On the fourth day of Christmas Ultiworld gave to me...D-I staff picks!
December 15, 2025 by Ultiworld in Preview
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2026 college season is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.
It’s time to unwrap some presents as we introduce the 12 Days of College Ultimate. For the next 12 days, we will be releasing one gift per day, though don’t count on getting any holiday fowl: it’s all college ultimate. From highlight videos to player chatter to a season predictions, we’ve got a little something for everyone.
On the fourth day of the 12 Days of College Ultimate, we bring you our way-too-early staff picks for the D-I championship!
Men’s Division
Picks submitted by Charlie Eisenhood, Keith Raynor, Josh Katz, Alex Rubin, Theo Wan, Aidan Thomas, and Edward Stephens
It might be boring to pick the same four teams as last year to make semis, but they collectively graduated very few players and are shaping up to be the best four teams once again. This year, I have Oregon edging out Mamabrid for a spot in the final opposite CUT and then winning the whole thing. With the Mica Glass/Aaron Kaplan/Raekwon Adkins trio now three seasons into their collaboration, Oregon seems set up to have their best season yet.
– Alex Rubin
I’m going with the run-it-back in the men’s division. All four of these teams return a lot of talent, including POTY candidates like Carleton’s Declan Miller, Oregon’s Mica Glass, Colorado’s Tobias Brooks, and UMass’s Wyatt Kellman. Not only that, but all keep recruiting well and have been for years, so young players are ready to step forward into bigger roles. And to cap it off, what challenger feels like they could grow to break into this tier? Western Washington, Penn State, Georgia Tech — these are all teams that should improve in 2026 but would need a huge leap to break into this tier. The setup is for the same four, and while the college season has a way of surprising us, I just don’t know what would be the agent of chaos.
– Keith Raynor
As much as the chalk picks seem especially obvious this year, this is college ultimate. Something weird is going to happen to one of last year’s semis teams that prevents them from making it back. Aaron Bartlett is the best player in all of college right now, and Michigan has the luxury of focusing entirely on development in the regular season, given their region. Who’s to say they can’t make a semis push for the first time in five years? The other three teams are just about equal to one another right now, but I’ll stake my claim on the guy who spent the end of 2025 winning everything: Raekwon Adkins, with loads of help from Mica Glass and Aaron Kaplan, will lead Oregon Ego to a championship in 2026.
– Josh Katz
Give me Oregon, getting back to the final for the first time since 2014, and I’m calling my shot now: Raekown Adkins is winning Player of the Year. Standing in their way are Mamabird, another program looking to exorcise the demons of their recent championship loss. They’ll lean on a player ready to explode into the POTY conversation himself in Elliot Hawkins. I’ll keep it chalky with last year’s champion, CUT, as well. Avoiding a championship hangover shouldn’t be an issue with Declan Miller returning alongside that insane 2025 rookie class. Rounding it out will be last year’s top seed UMass, who will look to go on a revenge tour back to the semifinals. I know we’ve seen this before, but these four are clearly heads above the rest of the class.
– Theo Wan
Wild card semifinalists are still completely in play, so why not Michigan? Aaron Bartlett is a top-five player in the division, and the rest of the squad will be sneaky good. They get the nod over Cal Poly, UNC, UMass, and any other contender you can conjure. The rest are all repeats from 2025, and for good reason: they’re stacked. Honestly, I don’t see much difference between them at this point, so give me an Oregon championship. They’ve waited long enough.
– Edward Stephens
To speak of where I branch off from the consensus picks, I will adhere to some of the logic of Michigan having a top-five player in the country in Aaron Bartlett and the general benefit of spending all year getting to develop without concerns about earning a bid – no Great Lakes team appears to be a threat to threaten MagnUM’s regional supremacy. On UNC, even after their streak was snapped, I feel like it’s not yet time to stop predicting Darkside to semis. Not even sure I have a full amount of logic, just trust that UNC will reload and at least put themselves in position to be back in the final four. Carleton and Oregon’s prior success, roster and recruitment speak for themselves, and I’ll take those two teams to be dueling on Memorial Day in 2026, with Carleton getting the nod for the repeat.
