.

The top four finishers were included in the group, with MPSF tournament champion USC (21-5) taking second place and Fordham (30-0) receiving the nod as third seed. NCAA Championship host Stanford (21-4) received the final overall pick and was ranked fourth on the Bruins’ side. If both teams win their quarterfinal games, they will meet in the semifinals.

This means the Bruins are the No. 1 overall seed for the second year in a row and UCLA will face Salem (20-3) in the first quarterfinal game on Friday, December 6 at noon. The second game is at 2 p.m. and features No. 4 Stanford vs. Princeton (23-8). No. 2 USC takes on California Baptist University (23-13) in the third quarterfinal at 4 p.m. The final quarterfinal, scheduled for 6 p.m., will pit Fordham against Long Beach State (20-10).

The semi-finals will take place on Saturday, December 7th at 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. The NCAA Championships will take place on Sunday, December 8th at 3:00 p.m. live on ESPNU.

Six teams were automatically selected to this year’s NCAA Championships by winning their respective conference tournaments. These include USC (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), California Baptist University (West Coast Conference), Princeton (Northeast Water Polo Conference), Fordham (Collegiate Water Polo Association), Long Beach State (Big West Conference) and Salem (Western Water Polo) . Association). The remaining two teams were selected without geographical restrictions.

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