UCLA Earns At-Large Bid for NCAA Championship
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INDIANAPOLIS – The UCLA men's water polo team (6-7) has earned the No. 4 seed for the 2020-21 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship as announced by the NCAA Men's Water Polo Committee on Sunday night. The six teams vying for the National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship will be in competition March 18-21 at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The Bruins will be seeking their 12th NCAA title in the sport and the school's 119th overall.
Three teams earned automatic selections to this year's NCAA Championships by winning their respective conference tournaments. They include Stanford (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), Bucknell (Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference), and California Baptist University (Western Water Polo Association).
The other three teams were selected based on at-large criteria and that resulted in UCLA, USC, and California earning at-large bids, with the Golden Bears being awarded a two-seed. Stanford earned the top seed after defeating California, 9-8, in the MPSF Championship earlier today (March 7).
The top two seeds were placed in the bracket with the remaining four teams competing for the last two berths in the bracket via two opening-round games.
The opening-round games will be contested on March 18, hosted by the USC Trojans. The semifinals (March 20) and Championship game (March 21) will be played at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center and streamed live on NCAA.com.
MORE: View the 2020-21 interactive bracket | Printable bracket
In the first opening-round game, UCLA will take on California Baptist University (7-4) at 1:00 p.m. PT. The winner will advance to the semifinals where it will face top-seeded Stanford (6-3) on March 20 at 2:00 p.m. PT. In the second opening-round game, USC (6-8) will host Bucknell (4-1) at 4:00 p.m. PT. That winner will advance to the second semifinal where it will meet No. 2 California (8-4) on March 20 at 5:00 p.m. PT.