2023-24 NCAA Men’s Power Rankings: November Edition

As in previous years, SwimSwam’s Power Rankings are somewhere between the CSCAA-style dual meet rankings and a pure prediction of NCAA finish order. SwimSwam’s rankings take into account how a team looks at the moment, while keeping the end of the season in mind through things like a team’s previous trajectory and NCAA scoring potential. These rankings are by nature subjective, and a jumping-off point for discussion. If you disagree with any team’s ranking, feel free to make your case in our comments section.

Braden Keith, Spencer Penland, Yanyan Li, Robert Gibbs, Sophie Kaufman and Anya Pelshaw contributed to this report.

No one should be surprised to see Arizona State maintaining the spot atop our men’s power rankings as we descend into midseason invites, as the Sun Devils have done what we’ve become accustomed to—swim fast early, swim fast often.

We haven’t seen too many significant changes in the rankings relative to pre-season, with the uncertainty regarding Ahmed Hafnaoui‘s future in Bloomington seeing IU dip one spot in exchange for NC State, while the likes of Texas A&M and USC have had strong starts and thus leapfrogged a few teams.

Previous Ranks

• NCAA Men’s Power Rankings – Pre-Season Edition

We’ve included where each team is racing over the next few weeks at their invitational meets as well. Note that all the meets featuring our top 25 teams will take place during the Nov. 16-18 weekend, with the exception of the Minnesota Invite, which will be two weeks later (due to American Thanksgiving in the middle).

• See the women’s November Power Rankings here.

Honorable Mentions: Kentucky, LSU, Penn

Also receiving votes: Penn State, Georgia Tech, Pitt, Arizona

Kentucky Wildcats

Midseason Invite: Tennessee Invite

I still feel much the same as I did about Kentucky pre-season. Levi Sandidge may be their only point scorer, but it could be enough for a top-25 finish. Right now, I think Sandidge will score more points than UNC, which is why I’ve moved them up. -SK

#25: ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE -1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 24)

Midseason Invite: Tennessee Invite

Big wins over Missouri and LSU already under their belt so far this season. We’ll see if Charlie Hawke manages to go sub-1:32 at midseason in the 200 free like he did last season. -JS

#24: NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS + (PREVIOUS RANK: NR)

Midseason Invite: Tennessee Invite

Much like the South Carolina women, the UNC men graduated Anton Down-Jenkins, their primary point scorer at the 2023 NCAAs, which made it likely that they’d fall out of the top 25. But their freshmen class, led by Sebastian Lunak‘s 200 fly, is giving them a real chance at maintaining a top-25 finish in March. -SK

#23: PURDUE BOILERMAKERS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 23)

Midseason Invite: Purdue Invite

They’ve been pretty dominant after a season-opening loss at Notre Dame, but we won’t really get to see them against another top-tier team until January. -JS

#22: MIAMI HURRICANES -1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 21)

Midseason Invite: SMU Invite

Nothing’s changed for the Hurricanes with a strong diving trio led by Max Flory poised to put up some NCAA points. -JS

#21: SMU MUSTANGS +1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 22)

Midseason Invite: SMU Invite

Jack Hoagland is right on cue. The question remains: what impact will his presence have on his teammates, and will that impact result in more points? -BK

#20: MIZZOU TIGERS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 20)

Midseason Invite: Mizzou Invite

Some tough losses thus far but they’ve seem to still have the pieces to field some competitive relays. -JS

#19: WISCONSIN BADGERS -1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 18)

Midseason Invite: Texas Invite

Confidence-boosting wins early in the season bodes well, taking out Big Ten rivals Michigan and Minnesota along with Arizona. -JS

#18: MICHIGAN WOLVERINES -1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 17)

Midseason Invite: UGA Invite

Close loss to Wisconsin but the Wolverines might have the swimmer with the most scoring potential between the two teams (Groumi) so I can see why some have them ahead. -JS

#17: LOUISVILLE CARDINALS -1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 16)

Midseason Invite: OSU Invite

Argentine Matias Santiso is the latest addition to the Cardinals from South America, and I could see him challenging for individual points if he continues his upward trajectory in the sprints. -JS

#16: USC TROJANS +3 (PREVIOUS RANK: 19)

Midseason Invite: Texas Invite

It will be interesting to see if anyone aside from the Chmielewski brothers develop super well at USC this year, but the two of them alone move this team up a few spots. -YL

#15: AUBURN TIGERS -2 (PREVIOUS RANK: 13)

Midseason Invite: UGA Invite

Falling a few spots after some other teams (TAMU) came out strong this season. Their individual losses from last season may have been underestimated. -JS

#14: NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH – (PREVIOUS RANK: 14)

Midseason Invite: OSU Invite

Chris Guiliano is the big name and he’s been exciting to watch through the first part of the season. But it’s the performances from Tommy Janton, Marcus Gentry, and Tanner Filion that give them the great foundation that prompted me to move them up a few spots. -SK

