Cruising the Decks - NCAA Tournament Edition

USC, Cal, Navy and Loyola Marymount battle for title

Nov. 27, 2007

By Trevor Freeman

Special to CSTV.com


	Trevor Freeman Trevor Freeman covers Water Polo for CSTV.com. E-mail here!

The Mountain Pacific Tournament is complete and the Final Four is set. It was a thrilling weekend in which a Cinderella emerged to almost claim the Mountain Pacific's automatic bid. UC Irvine took down UCLA and California in succession before finally succumbing to USC in the MPSF Championship game. With the win the Trojans punched their NCAA Dance card. Later in the evening it was announced that California was the recipient of the at-large bid and would be joining them at Stanford this weekend on the biggest stage in American water polo.

Eleven Shots Out Of Set

11. Despite finishing eighth in the MPSF Tournament, I still love Long Beach State's prospects for next season. The 49ers will be returning the core of their offense in Jeff Greenwood, Justin Koeppen and Jake Kinne. New Zealand native Ash Blythen came on down the stretch, scoring 18 goals over the last fifteen games and should only be better next season. Replacing goalie Steve MacKenzie is going to be Gavin Arroyo's biggest task. It wouldn't shock me if they bring in a foreign or juco goalie to give sophomore Derek Wiebe-Bailey some competition in order to make sure the most important position in the pool is shored up.

10. Pepperdine closed out the season by beating Long Beach State 13-10 to finish seventh in the MPSF Tournament. Adam Hewko scored five goals in the victory. The Waves had previously lost 7-4 to Stanford on Friday and 8-7 to UCSB on Saturday.

Do not be surprised if Pepperdine is preseason ranked in the top two next season. Redshirting a bunch of their key players two years ago is really going to pay dividends as they are returning every contributor except for Nick Corjon. Adam Hewko is going to be a preseason favorite for the Peter Cutino Award. J.P. MacDonell, Clayton Snyder, Andrew Milcovich and Caleb Hamilton should only be better with an additional year of seasoning. The Waves will be solid in the cage as well as Travis Stachowski will also be returning.

9. UCSB had a solid weekend at the MPSF Tournament. They gave USC a nice run in the first round before succumbing, 10-7. The Gauchos followed that up with a stirring 8-7 victory over Pepperdine in the consolation bracket. UCSB's season ended with a sixth place showing, as they were beaten back 15-8 by UCLA in the fifth-place game.

The Gauchos have a mixed bag returning. Two legitimate stars in Zsombor Vincze and Milos Golic will be back next fall. Miles Price is also coming back and he is a very solid driver. However the Gauchos are graduating Ross Sinclair who was in my opinion their best player. Sinclair was one of those guys who did a little bit of everything and I think they will miss him. Goalie is also a question mark for the Gauchos as Rick Wright is graduating. Sophomore Michael Robinson and freshman Fraser Bunn should engage in a duel for the starting spot all offseason long.

8. UCLA being upset 10-9 by UC Irvine in triple overtime wiped out their national title dreams. However, I think the Bruins showed a lot of character in coming back and beating Long Beach State and UCSB in decisive fashion. A team of UCLA's expectations could easily have mailed in the last two games. That they didn't says something about the team's character. The loss to Irvine should only make them hungrier for next season. The Bruins will be returning goalie Chay Lapin and he will be a preseason favorite for the Peter Cutino Award. UCLA will also have plenty of offense coming back as Scott Davidson, Krsto Sbutega, Ben Hohl and Tyler Jemmett are returning.

7. Stanford's season ended with a 12-9 loss to California in the third place game. Beating the Golden Bears twice earlier in the season earned them a thumping, as they were down 11-5 after the third quarter. Other results for the Cardinal were a win over Pepperdine in the first round and a beatdown courtesy of USC in the semifinals.

This is another team that is returning a lot of offense but will be losing their rock in the cage. Sandy Hohener has been a two-time All-American for the Cardinal and will most likely be named to his third All-American team in the upcoming weeks. His shoes will be tough to fill. The Cardinal will turn to either junior Jimmie Sandman or freshman Brian Pingree. Luckily for Stanford they will be returning Sage Wright, Will Hindle-Katel, Janson and Drac Wigo on the offensive end.

