With the NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championship Final Four set to commence on Saturday, December 6, emotions are running high. Four teams head into the most important tournament of their season and potentially their career. UCLA, Stanford, USC and UC San Diego are in the lineup to play in the semifinals, with #1 UCLA facing #4 UC San Diego at 1:00 PM PST, and #2 Stanford facing #3 USC at 3:00 PM PST. All games are taking place at UC San Diego’s Canyonview Aquatics Center. Below is a preview of the four teams, many of which have had to face adversity both in the water and out this year.

#1 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

UC San Diego to host the NCAA Men’s Water Polo Final Four December 6-7.

UCLA is, clearly, the number one seed going into the Final Four. The road was somewhat predictable for the Bruins, who posted a 27-3 record heading into this weekend. The team is consistent when they are winning, but also consistent when they are losing. The Bruins saw their undefeated season squashed on October 12, when they not only lost to USC, but  four hours later to Stanford as well at the SoCal Tournament. UCLA slowly climbed its way back on top of the polls, entering the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) conference championships as the top seed. Surprisingly, UCLA lost to Long Beach State in the semifinals (whom they previously beat one week earlier by 8 goals). The Bruins went on to face USC in the third place game, beating them 10-5.

Although this team faced untimely loses this season, they will be hungry for the national championship final. I like their overall consistent, powerful play, and even though they crept into the final four by being granted an at-large berth, this team is ready to redeem themselves and show they are the number one team in the country.

Keys to victory

UCLA needs to score double digits both days to get the wins and take home the crown. With their outstanding offense and solid defense, double digit scoring will most likely produce a national championship.

#2 STANFORD UNIVERSITY

Stanford has been on a similar path as UCLA this season, posting a 25-3 record heading into the national championships. Two of their three losses have come from the Bruins, most recently losing only by 1 goal in their last meeting. Unlike UCLA, however, Stanford won their conference (MPSF) by beating Long Beach state 9-8, earning an automatic qualifier to the final four. This team will be a contender; however, UCLA seems to have their number every time they face each other. If both UCLA and Stanford make it to the NCAA Championship game, Stanford will have to be mentally tough to overcome this strong UCLA team. Bottom line: this team is a force to reckoned with and will not back down to any challenge. The key to Stanford’s success will be their offense.

Keys to victory

Similar to UCLA, when Stanford scores less than 10 goals, they lose. They need to make sure their offense is on-point and that they are putting up at least 11 goals to ensure a win. If they do that, they will be hard to beat.

Canyonview Aquatics Center-UC San Diego

#3 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

USC has encountered many ups and downs for a team at this stage, seeing six loses over the course of the season. With a record of 26-6, five of their six loses have been from UCLA and Stanford, with the most recent loss coming from Stanford in the semifinals of the MPSF conference championship tournament. The following day they lost to UCLA in the third place game. Although they have endured more losses to teams of higher seeds, USC has a unique past leaving me to believe we should not count them out.

The Trojans have been the reigning national champions the past six years in a row. Since 2002, Coach Jovan Vavic has taken home nine National Championships and two runner-ups back to the USC campus. This team knows how to win – and they know when to win. The Trojans have not only shown how physically tough they are, but emotionally and mentally tough as well.

In January, USC men’s water polo lost a teammate, sophomore Jon Walters, who passed away unexpectedly. As projected, the news hit the team hard. The have recovered both emotionally and mentally and will be wearing #6 on their caps in memory of Walters. Although almost a year has passed, the memory of Walters is very much alive: his younger brother James is a freshman on the USC team. It is absolutely remarkable how these young adults have rebounded from such a loss, and channeled their energy in a positive direction. USC is my wild card in the bunch, being incredibly unpredictable. They are playing with a heavy heart.

Keys to victory

With emotion running as high as I’m sure it is, anything can happen with USC this year — including some really good things. The Trojans will need to control and focus all the emotion that is sure to be there in order to dominate and bring home their seventh championship in a row.

