in 2001, the number of regions was doubled to 16. the tournament started with eight u.s. teams, randomly assigned into two four-team pools; and eight international teams, also randomly assigned into two four-team pools. teams competed round-robin within their own pool, with the top two teams of each pool advancing to single-elimination play for a spot in the u.s. final or international final, followed by the u.s champion and international champion meeting in the world championship game.