National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- March 29, 1999

Water Polo Committee studies future championship options

Championship format and qualification procedures were topics of discussion at the 1999 NCAA Men's Water Polo Committee meeting March 7-10 in Newport Beach, California.

The committee voted to solicit feedback from the three men's water polo conferences (Collegiate Water Polo Association, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and Western Water Polo Association) regarding their preference of a championship format that includes a play-in game or a format that awards automatic berths based on region.

Under the play-in proposal, the champions from the Collegiate and Western Water Polo Associations would compete in a play-in game, with the winner advancing to the semifinals, which would be contested on Saturday. The three remaining championship berths would be allotted as follows: an automatic berth to the champion of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament and two at-large berths.

The play-in game would be played Friday, December 3, at the national championship site with the semifinals, third-place and championship game to be held Saturday and Sunday, December 4-5.

Adoption of the play-in game proposal would have to be approved by the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet.

NCAA Bylaw 31 provides for play-in games if more than 50 percent of a championship's field are allotted via automatic qualification. Currently, 75 percent (three berths) of the four-team field is selected via automatic qualification.

The region-based format would provide for an automatic berth to teams based in the East, Southwest and Northwest regions. The remaining championship berth would be at large.

Under the proposal, teams based in the East would not be impacted since the region would retain its automatic berth. However, teams in the West could see dramatic changes since teams from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and Western Water Polo Association no longer would be vying for berths based on conference affiliation, but rather regional affiliation.

The committee has requested conferences to provide feedback on the two proposed formats by April 16. The committee will conduct a conference call on the proposals April 20.

In another action, the committee recommended to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet that the University of California, San Diego, serve as host of the 1999 National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship December 4-5.

Other highlights

Men's Water Polo Committee
March 7-10/San Diego

With regard to rules, the committee took the following actions:

  • Voted that if there are only two 35-second clocks, it is recommended that the two clocks be located across from the front-court referee. (Rule 1-1)

  • Determined that whenever the ball passes completely behind the goal line (face of the goal) or completely over the sideline, the ball is out of bounds. (Rule 1-4 Note)

  • Adopted 1997 rules for cap color and quartering of goalkeeper caps. (Rule 4)

  • Required each team to have two sets of caps, one white and the other a contrasting color. The visiting team shall wear white caps. Home-team caps may be any dark color that contrasts with the color of the ball (caps may not be yellow or gold). (Rule 4-1)

  • Voted that if an excluded player is being

    substituted for, the excluded player does not have to remain in the re-entry area and may leave the pool immediately after entering the re-entry area. (Rule 5-6)

  • Determined that during a timeout, an ejected player is not required to go to the re-entry area before leaving the pool to meet with the team. (Rules 5-7 Note, 10-b-2, 12-2 and 21-3)

  • Voted that yellow and red cards may be issued to the head coach, assistant coaches, individual players and other team officials on the bench. They are used for that game only and do not carry over to a subsequent game. A yellow card is a warning signal to the bench for behavior such as interfering with the duties of the officials or progress of the game or going beyond the area designated for the head coach. (Rule 7-4)

  • Agreed that if the defending goalkeeper drops the ball before taking a goal throw or free throw and allows the ball to enter the goal, the goalkeeper is to take the throw again. No goal is scored in this instance. (Rule 14-6-d)