Swimcloud

Who is #1?

Who is REALLY number one?  Depending on who you ask that could be - on the women's side - Michigan, Virginia, Stanford or Georgia.   When it comes to he men, things get a little clearer what with NC State leading three of the four major college swimming and diving rankings.  (That said, SwimSwam's rankings are from October 27th, before the Wolfpack's smackdown of Texas).

In the spirit of college football's multiple polls, here's a comparison of the top four rankings of Division I college swimming and diving - the CSCAA Dual Meet Poll, USA Swimming's Top 16 Scoring, SwimSwam's Power Rankings and CollegeSwimming's own.

All told, thirty-one women's teams and thirty-one men's teams can lay claim to being ranked in the Top 25 - and we think that's a good thing.  Each ranking surveyed has a different methedology to measure similar things.  Critics will say that NCAA Championship finish is the "only ranking that matters" but it's just one benchmark to gauge teams against.  

It is also a limiting benchmark that ignores the success of many, many other programs.  Consider these observations.  Since 2011:

  • It takes a minimum of 16 individual qualifiers to win a NCAA title
  • No team with 17 or fewer qualifiers has ever finished lower than second
  • No team with 16 or fewer qualifiers has ever finished lower than fourth
  • Only six teams have qualified at least 16 individuals
  • A team with zero swimmers has finished as high as 13th

Put another way:

Teams with 16 or more qualifiers

  • Win a NCAA title 50% of the time
  • Win a trophy (top four) 100% of the time

Teams with 14 or fewer qualifiers

  • Have a 33% chance of making the Top Ten
  • Have 0% chance of winning a NCAA title

NCAA Championship qualifiers are an elite bunch, but let's celebrate the diversity that is college swimming and diving.  It takes all kinds of programs to make the sport worth watching and participating, just as there are several benchmarks to compare them. 

 

Women

 

Overall Team CollegeSwimming CSCAA USA Swimming SwimSwam Median
1 Georgia 4 2 7 2 3
2 Michigan 2 6 1 8 4
3 Virginia 1 3 6 9 4.5
3 Texas 3 4 5 12 4.5
3 Stanford 8 1 10 1 4.5
6 NC State 5 5 4 10 5
7 Southern Cal 7 7 3 5 6
8 Texas A&M 4 10 11 4 7
8 Louisville 10 8 2 6 7
10 Wisconsin 11 12 9 15 11.5
11 Auburn 9 11 13 20 12
12 California 18 9 17 3 13
13 Arizona 13 22 14 11 13.5
14 Tennessee 12 14 15 14 14
15 Missouri 16 18 30 13 17
15 Indiana 26 13 21 7 17
17 Minnesota 20 17 31 16 18.5
17 Florida 22 16 19 18 18.5
19 Notre Dame 14 19 20   19
19 North Carolina 19 20 16   19
21 UCLA 25 21 8 19 20
22 Duke 21 15 25   21
23 Virginia Tech 15 25 22   22
24 Louisiana State 17 26 23   23
25 Princeton     24   24
26 Arizona State 23 27 29   27


 

Men

 

 

    CollegeSwimming CSCAA USA Swimming SwimSwam Median
1 NC State 1 1 1 4 1
2 Texas 2 3 3 1 2.5
3 California 9 4 4 2 4
4 Georgia 4 6 2 5 4.5
5 Indiana 5 2 10 6 5.5
6 Michigan 3 7 7 8 7
7 Alabama 8 8 6 7 7.5
8 Auburn 7 5 9 11 8
9 Florida 13 9 8 3 8.5
10 Louisville 10 10 5 9 9.5
11 Stanford 6 18 11 12 11.5
12 Arizona State 14 11 12   12
13 Southern Cal 16 13 15 14 14.5
14 Virginia Tech 15 12   20 15
15 Virginia 11 16 19   16
15 Minnesota 17 15 13 17 16
17 Louisiana State 18 17 20   18
17 Arizona 19 25 17 15 18
17 Texas A&M 24 14 18   18
20 Tennessee 22 19 16   19
21 Wisconsin 21 20 14 19 19.5
22 Kentucky 12 22 21   21
23 Missouri 20 23 27   23
23 Notre Dame 23 21 30   23
25 Georgia Tech 25 24 26   25
25 Hawaii     25   25

 

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