By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam
The NCAA postseason is quickly approaching. Over the next month, teams will face off for their respective conference championship crowns. So, in preparation for all the fast swimming we’re about to see, we’re taking a look at what it took to score at the 2023 conference championships in the Power 5 conferences.
Even in the Power 5, not all conferences are created equal. That’s reenforced by what it took to score last season across both the women’s and men’s meets. Conference depth fluctuates depending on the schools involved, and we’re sure to see a major shakeup in parity next season thanks to the death of the PAC-12.
Last season though, the SEC was the fastest conference for both women and men. There are exceptions in some events of course, but overall, that’s the conference where it was hardest to score.
Women’s Power 5 2023 Scoring Table:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRvt5ohszSTKlIoI2U7kZ1j2YLWzf8IzW5R_RVimgqMGX_Y1MO23sXHN5k9AyX9saPF4EO5Y0Z0Et9y/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true
For the women, 8th place in the SEC was fastest in eight out of 13 individual events. That majority gets more overwhelming further down the score sheet. The SEC’s 16th placed woman was faster than the other Power 5 conferences in all individual events. When it came to 24th place, they went 12-for-13.
That means that out of the 39 fastest “scoring checkpoints” we’re analyzing (8th, 16th, and 24th for 13 individual events), the SEC owned 33 of them, or 84.6%.
The ACC claimed five of other fastest marks. Four of those come from their 8th place finishers, who were fastest across the Power 5 in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 breast, and 100 fly. Their depth in these events translated well to NCAAs. There, the conference accounted for six swimmers in the 50 free ‘A’ final. They also made up half the 100 free and 200 breast ‘A’ finals.
Additionally, the ACC dominated the top of the women’s 2023 NCAA standings. Three of the top five teams–Virginia, Louisville, and NC State–compete in the ACC. And though the SEC may be the hardest conference to score in, their top team was Florida, which finished 9th last season.
The PAC-12 had the fastest checkpoint once: 1:45.37 in the 200 freestyle was the fastest 8th place time across the Power 5.
Men’s Power 5 2023 Scoring Table:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRvt5ohszSTKlIoI2U7kZ1j2YLWzf8IzW5R_RVimgqMGX_Y1MO23sXHN5k9AyX9saPF4EO5Y0Z0Et9y/pubhtml?gid=123606717&single=true
It’s a similar story on the men’s side, though the PAC-12 does assert itself more, particularly among 8th place finishers. Compared to the SEC women’s 31 fastest “scoring checkpoints” the SEC men own 31 (79.4%). That includes owning the fastest 24th place in all 13 events. They also racked up fastest 16th place in ten events, and fastest 8th place in eight events.
The PAC-12 men own the fastest 8th place time in five events: 200 backstroke, 200 breaststroke, 100 fly, 200 IM, and 400 IM. Given ASU and Cal’s depth in the IMs and 200s of stroke, it’s unsurprising these are the events where they shine in this table. Their 16th place finishers in the 100 and 200 freestyle were also the fastest in the Power 5.
The ACC has one fastest checkpoint: their 16th place 100 flyer was fastest across these conferences.
When it came to 2023 NCAAs, the highest placed SEC team was once again Florida. They finished 6th as the PAC-12s Cal and ASU took the top two spots. The next three teams were Texas (Big 12), NC State (ACC), and Indiana (Big 10).
Takeaways
Combined, the men and women of the SEC own 82% of the fastest “scoring checkpoints” in individual events. That makes them the overwhelming favorites for the title of deepest conference. However, last year this depth didn’t translate to them controlling NCAAs. Meanwhile, neither the Big 10 nor Big 12 conference have any of the fastest scoring checkpoints, but that doesn’t translate to them being absent from the top of the NCAA standings.
There are several factors contributing to that. First, we chose to focus on individual events as at the conference level, all teams will score relay points. That isn’t true at NCAAs. We also didn’t include diving, which gives teams like Texas and Indiana huge boosts. The table also doesn’t include winning times as we wanted to focus on depth rather than a conference’s top few stars. But those stars become even more important at the all-important NCAAs, which also only scores up to 16th place.
That leads into another potential reason why despite being the deepest of the Power 5 schools, the SEC doesn’t dominate the same way at NCAAs. Perhaps there is more parity among the schools in the SEC, whereas power in the Big-12 is concentrated in Texas and the Virginia women control the ACC.
It’s this distribution of talent that allows top teams to use their conference meets differently. The Big 12 is the best example of this. Based on these tables alone, you wouldn’t expect a Big-12 team to finish in the top three at NCAAs. But both the Texas men and women did in 2023. Because the Big 12 is the weakest of the Power 5 conferences, the Longhorns do not have to show their cards as much as teams hoping to finish highly in other conferences.
The Florida men have a built up a dynasty of their own in the SEC. But the team still needs to do some level of taper for the meet as teams like Tennessee, Auburn, and Texas A&M have kept improving and are jockeying for the best conference finish they can get. As long as there are teams pushing each other (and the Gators), Florida can’t use their conference meet like the Longhorns have been.
That’s all going to change next year as teams shift conferences. Texas will join the SEC, ASU is heading to the Big-12, and both Cal and Stanford will be part of the ACC. No doubt that will translate to massive changes in a conference scoring depth chart like this. But with one more year of the status quo, look for the SEC to remain the deepest Power 5 conference.
SwimSwam: What Did It Take To Score At The Power 5 Conference Championships In 2023?
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