From www.uswp.org
The NCAA Championships Cabinet meeting rejected the proposal from the Men’s NCAA Water Polo Committee to expand the championship back to 16 teams. Under the proposal, there would have been four regional tournaments of four teams each, with the four winners advancing to the final four. The proposal called for the top four seeded teams participating in different regional competitions.
According to the NCAA Water Polo Committee, there was no support from within the cabinet for this proposal due to the low numbers of schools sponsoring the sport. Men’s volleyball fared no better, which helps put it into perspective, given the fact that they have 69 sponsoring institutions and water polo has 43. They were denied their request to expand to a six-team bracket, which was another option the NCAA Water Polo Committee had considered.