[Viking_Guy]

Langdude--

UCLA softball had the whole Tanya Harding (not the skater) thing.  She was an amazing pitcher (like, top 5 in the world) from Australia who enrolled for all of one quarter (winter 1995), helped pitch them to the NCAA Championship over Arizona, then left the school before the end of spring quarter, having completed something like two courses during her "enrollment."

UCLA later had to vacate that title for having carried three softball players on soccer scholarships, possibly including Harding.  But Arizona wasn't awarded the title, because the NCAA said it was impossible to adjudge how much influence the improper actions had on the outcome.

I often wonder if the Pac-12 includes those championships (like $C football's) in their listings.

The most amazing graf from that Vavic article, to me:

In 2008, Vavic signed 22 freshmen, bumping the USC men’s water polo roster up to 51 people, which dwarfed most other schools. Only six freshmen received playing time that year. The other 16, including Rosenthal, redshirted.

FIFTY-ONE people on the roster for a sport with 7 people in the water at any given time?  That's nuts.  I was startled by the size of some women's lacrosse squads (like 30-40 people), but that's about 4 times the number of participants.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Langdude--

UCLA softball had the whole Tanya Harding (not the skater) thing.  She was an amazing pitcher (like, top 5 in the world) from Australia who enrolled for all of one quarter (winter 1995), helped pitch them to the NCAA Championship over Arizona, then left the school before the end of spring quarter, having completed something like two courses during her "enrollment."

UCLA later had to vacate that title for having carried three softball players on soccer scholarships, possibly including Harding.  But Arizona wasn't awarded the title, because the NCAA said it was impossible to adjudge how much influence the improper actions had on the outcome.

I often wonder if the Pac-12 includes those championships (like $C football's) in their listings.

The most amazing graf from that Vavic article, to me:

In 2008, Vavic signed 22 freshmen, bumping the USC men’s water polo roster up to 51 people, which dwarfed most other schools. Only six freshmen received playing time that year. The other 16, including Rosenthal, redshirted.

FIFTY-ONE people on the roster for a sport with 7 people in the water at any given time?  That's nuts.  I was startled by the size of some women's lacrosse squads (like 30-40 people), but that's about 4 times the number of participants.

VG