Chris Guiliano is popping off right now and it’s so exciting. -YL

#13: VIRGINIA CAVALIERS -2 (PREVIOUS RANK: 11)

Midseason Invite: Tennessee Invite

The Cavaliers have been missing some of their best swimmers because of Pan Ams, but we can’t confuse the excitement around their class of 2025 recruiting with their actual performance in the pool this season either. -BK

#12: OHIO STATE BUCKEYES – (PREVIOUS RANK: 12)

Midseason Invite: OSU Invite

Do they have enough star power individually to remain at #12? I dropped them down a few spots, but we can’t forget Charlie Clark is slated to return next semester. -JS

#11: TEXAS A&M AGGIES +4 (PREVIOUS RANK: 15)

Midseason Invite: Art Adamson Invite

Massive win over Texas, which came after they ran the table over some other tough opponents in October. Baylor Nelson, Alex Sanchez and Connor Foote are all high up in the NCAA rankings. -JS

#10: GEORGIA BULLDOGS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 10)

Midseason Invite: UGA Invite

I don’t think people realize just how well-rounded this Georgia team is. It has put up some pretty impressive in-season times so far. Really all that the Bulldogs are missing is a breaststroker. -YL

Sure, NC State was down a few swimmers, but score aside, the Bulldogs flashed some great early-season speed in their dual meet against the Wolfpack. -RG

#9: STANFORD CARDINAL -1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 8)

Midseason Invite: Texas Invite

I feel the same about Stanford that I did around this point a year ago—I’m waiting for some promise out of the freshman class. -YL

If neither Andrei Minakov nor Ron Polonsky return for the spring semester then not only will the Cardinal have lost their top two individual points scorers in the pool from 2023 NCAAs, but they will also have to replace 12 of their 20 NCAA relay legs as Leon MacAlister and Jonny Affeld have both retired. There are reasons to be positive about the team: Rex Maurer has been solid and their sprint group is showing signs of life, but roster uncertainty makes it a challenge to be confident about where they’ll end up in March. -SK

#8: VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES +1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 9)

Midseason Invite: Tennessee Invite

The Hokies’ big stars have been fairly quiet so far, but I expect we’ll see something more out of them here soon. -RG

#7: TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 7)

Midseason Invite: Tennessee Invite

I speak for everyone when I see we’re excited to see what Crooks and Caribe can muster at their home invitational. -JS

#6: TEXAS LONGHORNS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 6)

Midseason Invite: Texas Invite

Texas gets the job done at the end of the year, but I’m moving them down a notch because dual meet losses to UVA and TAMU were not a good look. -YL

The freshman class has looked strong so far this season. That almost certainly won’t be enough to get them back into the top three, but it’s certainly a promising sign for Longhorn fans. -RG

#5: INDIANA HOOSIERS -1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 4)

Midseason Invite: OSU Invite

Questions about Ahmed Hafnaoui‘s future with the program hurts their chances at a second straight top-three finish at NCAAs. -BK

If Ahmed Hafnaoui doesn’t come back, it pretty much kills the Hoosiers’ chances of a top-three finish and makes the losses of Andrew Capobianco and Van Mathias a lot more felt. -YL

It definitely hurts Indiana if Ahmed Hafnaoui is no longer with the program. But even outside of Hafnaoui, they seriously impressed at their tri-meet against Auburn and Mizzou. That, combined with the fact that I don’t think Texas should move up based on their performances through October, and that Tennessee has too big a point gap to close from last year, keep Indiana from falling further down the rankings for me. -SK

#4: NC STATE WOLFPACK +1 (PREVIOUS RANK: 5)

Midseason Invite: NC State Invite

Luke Miller‘s 44.1 100 fly is NASTY at any point in the season, let alone in November. -YL

The Wolfpack is flashing some early-season speed. The only team with more top 10 times at this point in the season is Arizona State. -RG

#3: FLORIDA GATORS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 3)

Midseason Invite: UGA Invite

The Gators had a lot of their lesser-known swimmers perform well at Pan Ams, which is a good sign for their NCAA prospects. That couples with the key losses incurred by their opponents in the battle for a top-three spot. -JS

#2: CAL GOLDEN BEARS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 2)

Midseason Invite: OSU Invite

If I had to put money on it, I’d probably still bet on Cal to win it all come March. But, it’s been pretty quiet for the Bears so far. -RG

#1: ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS – (PREVIOUS RANK: 1)

Midseason Invite: NC State Invite

The top 10 rankings for almost every men’s NCAA event are basically just a sea of yellow and maroon pitchforks. -YL

One metric I like to use, especially early in the season, is top 10 times, with relays counting double. When I pulled the data the other day, the Sun Devils had 30 individual and five relay top 10 times. -RG

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