#4 UC SAN DIEGO

This particular Triton team is two years in the making. Coach Denny Harper took a very unconventional approach in the spring of 2013, when he chose to have his top two would-be seniors, including 2012 conference MVP Josh Stiling, redshirt the 2013 campaign. Both student-athletes were supportive of the idea, knowing that it would create opportunity for the incoming juniors. Now, over a year later, this team is one of the best UC San Diego teams I have seen in a great while. With very experienced upperclassmen who have played with each other now for at least three years, this team is extremely close, can read each other well, and are committed to their coaches and to each other.

Although UC San Diego comes into the national championship tournament with a 16-9 record, all their losses have come from top ranked teams. This final four will be a fairly challenging one for the Tritons, but the program has always thrived on being the underdog. In 2000, UC San Diego faced USC in the NCAA National Championship semifinal game, beating the Trojans 9-8 and surpassing all expectations the water polo community had for the them. The Tritons ultimately fell to UCLA in the championship game, but it was the first ever national runner-up the program ever saw. Although a long shot, this Triton team is the host this year and should be up for any challenge. Great defense with a consistent offense from UC San Diego will be the key to knocking off the number 1 seed in the semis. UCLA’s three losses have come when they couldn’t convert more than six goals.

Keys to victory

If the Tritons can somehow hold the Bruins to six goals or less, their chances of winning the semi-final game increases dramatically, repeating their 2000 NCAA efforts.

Canyonview Aquatics Center-home of the 2014 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Final Four.

I am often asked how good my college team was when I played water polo at UC San Diego. Sometimes I say that my Tritons made it to our conference championship finals (but leave out the part where we lost to Loyola Marymount three years in a row by only one goal each year). If I really want to impress people, I tell them we made it to the elite eight of the NCAA tournament.  If I want to keep it simple, I say we finished ranked 8^th nationally in NCAA Division 1. All answers are completely accurate. But why so many answers to such a simple question?

Unlike most NCAA collegiate sports where a championship tournament consists of at least 16 teams, water polo takes an nontraditional approach to the NCAA Championships. The Men’s NCAA Championships consists of only four teams, while the Women’s NCAA Championships consist of eight teams (only four teams when I played in the early 2000’s.) Collegiate water polo does not have 1^st rounds and 2^nd rounds in tournament championship play. Water polo jumps right into the final four for the men, and the elite eight for the women.  You will see two “play-in” games for each gender; but those games are simply seen as just that: a game to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The play-in game losers are not recognized by the NCAA as a team that qualified for the championships.

So how does a team qualify for the NCAA Water Polo Championships? It’s simple: you win your conference, you earn an automatic qualifier…to compete for a spot in the finals. The men have four conferences, each owning an AQ. The women have seven conferences, six of which own AQs. In addition, there are two at-large berths on the men’s side, and four on the women’s side. Because water polo is a national collegiate sport, all divisions are represented in the championships. Like mainstreamed sports, if you fail to come home with a conference title, you have a chance at receiving an at-large berth.

With the 2014 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championships this weekend, play-in games have taken place and the final four teams are set for the championship tournament: UCLA, Stanford, USC and UC San Diego. With all games being held at my alma mater UC San Diego, semi-finals will take place on Saturday, December 6^th, with the championship game and the third place game taking place on Sunday, December 7^th (water polo is a sport that actually plays out the tournament to determine all placing’s).

You must be wondering if, as a student-athlete, I was ever upset that there were limited spots in the national championship tournament. Sure, I would have liked to play in the tournament. But being upset was merely a way to get through the loss to LMU…three years in a row. The bottom line is although water polo is unique sport on many levels — specifically championship play — it does not differ in the fact that you simply have to be the best to make it to the final championship game.

The collegiate student-athlete experience is not only about qualifying for NCAA’s. It’s more than that. It’s about working the hardest you have ever worked before with 16 close friends at your side, experiencing victory and defeat together, learning how to juggle earning a degree and playing at a high level of competition, all while becoming a well-rounded, successful individual that will have a positive impact on society…playing in the NCAA Championships is just really good icing on the cake.

The 2014 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Final Four Championships will be held December 6-7, 2014 at Canyonview Pool on the campus of UC San Diego. Four of the best teams in men’s collegiate water polo will gather to determine the national champion.