2024-25 NCAA Men’s Power Rankings: Pre-Invites 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.

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

Previous Rankings: 

• Pre-season

We’re back for the pre-invites edition of the 2024-25 Men’s Power Rankings. While the women’s rankings were largely status quo, especially inside the top six. In our last edition, the writers had the NCAA title as a two-team race between Indiana and Cal but now after a lights-out October and adding Chris Guiliano, the Texas Longhorns have thrown their hat in the ring. The Sun Devils are also on the rise, powered by Ilya Kharun and stronger relays than many expected before the season began.

Like the women’s rankings though, this edition of the rankings had more teams nominated for a spot in the top 25, resulting in six schools earning honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions: 

UNC Tar Heels, Harvard Crimson, Army Black Knights, Kentucky Wildcats, Missouri Tigers, Georgia Tech Yellowjackets

UNC Tar Heels: Do dual meets matter? No, in the sense that UNC’s drubbing of UVA doesn’t neccessarily mean the Tar Heels are posed to finish ahead of them come March. But, yes, in the sense that UNC’s quick times this fall, especially that 1:17.18 200 free relay, bode well. -RG

Kentucky Wildcats: The Kentucky distance crew looks filthy, as Bret Lungaard is doing a nice job developing a group of swimmers that were mostly recruited by his predecessor, when the program was known more for its distance group. -BK

Georgia Tech Yellowjackets: I’m trying not to overreact here, but Georgia Tech, with their diving coach apparently on track to remain interim head coach for the season, is showing some little sparks. Berke Saka is a name to know. -BK

#25: Pittsburgh Panthers -3 (Previous Rank: 22)

So far, the Pitt women have shown more than the men. But it’s still early in the season and the Panthers’ diving alone is strong enough that a top 25 finish isn’t out of the question. -SK

#24: Florida State Seminoles -5 (Previous Rank: 19)

Tommaso Baravelli, Yordan Yanchev, and Max Wilson have been highlights for Florida State so far. -SK

#23: University of Pennsylvania Quakers — (Previous Rank: 23)

The Ivy League season is just picking up in earnest. So for me, not much has changed about this Penn men’s team–Matt Fallon will score for them and their freshman class is worth keeping an eye on, particularly the breaststrokers. -SK

#22: Alabama Crimson Tide -4 (Previous Rank: 18)

Alabama slid down the rankings heading into invite season but for me, that’s more a function of how well other teams have started the season than anything Alabama is doing “wrong.” Most recently they swept LSU and Florida State at home, posting a team record (Leonardo Alcantara, 1000 free – 8:53.81) and multiple pool records. Along with their 200 freestyle duo (Charlie Hawke and Kaique Alves) and their transfer sprinters (Kyle Micallef and Toni Dragoja) someone to keep an eye on is Tommy Hagar, who had an excellent end to his freshman season and seems to have maintained that momentum. -SK

#21: SMU Mustangs + (Previous Rank: HM)

Jack Hoagland scored 41 points individually at 2024 NCAAs. While the Mustangs may not qualify relays this year, 41 points still would’ve earned 20th place at last year’s championships. -SK

#20: Minnesota Golden Gophers +1 (Previous Rank: 21)

Minnesota has built some momentum thanks in part to a big win over Army as part of Kyle Sockwell’s dual meet tour, which included a school record already. This team has the chance to score a lot of points in the distance events. -BK

#19: Purdue Boilermakers +1 (Previous Rank: 20)

Purdue’s divers have been strong and should keep the Boilermakers on track for another top 25 finish. But the swimmers are picking up steam too: Brady Samuels just split sub-19 on a relay split for the first time in his career and Pat Broderick swam the fastest 1000 freestyle by a Boilermaker in six years (9:05.95). -SK

#18: LSU Tigers +6 (Previous Rank: 25)

LSU has been the surprise of the early season so far, and they made big headlines after their dual against Texas. It feels like Rick Bishop is really starting to turn a corner with this program in his 4th season with the roster mostly made up of his swimmers at this point. -BK

#17: USC Trojans — (Previous Rank: 17)

Krzysztof and Michal Chmielewski have been strong for the Trojans through the first two meets of the season. Like with the women, it’s hard to draw a lot of conclusions from an invite and one dual meet and for USC, the biggest test will be if they can be at their best during the postseason. -SK

#16: Ohio State Buckeyes -1 (Previous Rank: 15)

Ohio State is 4-0 on the season, including a one point win over Virginia Tech at a two-day meet. That was a big win for the Buckeyes and for me, the fact that they’ve slipped in the ranking speaks to how strong Louisville has looked out of the gate. -SK

#15: Louisville Cardinals +1 (Previous Rank: 16)

The Cardinals are doing a lot, especially in relays, with a roster that doesn’t scare anyone on paper. A mythical scored NCAA Championship meet based on season best times so far would have them 5th at NCAAs. -BK

