ANNAPOLIS, MD. The 2019 Swimming World Men’s Water Polo Previews for the six NCAA conferences that will send teams to the national championship tournament, to be held December 7 – 8 at the University of the Pacific’s Chris Kjeldsen Pool Complex, are now online.
Golden Coast Conference; Swimming World’s Pick: Long Beach State
Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference-East; Swimming World’s Pick: Bucknell
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation; Swimming World’s Pick: UCLA
Northeast Water Polo Conference; Swimming World’s Pick: Princeton
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference; Swimming World’s Pick: Pomona-Pitzer
Western Water Polo Association; Swimming World’s Pick: UC San Diego
For 2019, there’s a wrinkle in NCAA men’s play; with the advent of a new Division III tournament—to be held December and hosted on the West Coast—the SCIAC tournament winner will likely have the option of forgoing a berth in the national championship for a chance to win the DIII title. The same situation exists if Johns Hopkins—like Pomona a DIII school—wins the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference title. The issue is: which program should fill the vacant spot in the national championship bracket or will one of the NCAA play-in games be eliminated entirely.
[Five Questions for Max Schlegel, Johns Hopkins Men’s Water Polo Coach]
With the start of the season today, Swimming World is out at the Navy Invitational, where nine teams—Austin, Fordham, Iona, Johns Hopkins, La Salle, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA and host Navy—are playing 18 matches over two days in Lejeune Hall on U.S. Naval Academy campus.