6. UC Irvine had an outstanding run at the MPSF Tournament as they finished second place to USC. The Anteaters knocked off UCLA 10-9 in triple overtime and followed that up with a thrilling 13-12 victory over California. In the finals, USC flexed its muscles and ended UCI's Cinderella story. It was a nice overall season for UC Irvine. Tim Hutten was dominant all season long and will represent America well in Beijing. Colin Mello was also outstanding in his senior campaign and will garner All-American honors.

The Anteaters will be entering a rebuilding campaign next season as Hutten, Mello, Cole Bitter and goalie Matt Garcia are all graduating. Those four guys were the heart and soul of this year's group and they can leave with their head held high after the effort they put forth this weekend.

5. USC turned in a dominant performance over the weekend as they handled UCSB, Stanford and UC Irvine to win the MPSF Tournament. In each game the Trojans were successfully able to build up a sizable lead and then hold on. It should be noted that USC has won every tournament they entered this season as they won both the NorCal and SoCal Tournaments earlier in this campaign.

(Our last four thoughts will now turn into a full-fledged preview and prediction of the upcoming Final Four.)

4. One story that will not get enough play is the quality of coaches at this year's Final Four. Jovan Vavic, Kirk Everist, Mike Schofield and John Loughran represent four of the best coaches in American water polo. Each school should be commended for not only hiring these guys but also for letting them have the opportunity to build a program. These four coaches have been at their schools for a combined fifty-three years. College sports are all about coaches building relationships with high school or age group team coaches. I think the success of these schools is mainly due to the fact that they have let each guy run the program his way.

3. The first game of the Final Four pits tournament favorite and MPSF Tournament Champion USC (18-2) against WWPA Champion Loyola Marymount (13-15). This game is a 3:00 EST start. The two sides faced each other twice this season with USC winning at LMU 9-4 in their season opener and then at the SoCal Tournament 11-3.

The Trojans come into this game on a roll and have the most depth of any team left playing. The experience of losing to California last season should provide them with ample motivation to get the job done. USC has a lot of seniors playing key roles, as this is the last rodeo for Adam Shilling, Drew Vyn, Gabor Sarusi, Trevor Clark and Tommy Corcoran. I think having that leadership will keep the Trojans focused and not looking past the upstart Lions. A couple young players really stepped up for the Trojans at the MPSF Tournament and look to be in good form heading into NCAAs. Sophomores Matt Sagehorn and J.W. Krumpholz combined for five goals in the MPSF Title game and are two of the most talented underclassmen in the country.

For the Lions to have any chance at keeping this game competitive, they will need redshirt freshman goalie Andy Stevens to have the game of his life. Stevens is a top young goalie prospect who will make a number of All-American teams before his career is over. The Lions best player is true freshman and WWPA Tournament MVP Tibor Forai. Forai is the one player in Loyola Marymount's lineup who has the talent to create chances and get his own shot against USC. He scored three of the seven total goals Loyola Marymount had when they faced USC during the season. Julien Lormant and Mark Milovic will also have to play out of their skulls for LMU to keep this game competitive.

My prediction for this game is a 12-4 victory for USC. Show up early for this game as I think the Trojans are going to jump out to a five or six goal lead and keep LMU at bay for the rest of the contest. That has been the Trojans modus operandi all season long and I do not see it changing.

2. The second matchup is more compelling as it involves two teams who have a familiarity with each other. California traditionally begins each season at the Navy Labor Day Open. This year was no exception as California (26-4) and Navy (29-5) faced each other with California winning 12-7. I was in the house for that game and I can tell you that this matchup should be interesting.

When the two sides faced each other, Navy was able to keep the game close for the first two quarters as they were down 2-1 after the first stanza and 6-3 at the half. A dismal third quarter is what did the Midshipmen in as they got outscored 4-1 in that period. Michael Sharf was outstanding in the game against Navy as he scored six goals and dominated every defender Navy threw at him. In this game, Navy played Cal straight up and did not try anything to limit Sharf's effectiveness like instructing guys to pinch in from the flat or wing on drives and force Cal to look somewhere else. Generally, Navy doesn't get beat on counterattacks, as they are always the most fit team in the water whenever they play. They did get beat a couple times in that game on the counter. I expect that to be cleaned up in this game.

