Big Weekend At DeNunzio

Without knowing much about college women's water polo, who would be your guess for the top three teams in the current national rankings? 

TigerBlog guessed USC, UCLA and Stanford. It turns out they're ranked first, third and second. TB promises you he didn't look before writing that. 

It's probably not a shock to learn that of the top eight teams in the rankings, seven are from California (those three, plus UC-Irvine, Cal, Long Beach State and Fresno State) and the other is Hawaii. Once you get past those eight, there's a tie for ninth, and those teams are Princeton and Michigan. 

Those two are also the top seeds in the this weekend's College Water Polo Association tournament, which will be held tomorrow through Sunday at DeNunzio Pool.

At stake is an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Princeton is the home team and the No. 1 seed and has a bye into the semifinals Saturday at noon. 

Here is the complete schedule:

Tomorrow at 4 - No. 3 Harvard vs. No. 6 Bucknell
Tomorrow at 6 - No. 4 Brown vs. No. 5 St. Francis

Saturday at noon - No. 1 Princeton vs. Brown/St. Francis winner (semifinal)
Saturday at 2 - No. 2 Michigan vs. Harvard/Bucknell winner (semifinal)
Saturday at 4 - Brown/St. Francis loser vs. Harvard/Bucknell loser (fifth place)

Sunday at 10 - third place game
Sunday at noon - championship game

Michigan, by the way, has won seven straight championships and 12 overall. 

As TB thought about it, he wondered why Princeton and Michigan would have such strong programs. In fact, after those two, the next four schools in the rankings are again California schools. These are players who never play indoors, and yet when they come to schools like Princeton and Michigan, there are obviously no outdoor matches. 

Despite that, Princeton is an impressive 8-1 this year against California schools, including a win over Long Beach State (and a loss to UCLA). Princeton and Michigan have split their two regular season meetings, with an 11-9 Tiger win in a game played in Providence and a 7-6 Michigan win in Ann Arbor.

The Wolverines have one player on their roster from the state of Michigan and 13 players from California. There are also two from New Zealand, two from Canada and one from Hungary, as well as one from Illinois.

Princeton's roster also features 13 players from California. There are none from New Jersey, but there are four from Connecticut and one from New York, as well as one from Serbia, one from Australia and one from Canada.

Recruiting from California is a must obviously. It's why teams from the East make so many trips there during the regular season.

This is not a weekend with a great many home events, but the water polo is a big one. So is the women's lacrosse game against Harvard Sunday at noon, as the Tigers, Crimson and four other teams scramble for the three remaining Ivy tournament spots. 

TB is pretty sure a win gets Princeton in no matter what. With the other three league games all on Saturday, there will at least be much greater clarity by the time Princeton and Harvard have the opening draw. 

Remember, that's a noon start Sunday, not Saturday. It's also Senior Day for the seven Tiger seniors.

There is also home rowing, with the open women against Penn and the heavyweight men against Brown. 

You don't have to travel too far from Princeton to see one of the greatest events in college athletics, the Penn Relays. The track and field carnival, held at Penn's Franklin Field, was first contested as a matchup between Princeton and Penn back in 1893 (Princeton won). The first actual Penn relays were held two years later. 

If you've never gone, you should. It's not only for track and field fans. It's a pretty awesome event all around. TigerBlog is pretty sure it's the largest track and field meet in the world, with competitions among all age groups beyond just the collegiate and elite levels.

There are, of course, all kinds of other events involving Princeton teams this weekend. 

For the full schedule, click HERE.