– Aidan Thomas
Women’s Division
Picks submitted by Laura Osterlund, Charlie Eisenhood, Theo Wan, Keith Raynor, Josh Katz, Alex Rubin, Aidan Thomas, and Edward Stephens
I wonder if we will get a single entry without UBC, Carleton, and Washington as semifinalists.1 They are that stout heading into this year. All three have outstanding returners, rookies, and depth. All three have strong programs and are coming off of last year’s successes. So what to do with the fourth spot? While I’m tempted to be all aboard the Cal Poly SLO hype train, I find myself hard pressed to get off my previous locomotive: Oregon Fugue. Every year I’ve been calling for them to make the leap. But perhaps I was just too early…over and over? Tufts is another strong candidate to consider, but I’ll lean into the Northwest superregion theory.
– Keith Raynor
Everyone not named Carleton or UBC is playing for (tied for) third this year. I know I just said in the men’s predictions that something weird will happen, because college ultimate, but just look at the talent these two teams have amassed. Barring a catastrophic slate of injuries, it’s impossible to envision these two teams not playing on Memorial Day in Rockford. Adding Chloe Hakimi will put Carleton over the top in the rematch.
– Josh Katz
I’m picking UBC, and yes, I’m from Canada. But before you call it a homer take, let’s look at the facts. Most of their roster returns, minus Madison Ong, including the lethal duo of World Games standout Mika Kurahashi and U24 women’s player Ella Bolan, along with the expected ascension of Claire Weng. Just as important, the entire coaching staff is back, and last season they finally got the monkey off their back by winning twice in that vaunted stadium setting. That path won’t be easy. Carleton has reloaded with the addition of Chloe Hakimi alongside their own star in Chagall Gelfand. This is a team that was one point away from a title, and there’s no doubt they’ll be hungry to end up on the other side of that result this time around. Staying on the West Coast, I’ve got Washington and Oregon both punching tickets to the semifinals for very different reasons, with the former making a return last year to the semis for the first time since 2021, while the latter is poised to finally take the leap into the top four.
– Theo Wan
Last season’s finalists, UBC and Carleton, are too loaded to miss semis. Everyone else already wrote the “big names” that you probably already knew, and I’m not going to bet against them. For that matter, Washington may have been a surprise last season, but they have too much talent to ignore and will certainly be favored to return to the stadium games. But, let me tell you that this is the year for Oregon. The promise of this generation of talent will finally come to fruition and years of disappointment and early exits will be rewarded with a trip to the final. I’d say I’m calling it now, but I actually called it four years ago when the current seniors and 5th years were just starting their college careers, and when I’m right, I’ll find the screenshots to prove it.
– Alex Rubin
Before you all lose your minds: weirder things have happened in ultimate than Carleton and UBC not making semis in 2026. I mean, UNC didn’t even make the bracket last year after winning four straight titles. A lot has to break right for it to shake out like this, though. And it totally can! Cal Poly could slow roll the regular season, get a low seed at Nationals, and then stun their way into a quarterfinal matchup against UBC. Oregon could lose a pool play game and then wreck Syzygy with a ticket to semis on the line. Vermont will depend on a recovery for Caroline Stone by May, but they are loaded behind her. And Washington is both going to win it all and be the greatest spectacle on earth.
– Edward Stephens
Normally, I am not one to go with the “chalk” winner pick; I like to spice things up. But, I think my “homer pick” can be justified this time. With an incoming class as tantalizing as Syzygy’s, it’s hard to see anyone but them. They came close enough to winning it all last season, and with this year’s depth, they’re poised to finish the job. Competing against them could very well be Washington Element– talk about personnel. The Seattle output has spent the past few seasons loading up the cannons, and it seems as good a time as ever to fire them. Of course, if both of these teams make their way to the final, they’ll have to face some strong competition. Reigning champs, UBC, show no signs of fading away this year. With a majority of their players returning, they are ready and waiting to make another deep bracket run come Nationals. Rounding out the semifinalists is Oregon, which, honestly, is a surprise they haven’t made semis in the past few years. They have the returning talents to make a major impact all season long.
– Laura Osterlund
The conversation is clearly about the two Goliaths atop the division – Carleton and UBC – but more interesting, in my opinion, are the underdogs who could really shake things up. While I don’t foresee the actual champion coming from the depths of the darkhorses, I do like Oregon Fugue as a team that could crash the semis field and pull an upset. Other teams to monitor could be Vermont (once Caroline Stone returns), UNC (because it’s foolish to bet against Pleiades even after a down year), and Stanford (who’s always hot in May). Give me this combination of semis teams, with UBC repeating, but honestly I’m very intrigued by what this tournament brings this year.
– Aidan Thomas
Editor’s note: We did, and of course it’s from Edward Stephens ↩
