BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) released the bracket for the 2023 National Collegiate Men’s Water Polo Championship on December 1-3 at the University of Southern California’s Uytengsu Aquatics Center in Los Angeles, Calif.
While the championship is normally a nine-team, single elimination tournament, with seven conference bids and two at-large selections, the Southern California Athletic Conference declined its automatic qualification for 2023. Thus, the 2023 championship will be comprised of eight teams that qualify directly, instead of having an opening round game to determine the final championship berth. The NCAA Men’s Water Polo Committee makes its selections and seeds based on team record, strength of schedule, eligibility and availability of student-athletes for NCAA championships and more.
The following conferences are granted automatic qualification to the 2023 championship (with National Ranking):
- Big West Conference – No. 6 University of California-Irvine
- Collegiate Water Polo Association/Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference – No. 15 Fordham University
- Mountain Pacific Sports Federation – No. 3 University of Southern California
- Northeast Water Polo Conference – No. 6 ranked Princeton University
- Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference* – Declined
- West Coast Conference – No. 14 San Jose State University
- Western Water Polo Association- Biola University
The schedule for the championship is:
Friday, December 1:
- No. 1 seed University of California-Los Angeles vs. Biola University – 3:00 p.m. Eastern/Noon Pacific
- No. 4 seed Princeton University vs. University of California-Irvine – 5:00 p.m. Eastern/2:00 p.m. Pacific
- No. 2 seed University of California vs. Fordham University – 7:00 p.m. Eastern/4:00 p.m. Pacific
- No. 3 seed University of Southern California vs. San Jose State University – 9 p.m. Eastern/6:00 p.m. Pacific
Saturday, December 2 (Semifinals):
- Semifinal 1 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 – 5:00 p.m. Eastern/2:00 p.m. Pacific
- Semifinal 2 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 – 7:00 p.m. Eastern/4:00 p.m. Pacific
Sunday, December 3 (Championship):
- Winner Semifinal 1 vs. Winner Semifinal 2 – 6:00 p.m. Eastern/3:00 p.m. Pacific
All games on Friday-Saturday, December 1-2, will be streamed lived on NCAA.com. The National Championship game on Sunday, December 3, will be broadcast on ESPNU.