The Golden Bears have the best player in the water and possibly the country in Michael Sharf. Sharf is the heart and soul of the Bears and he does a little bit of everything. He can score, hit the open man, play defense and make clutch shots. Like the Trojans, California has plenty of senior leadership returning besides Sharf, as this is the last go-round for goalie Mark Sheredy, Jeff Tyrrell, Adam Haley, Zac Monsees and Mike Hayes. I expect them all to come out hungry and ready to defend their national title. Sophomore Spencer Warden and junior Trent Calder have both been outstanding as well for the Golden Bears this season. Keep an eye on redshirt freshman Brian Dudley as well as he has the tools to be dominant.

The Midshipmen are led by seniors Aaron Recko, Tyler Hill and goalie George Naughton along with junior Mike Mulvey. Mulvey is the guy to really watch on Navy, as he is one of those players who does a little bit of everything. He scored 72 goals and had 22 assists on the season. Blessed with an accurate arm he will be the guy Cal pays extra attention to. Recko led the Middies in scoring with 73 goals. He has tremendous speed and is somebody that Cal will have to watch on the counterattack. The backbone of Navy's defense is goalie George Naughton and Tyler Hill. Naughton has really emerged as one of the top goaltenders in the country. He made 20 saves in the St. Francis game and will have to play at that level to keep Navy in the game. Tyler Hill is Navy's best individual defender. He is a fast, long player who does a good job of disrupting a player's rhythm.

I think this game will be entertaining for the first half and Cal will pull away in the second. Familiarity will keep this game competitive. I have Cal winning 10-6.

1. If it goes according to the form I laid out then USC and Cal will be battling each other for the NCAA Championship. In the first matchup, USC won 9-8 on a controversial five-meter penalty shot with five seconds left in the match. In the second matchup, California won 10-9, as they were able to jump ahead of USC by two goals in the fourth quarter and hold on. This is a game that will come down to the wire. Last season, I picked USC over Cal in the Championship game and I was wrong. My rationale was that because Cal had beaten USC the week before they would lose the next game, as it is tough to beat a good team twice in a row. I am going to stray from the logic I used last year and pick California to win the title. All season long, I had felt Cal was the best team in the country. I think the loss to UC Irvine this weekend will have California focused and ready. The Golden Bears defend their title with a 9-8 victory.

Player to Watch

Matt Sagehorn, USC: The sophomore from Long Beach Wilson had an outstanding MPSF Tournament Championship game as he scored three goals. Sagehorn has emerged as another great player on a team that is full of them.

Contest To Keep An Eye On

The National Championship game will be carried live on CSTV this Sunday at 5:00 EST. Everybody who loves the sport of water polo should try his or her best to tune in for that game. I'm not saying that as a writer for CSTV. I'm saying that as a fan of the sport. The only way water polo will get more coverage is if we do our best to make sure we support our product.

E-Mail of The Week

This week's e-mail came from Dan M. and it was a simple question, which I know has been talked about amongst the water polo community. It was, "Do you think the NCAA Tournament should be expanded to eight teams? If it was, how would you structure it?"

The key to making this happen is to keep growing the number of varsity teams. I believe the women's tournament got to be expanded to eight teams once they had 61 programs in 2005. The key is outreach. I think the biggest job of United States Water Polo should be the growth of the college game. It starts with trying to foster relationships with schools that should be playing the sport. There's no reason why San Jose State, Fresno State, Sacramento State, Arizona, Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton, San Diego State and all of the Florida state schools shouldn't be playing water polo. With the quality high school water polo being played in all of those areas you could have competitive teams being fielded in no time. With the low cost of tuition at public universities along with the glut of high school talent, it is a no-brainer to target these institutions.

I would love an eight-team tournament. I think the key and this will upset some people is to make it inclusive. I would extend automatic bids to the winners of the MPSF, WWPA, CWPA North, CWPA South and SCIAC. After that, the other three bids would be at-large.