The 2018 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship occurred from November 24, 2018, to December 2, 2018, in Stanford, California at the Avery Aquatic Center. This was the 50th NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship. Eight teams across from all divisions participated in this championship.
Schedule
November 24November 29December 1December 2 First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship
Qualification
The six-member selection committee selected eight institutions based on a wide number of factors, primarily number of wins, rigor of schedule, level of availability, an indication of an upward trend or winning consistently, and RPI.
InstitutionConferenceRecordAppearanceLast bidGeorge WashingtonA-1022–62nd2017Long Beach StateBig West13–1112th1991Pomona–PitzerSCIAC24–83rd2017PrincetonIvy League19–106th2015StanfordMPSF20–232nd2014UCLAMPSF22–434th2017UC San DiegoCCAA19–515th2015USCMPSF28–333rd2017
Seeding
Likewise with the criteria mentioned above, seeding was based on level of ranking, geographic proximity to the finals site, and a projected low level of academic commitments missed. The pots outlined feature what level in the championship institutions competed in, ranging from competing away in the first round for Pot 4 to skipping to the semifinals in Pot 1.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4USCUCLAPrincetonGeorge WashingtonStanfordUC San DiegoLong Beach StatePomona–Pitzer
Bracket
The championship featured a knockout format where schools that lost were eliminated from the tournament.
Honors
The following distinctions were distributed concluding the championship to athletes that had superior performance of some kind in the championship.
Team rankings
InstitutionRankingUSCNo. 1StanfordNo. 2UCLANo. 3UC San DiegoNo. 4Long Beach StateNo. 5George WashingtonNo. 6PrincetonNo. 7Pomona–PitzerNo. 8
References