I presume you saw the discussion under the thread about the
MPSF championship.
Bewildering. When I look at articles at
SwimmingWorld or
SwimSwam, I think it is clear that Stanford would be considered ranked #1. I don't see how a lower-ranked team (Pacific) that lost both its last two games against even lower-ranked teams should be be seeded #2 over USC. I think the
seeding placing in the brackets was done for other purposes (to guarantee someone other than the Big Four gets into the finals, no matter whether that is contrary to the ability of the teams), hence there was no mention of seeding in the NCAA announcement.
I imagine the coaches of the Big Four have had something to say about this "seeding" to those that matter. The placement hurts Stanford, USC, and UCLA.
(By the way, I don't think the author of that SwimmingWorld article should be trusted. Earlier this year, he published a uncredited claim that UCSB water polo was cleared of any wrongdoing by a UCSB internal investigation. That was many months after UCSB had agreed with the NCAA that violations had occurred. You can fill in your own guess as to why he wrote that. He did not respond to three questions from me asking about whether the NCAA investigation was done, one of which was sent to a SW's editor, two that were submitted as responses to his articles.)
I'm thinking about going to (hopefully both) Saturday & Sunday in Stockton.