College Power Rankings, Presented By NUTC [June 5, 2024]

The final college rankings of the 2024 season!

June 5, 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 Division Power Rankings

D-I Women’s Division Discussion

• No team retained their ranking after one of the most exciting Nationals. As in the other divisions, the finalists finish #1 and #2, with Pleiades taking the trophy and top spot. Their semifinal opponents slot in just below, with Vermont claiming #3 for their universe point loss.
• Other big risers include Tufts, who were red hot at Nationals, taking down UBC in pool play and nearly overcoming Colorado in quarters; #13 Pennsylvania, whose upset win over #14 Washington earned them a spot in the bracket; and Utah, who didn’t emerge from their first Nationals with a win but took UPenn to universe, good enough for #22.
• Welcome to the Power Rankings, SUNY Binghamton! Star Jolie Krebs powered Big Bear to the best pool play finish for a Metro East team in years, upsetting UC Santa Barbara and UC Santa Cruz and nearly earning a spot in the bracket.
• While fewer drastic falls than in other divisions, Carleton, UBC, and Oregon were all upset in pool play and fell short of their loft goals. UC Santa Barbara saved themselves from elimination by upsetting Oregon, and while Fugue went on to decimate their prequarter opponent, they didn’t save enough to keep from posting the most lopsided quarters score. UBC had a smaller fall, losing on universe to Tufts in the last round of a lightning-interrupted pool play day and then by two to Vermont, though Ruckus led wire-to-wire. Carleton meanwhile found themselves on the wrong end of two universe point games, first in pool play to Stanford, then in quarters to eventual champs UNC.

D-I Men’s Division Power Rankings

D-I Men’s Division Discussion

• A wide-open race for the title provided plenty of room for teams to exceed expectations. As the finalists, Brown and Cal Poly ascend to the top of the rankings as #1 and #2, respectively.
• Georgia remain in the top 4, above semifinalist Colorado, despite bowing out in quarters. Jojah played the eventual champs to 15-13 in a downpour that hampered their offensive style and retain points for an excellent regular season.
• Minnesota, Texas, Oregon State and NC State all get big bumps for solid showings. Minnesota seemed like title-contenders after demolishing UMass to claim Pool C, while Texas playing Brown to 15-12. Both fell to Colorado, who move into the top 5 for a semifinal showing. Oregon State and NC State both scored big universe point upsets, with the Beavers beating Brown in the last round of pool play and Alpha taking down the much-vaunted UMass in prequarters.
• Said UMass join Pittsburgh, Vermont, Carleton, and Alabama-Huntsville as teams with disappointing Nationals outings. UMass and Pitt both ended their title journeys in prequarters, but while Pitt lost to arguably the better team, UMass retain the head-to-head advantage to settle at #8. Carleton and Vermont barely avoided going winless, with last year’s semifinalists getting a win over Penn State in pool play and CUT barely edging 19th-seeded Ottawa in consolation. UAH, however, might have some nightmares about their winless showing.
• Welcome to the rankings Michigan! Unranked in our last set of Power Rankings and the bottom seed at Nationals, MagnUM announced their upset intent early with a first-round win over Vermont, soon followed by a win over Penn State, and played Brown to 15-12 in prequarters. They slot in at #14, right above Vermont, for proving us all wrong.

D-III Women’s Division Power Rankings

D-III Women’s Division Discussion

• The biggest intradivisional event of the season understandably threw the rankings into turmoil, though #1 Portland remains the #1 after a dominant outing. First, the big winners from Nationals.
• Semifinalist pairing Carleton and Middlebury both get big bumps for topping their pools, with Middlebury slotting in below St. Olaf due to slightly smaller win margins. Whitman, the lone non-Nationals team in the top 10, rise to #3 as the only D-III team to beat Portland all season.
• Wesleyan and Davenport also made huge strides up the list for bracket appearances, with Davenport enjoying the greatest uptick across any division this week. The Panthers’ smaller squad was perfectly suited for the Nationals format as they played nearly every opponent within two or fewer points.
• Welcome to the rankings Occidental! WAC scored a clutch universe point win over #24 Richmond in the 13th place round robin and accordingly slot in at #23.
• If Davenport experienced the biggest boost, Colorado College had the largest drop, going 0-3 in pool play with just a -6 point differential to miss the bracket. They recovered to bagel Grinnell in the consolation round robin and remain above most of the non-Nationals teams, but could’ve used that dominance earlier in the weekend.
• Union, Lewis & Clark, and Grinnell all similarly underperformed to expectations, despite comparatively strong weekends. Artemis took Macalester to universe point in preqs but slid from there to hold seed; the Jillz did the same against Davenport but fell to powerhouse Portland in a surprise 1v2 quarters matchup; and the Svelts played as well as they could while missing significant roster pieces but took arguably the worst loss of the tournament and fall just above fellow NC team Michigan Tech.

D-III Men’s Division Power Rankings

D-III Men’s Division Discussion

• After a memorable Nationals, only one ranking remains unchanged: the champions, #1 St. Olaf. Close behind are fellow finalists #2 Williams, and the other semifinalists, Oklahoma Christian and Richmond.
• The biggest movers on the weekend, like their women’s division counterparts, are Davenport, whose coaching and scholarship program saw them break through to quarters and give a scare to their fellow-scholarship program. They ascend to #6.
• The other Nationals winners – Franciscan also scored a quarters berth and beat fellow rising team Bates, who nearly took down the eventual champs in the first round. Rochester exceeded expectations, almost making quarters as the no.14 seed, and Claremont notched a win over Missouri S&T and took Berry to universe in consolation to settle at #18, right below Oberlin who has the head-to-head win.
• Berry, Ave Maria, Oberlin, and Missouri S&T are on the other side of the equation, all posting 0-3 records in pool play to drop in the rankings. The Collin Hill-era ended with an upset loss to Rochester, and Ave Maria, who are tied to Berry after their universe point regional battle, drop with the Bucks to #13 and #14. After a bad Sectionals and great Regionals, Oberlin regressed again at Nationals, while Missouri S&T couldn’t keep up the performance that stole them a bid. All met in the 13th place round robin where Berry came out on top.

Ultiworld Subscribers, read on for the final word on the top 25 college teams of the 2024 season!