College Power Rankings, Presented By NUTC [January 31, 2024]

Some shuffling after a weekend packed with sanctioned play, highlighted by SBI and Carolina Kickoff

January 31, 2024 by Ultiworld in Rankings with 0 comments

 

Ultiworld’s College Power Rankings, presented by the National Ultimate Training Camp!

While our College Power Rankings can always be found on our permanent rankings page, every week during the season we will post the current edition here on the front page to facilitate discussion in the comments and serve as a permalink for each week’s rankings.

Ultiworld Subscribers have access to team-by-team coverage in the Breakdown sections.

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D-I Women’s Power Rankings

D-I Women’s Discussion

• The University of National Champions remain at #1 after rolling through Carolina Kickoff, with their closest game coming against #22 North Carolina State in pool play.
• British Columbia won Santa Barbara Invite, their first regular season tournament win since the 2015 Northwest Challenge. There was some debate about whether UBC should move up one or two spots, with those against pointing out the Thunderbirds had to come from behind to secure a one-point win against Carleton Syzygy, a team ranked several spots below. But early season is the time to overreact, and considering UBC went undefeated while missing their arguable star in Mika Kurahashi (as well as Helena Tremblay, Miu Shiraiwa, Leo Devonshire, and Meagan Gillis), the Thunderbirds soar to #2 above inactive Vermont and Colorado.
• Aforementioned Carleton also move up the rankings to #5 after an SBI semifinal showing, their only loss coming on universe to eventual winners UBC. Carleton flip-flop with #7 Stanford, who Syzygy beat in the third place game 12-8. More debate ensued about whether or not Carleton should move ahead of #6 Oregon, who were SBI finalists, but Carleton’s closer match with UBC ultimately won them the higher rank.
• Stanford slide back two spots after taking losses to BYU, Oregon, and Carleton, even with the caveat that Superfly were missing key players in Anna Fisher Lopez, Anika Quon, and Sage McGinley-Smith.
• #9 UC Santa Barbara and #10 Brigham Young also flip spots after the SBI Friday showcase game went UCSB’s way, 15-12.
• Wins over #14 UC Santa Cruz, and #24 UC Davis at SBI see the Victoria Vikes ascend to #13, but losses to #2 UBC, #7 Stanford, #8 Washington and #10 BYU keep them from loftier heights.
• #14 UC Santa Cruz were the breakout team of SBI and vault into our rankings. Even with their 3-4 record, their tough strength of schedule and wins over BYU, UCSB, and UC Davis see them land in the Top 15. There was debate over whether they should debut even higher given their wins over two Top 10 teams, but our reporters decided to err on the side of caution and rank Sol behind Victoria, who UCSC lost to 15-12. If Sol can back up those wins at later tournaments, expect to see them move closer to the Top 10.
• Ohio State also enter our Top 25 at #23 after an undefeated run at Winta Binta Vinta. Their unfortunate victims in the final, Virginia Hydra, drop out of the rankings due to the loss coupled with a pool play defeat at the hands of unranked William & Mary.
• Also falling out of the rankings are former #13 UC San Diego. The Dragon Coalition stumbled at SBI, coming in seeded ninth but finishing in 15th after dropping games to unranked Utah, California, and Cal Poly-SLO while notching their sole win over Northwestern.

D-I Men’s Power Rankings

D-I Men’s Discussion

• Copy paste: The University of National Champions remain at #1 after rolling through Carolina Kickoff. Their closest game came against #25 Penn State in quarters.
• There’s been some hype surrounding Penn State and they finally seem to be capitalizing with a strong showing at Carolina Kickoff. Many expected Spank to get slapped around by higher ranked teams in #1 UNC and #17 NC State, but Spank refused to turn the other cheek, losing by only three and two points, respectively. Their performance sees them enter the rankings at #25 behind #24 South Carolina, who also move up a spot after finishing 3rd.
• NC State proved themselves as the best-of-the-rest in the Atlantic Coast, only falling to UNC in a finals appearance at Kickoff. With convincing wins over UNC-Charlotte and a host of other teams, Alpha slide up two spots to #17.
• To the winner go the spoils! Cal Poly SLOCORE break into the Top 3 after rolling through Santa Barbara Invite, with their closest win coming by five points over BYU in the Friday night showcase game.
• On the flip side, #14 Brigham Young suffer the largest ranking drops after failing to go undefeated at SBI for the first time in recent history, going 4-2. In addition to their loss to SLO, CHI suffered a universe point loss to #16 Washington, barely eked out a universe victory of their own over unranked UC San Diego, and needed a late comeback to prevent a loss to #15 UCLA. Said comeback keeps CHI from sliding any further, while Cal’s impressive third-place showing and 6-1 weekend, including a win over Washington, block CHI from higher spots.
• UCLA, to their credit, leapfrog Washington to claim #15 with a 12-9 pool play win over the Sundodgers and a fourth-place tournament finish.
• #18 Utah State didn’t see the field last weekend, but word on the street is Ben Hoffman tore his other ACL and is out for the season. Here’s hoping for a smooth recovery, but in his absence we’re selling Scotsmen stock.
• An elite social media presence couldn’t transfer to on-field play for the Slugs, and UC Santa Cruz drop out of the Top 25 following a 4-3 weekend that only saw wins against unranked D-I teams and Oklahoma Christian.

D-III Women’s Power Rankings

D-III Women’s Discussion

• With T-Town Throwdown’s cancellation due to heavy rainfall, no D-III women’s teams took the field last weekend.

D-III Men’s Power Rankings

D-III Men’s Discussion

• While they weren’t giant killers, Oklahoma Christian’s trip to the D-I dominated Santa Barbara Invite proved fruitful for the Eagles. Their success, including wins over Chicago, Grand Canyon, and UCSD, see the Eagles receive a small bump to #5. Richmond’s finals appearance at Mid-Atlantic Warmup keep OC from rising further.
• One of the largest jumps for any ranked team in any division, Carleton CHOP ascend ten spots to #12 after a stellar Carolina Kickoff showing. They scored wins over D-I Tennessee, Duke, and Lehigh and fellow D-III team Davidson. There was discussion about putting them even higher, but hype for Berry paired with early season caution keep Carleton outside the Top 10.
• If you’re sensing a theme, you’re not wrong: Colorado Mines also move up one slot after making the final of the D-I New Year Fest. There, Entropy lost to Utah Valley despite beating them in pool play the day before, but a finals appearance at a D-I tournament is impressive nonetheless.
• While Davidson broke seed at Carolina Kickoff, finishing twelfth after coming in as no.14, they did so with only one win, over the Carolina Flyers U20 Youth Academy, and it came on universe. Paired with a 15-8 loss to CHOP, and Davidson fall out of the Top 25 altogether to be replaced by #25 Truman State, one of the teams you’re all underrating per reporter Calvin Ciorba.

Ultiworld Subscribers, we present some fun historical facts for each team.