Sinking Feeling for No. 1 Trojans

When the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation plays the water polo tournament that ends its regular season and there isn’t a Speedo’s width of difference among the top three or four teams, then there will be an emotion such as Richard McEvoy’s and a despair such as USC’s.

There seems to be no way around it.

The NCAA men’s water polo tournament will be held next weekend in San Diego, and at least two teams that belong won’t be there. Traditionally, now, that is what the MPSF tournament does--it sends a few of the best teams in the nation home, so that the sport may survive.

This year, it appears that USC and California are out, for the good of Massachusetts and UC San Diego and the rest of Division I water polo. They are the sacrifices, good enough to compete for a national championship but likely expelled for the sake of 42 other programs.

“It’s hard,” said McEvoy, USC’s senior goaltender. “We honestly feel we have the best team in the country.”

It was a difficult argument to make Saturday afternoon, 24 hours after Friday’s shocking 10-9 loss to Pacific at UC Irvine. He knew it, too. The defending national champion Trojans entered as the nation’s No. 1-ranked team, but only the third-seeded squad in this tournament.

“We’re all praying we might still go,” McEvoy said. “We know it’s not a reality. It would take a miracle.”

It happened for Pacific instead, and it is very likely that Saturday’s semifinal winners, Stanford and UCLA, will represent the MPSF in the NCAA tournament, and that one of them will win it.

“I think it gets us in,” UCLA Coach Guy Baker said after a 12-9 overtime win over Cal in Saturday’s first semifinal match. “It’s a battle. The focus is so much on getting us in. The old way, us, SC and Stanford would be playing for seeding.”

They will play in today’s conference final against Stanford, and it appears that the only at-large NCAA tournament berth will go to the loser.

“The top four teams in the nation are here,” McEvoy said. “The top eight teams are here, probably.”

In 1995, the NCAA water polo tournament field was trimmed from eight to four teams. At the same time, it was stipulated that the Collegiate Water Polo Assn., from the East Coast; the Western Water Polo Assn., a lesser conference in the West, and the MPSF would send their champions. It was a decision made by a Division I cabinet based on sponsorship numbers.

“The bottom line,” said Tom Jacobs, NCAA senior assistant to the director of championships, “is that water polo fell below the lowest percentage.”

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is allowed a 64-team field because more than 90% of member schools play men’s basketball; there are only 44 men’s water polo programs at 964 institutions.

The fear in the water polo community is that by simply inviting the nation’s best four teams, it would dull the interest and competitiveness of programs outside California and eventually shrink the membership.

“It really would be great to have our top four teams in the tournament,” MPSF Commissioner Al Beaird said. “But, basically, it comes down to the NCAA philosophy. It is an age-old debate and one that will continue as long as we have a four-team tournament.”

Massachusetts is ranked 10th in the nation. UC San Diego, which will host the tournament, is ranked ninth.

“The first couple years of it were pretty hard to swallow,” said Rich Corso, the former Olympic coach who once coached Yale. “Now, everybody knows the rules. I don’t want to say it’s a level playing field, but it’s a field that’s clearly laid out. Unfortunately, that’s the way it goes.

“These other college programs need to flourish. In order to do that, they need to play the best.”