| Year: | 2021 |
| Sport: | Men's Water Polo |
| Teams: | 7 |
| Format: | Single-elimination |
| Finals Site: | Spieker Aquatics Center Los Angeles, California |
| Champions: | California Golden Bears (15th title, 24th title game, 30th Final Four) |
| Runner Up: | USC Trojans (26th title game, 31st Final Four) |
| Semifinal1: | UCLA Bruins (33rd Final Four) |
| Semifinal2: | UC Davis Aggies (1st Final Four) |
| Coach: | Kirk Everist |
| Coach Count: | 4th |
| Mvp Label: | MVP |
| Mvp: | Nikos Papanikolaou |
| Mvp Team: | California |
| Television: | NCAA |
| Prev: | 2020 |
The 2021 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship occurred from December 4–5, 2021 in Los Angeles, California at the Spieker Aquatics Center. This was the 53rd NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship. Seven teams participated in this championship. Opening round game-one was played at Princeton University. The UCLA Bruins were the defending national champions and the 2021 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) champions. The rankings before the tournament: No. 1 University of California, No. 2 University of Southern California, No. 3 University of California Los Angeles, No. 4 Stanford University, No. 5 Long Beach State University.
All times are Eastern time
| November 27 | December 2 | December 4 | December 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening Round Game 1 | Opening Round Games 2 & 3 | Semifinals | Championship | |
| 1:00 p.m. | 3:00 p.m. & 6:00 p.m. | 5:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. | 5:00 p.m. |
The championship featured a knockout format where schools that lost were eliminated from the tournament. The championship pairings were announced on Sunday, November 21, 2021 by the NCAA Men’s Water Polo Committee.
Top ranked teams from five conferences received automatic qualification (AQ). The conferences are the Golden Coast Conference (GCC), Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC), Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC), and the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA). The two at-large teams, without geographical restrictions, came from MPSF: UCLA and Southern California.
| GCC | Long Beach State | 22–5 |
| MAWPC | Fordham | 24–6 |
| MPSF | California | 20–4 |
| MPSF | UCLA | 19–3 |
| MPSF | USC | 17–2 |
| NWPC | Princeton | 25–7 |
| WWPA | UC Davis | 17–2 |
After the championship, the All-NCAA Tournament First and Second teams were announced.[2] [3] [4]