#14: Michigan Wolverines — (Previous Rank: 14)

Like several of the other teams, we really need to wait for the mid-season invites to see what Michigan has. That being said, there’s still no reason to doubt that this Michigan team is better than last year’s. Jon Jontvedt is a name to keep an eye on as the season progresses. -SP

Michigan only has one guy under 20 seconds in the 50 free so far this season (Bence Szabados). It’s early, but the Wolverines have some work to do. -BK

#13: Virginia Cavaliers -2 (Previous Rank: 11)

Do dual meets matter? Part Two. Given the historic rivalry between the two schools, UVA could not have been pleased with the big loss to UNC. But there were at least two silver linings: first, the Cavaliers were missing both of their returning NCAA scorers from last year; second, there were some lifetime bests and quicker times than at last year’s fall invite or ACCs. -RG

#12: Auburn Tigers — (Previous Rank: 12)

Kalle Makinen has looked good through the first six weeks of the season, a good sign not only for him, but for the Tigers relays. Though to challenge the teams ahead of them, Auburn will need more individual scorers; their mid-season invite should be good practice for them at grabbing finals lanes. -SK

#11: Texas A&M Aggies +1 (Previous Rank: 12)

The Aggies haven’t shown much under the new regime of Blaire Anderson, but she seems to have gotten some slack from a group that wasn’t thrilled about the way the school handled the transition. This is a squad that has built up a stockpile of talent, so keep an eye on them for mid-season. -BK

#10: Stanford Cardinal -2 (Previous Rank: 8)

Stanford lost to both ASU and Cal at last weekend’s tri-meet. But there were positives for the Cardinal, their freshman diver performed well and Liam Custer dropped a PB in the 1000 freestyle to move up to #2 in school history. Stanford had a couple strong recruiting classes over the last couple seasons but had trouble activating them once they arrived on campus. If Custer–and others–can get going, that would be huge for Stanford. -SK

#9: Georgia Bulldogs +1 (Previous Rank: 10)

As of yet this season, Georgia’s sprint free looks like there’s room for improvement, however, they do have a nice group of 200 freestylers and 500 freestylers. Luca Urlando is already putting up great times and looks to be the leader of this team. -SP

#8: Virginia Tech Hokies +1 (Previous Rank: 9)

The Hokies have looked hot early in the season with a diverse roster. Sophomore Brendan Whitfield is coming into his own as one of the top sprinters in the country, building off a great freshman season, and that is helping lead Virginia Tech to some fast early relays. -BK

Youssef Ramadan is off to a very good start this season. The Hokies have a nice group of sprint freestylers, which means their relays should be great as well. Carles Coll Marti has already put up strong performances in the breaststrokes and 200 IM as well. -SP

#7: Tennessee Volunteers -1 (Previous Rank: 6)

Jordan Crooks and Gui Caribe are both off to really nice starts for the Vols. Nikoli Blackman looks like he’s going to be a huge factor for the team this season. -SP

#6: NC State Wolfpack -1 (Previous Rank: 5)

The Wolfpack has been impressive so far this fall. Quintin McCarty has already been under 19 in the 50 free, while Jerry Fox and Kaii Winkler look like they’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the 100 free and 200 free. -SP

#5: Arizona State Sun Devils +2 (Previous Rank: 7)

The Herbie Behm era is going swimmingly at Arizona State. I don’t think they’re deep enough to win, but they’re going to be better than we thought coming into this. -BK

Arizona State is swimming as well as ever. The only thing holding this team back is the number of swimmers from last year’s team that they lost. Still, we can expect the Sun Devils to be right near the top at the end of the season. -SP

#4: Florida Gators — (Previous Rank: 4)

Florida has so much going for them this season. Josh Liendo looks great, Jonny Marshall and Scotty Buff are a heck of a backstroke duo, and Mason Laur is having an excellent start to the season. -SP

#3: California Golden Bears -1 (Previous Rank: 2)

Cal is in the position where we haven’t seen them race much yet this season, but we’ll learn a lot about them at the mid-season invite. For the time being, there’s so much to love about this Cal roster. Nans Mazellier has been a great addition. -SP (Ranked Cal #2)

#2: Texas Longhorns +1 (Previous Rank: 3)

A primetime win over Indiana is a big confidence booster for Texas (though to be fair, it feels like the swimmers there had no problem fully buying in to what Bob Bowman was doing) -BK (Ranked Texas #2)

Texas is looking incredible meet after meet. The late addition of Chris Giuliano is definitely a huge gain for this team, however, they’re still going to need more guys to step up in the sprint events. -SP (Ranked Texas #3)

#1: Indiana Hoosiers — (Previous Rank: 1)

Indiana has such a good roster this season, especially when we take diving into account. Even though they missed out on Chris Giuliano, they’ll be hard to beat. -SP (Ranked Indiana #1)

Writer Ballots