 |  |
2007 Men's Varsity Preseason Top 20 Poll Released; USC Earns #1 Spot
BRIDGEPORT, PA -- The University of Southern California received all the first place votes to garner 100 points as the Trojans are a unanimous #1 in the 2007 National Varsity Men's Water Polo poll released today.
USC, which finished the 2006 season at #2 behind national champion the University of California-Berkeley after the Bears held off the Trojans for a 7-6 victory in the national title game, returns to the top spot after spending 10 weeks at #1 during the 2006 season.
Last year, the Trojans spent 10 straight weeks as the nation's top-ranked team on the way into last week's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament before dropping a 6-5 game to Cal-Berkeley in the MPSF title game.
A three-time NCAA champion, USC spent the last seven weeks of 2005 as the top-ranked team on the way to taking the NCAA title. However, California displaced the Trojans prior to the 2006 season as Cal earned the #1 preseason ranking.
The Bears of California are ranked second in the poll, garnering 95 points, while the University of California-Los Angeles and Stanford University retained their final rankings from a year ago holding onto third and fourth place, respectively.
The biggest movers in the preseason poll are the University of California-Irvine and Pepperdine University which moved up to rank fifth and sixth after rating 11th and 10th, respectively, at the conclusion of the 2006 season.
The University of California-Santa Barbara , the University of California-San Diego, Long Beach State University and Loyola Marymount University round out the top 10 teams.
The national polls will be released each Wednesday during the season at approximately 5:00 p.m.
The Collegiate Water Polo Association Varsity, NCAA Division III and National Collegiate Club preseason polls will be announced on Wednesday, August 22.
2007 Men's National Top 20 Varsity (Preseason)
| Rank | School | Final 2006 Poll | Points |
| 1 | University of Southern California | 2 | 100 |
| 2 | University of California, Berkeley | 1 | 95 |
| 3 | University of California, Los Angeles | 3 | 89 |
| 4 | Stanford University | 4 | 86 |
| 5 | University of California, Irvine | 11 | 75 |
| 6 | Pepperdine University | 10 | 74 |
| 7 | University of California, Santa Barbara | 6 | 71 |
| 8 | University of California, San Diego | 5 | 67 |
| 9 | Long Beach State University | 9 | 56 |
| 10 | Loyola Marymount University | 8 | 55 |
| 11
(T) | University of California, Davis | 13 | 49 |
| 11
(T) | United States Naval Academy | 12 | 49 |
| 13 | University of the Pacific | 7 | 39 |
| 14 | St. Francis College (NY) | 15 | 35 |
| 15 | Princeton University | 14 | 31 |
| 16 | Santa Clara University | 16 | 28 |
| 17 | United States Air Force Academy | 17 | 20 |
| 18 | Bucknell University | 18 | 14 |
| 19 | Pomona Pitzer College | RV | 8 |
| 20 | University of California, Santa Cruz | 19 | 5 |
| RV | University of Redlands | 20 | 4 |
| RV | Brown University | RV | 3 |
| RV | Johns Hopkins University | RV | 3 |
