Analysis: Men’s NCAA Champions by Conference

by Kevin Donnelly

01 November 2017, 10:00am

By Kevin Donnelly, Swimming World College Intern.

Two weeks ago, I wrote an broke down the women’s NCAA champions over the past decade (2008-2017) by the different NCAA conferences. Now the men’s side is due for their analysis of their NCAA champions by conference.

Below are ten tables analyzing the Men’s NCAA Championship Meet since 2008, breaking down the event winners at the Men’s NCAA Championships by their conferences, as well as the schools these event winners represent. These statistics will include both swimming and diving events.

The tables will include the statistics for each of the Power Five conferences, as well as any other conferences that win events. For those unfamiliar with the NCAA conference breakdown, the Power Five conferences are considered the five strongest conferences across all athletics.

These five conferences are the Pac-12, consisting of schools from the Pacific Coast; the Southeastern Conference, or SEC, with schools from the southeastern area of the country; the Big Ten, made up of schools from the Midwest and northeastern parts of the US; the Big 12, with schools primarily from the American Heartland; and the Atlantic Coast Conference, or ACC, consisting of schools along the Atlantic Coast.

2008

2009

2010

Note: Cincinnati was a member of the Big East before the Big East was renamed the American Athletic Conference at the start of the 2013-2014 season.

2011

2012

Note: Louisville was a member of the Big East before the Big East was renamed the American Athletic Conference at the start of the 2013-2014 season.

2013

Note: Louisville was a member of the Big East before the Big East was renamed the American Athletic Conference at the start of the 2013-2014 season.

2014

Note: Alabama’s Kristian Gkolomeev and Arizona’s Brad Tandy tied for first in the 50 freestyle.

Note: Louisville was a member of the American Athletic Conference before moving to the ACC at the start of the 2014-2015 season.

2015

2016

2017

Analysis

As was the case on the women’s side, the Pac-12 is the most dominant conference in men’s swimming at the collegiate level. However, there has been significantly less dominance on the men’s side than the women’s side for the Pac-12.

Overall, the Pac-12 has won 81 out of 211 events over the past decade at the men’s NCAA championship meets, accounting for 38.4 percent of the total events won by any conference. The Pac-12 is one of two conferences to have at least one event winner per year over the last decade, with the other conference being the SEC. The SEC placed second in total event winners with 47 out of 211, or 22.3 percent of the total events.

However, right behind the SEC is the Big 12, which amassed 42 out of the 211 event winners over the past ten years. All of these 42 wins came from Texas, which makes them the leading individual school over the past decade, despite only placing third as a conference. California placed second as a school with 38 wins over the past ten years.

By themselves, Eddie Reese‘s Texas Longhorns actually won more events than all of the conferences, other than the Pac-12 and the SEC, combined. The Big Ten has had 24 wins over the past decade, with the Purdue Boilermakers leading the way in the conference with ten diving victories. The ACC placed fifth with 11 wins over the past ten years.

Texas has also been rising in the most recent seasons, as evidenced by their three straight NCAA championships. With Texas’s rise, the Pac-12 has begun to fall, winning only three events in 2016 and just two events in 2017. While the Pac-12 will likely maintain prevalence into the future, perhaps the biggest years in the conference’s history have since passed, as other conferences (such as the Big 12) are beginning to catch up.

As far as mid-major conferences, only six of the 211 wins (2.8 percent) were from schools considered to be part of mid-major conferences. However, four of these wins were from Louisville, who won two as a member of the Big East (one in 2012 and one in 2013), and then won two more as a member of the American Athletic Conference in 2014, when the Big East changed its name. Louisville would then leave the AAC for the Atlantic Coast Conference that following season, so they are now part of a Power Five conference.

The other two schools to win events at the NCAA Championships are Cincinnati, of the conference formerly known as the Big East, and Penn, of the Ivy League. Both of these victories were done in the swimming pool, as were all four of Louisville’s. This means that all 30 of the diving wins over the past decade were done by student-athletes of schools in Power Five conferences.

Below is a table with all the information from the above ten tables.

Conclusions

In any given year in the future, it is expected that a school from the Pac-12 and a school from the SEC will win at least one event at the NCAA Championship meet, given they have done so each year over the past ten years.

Additionally, in any given year in the future, it is expected that no school outside of a Power Five conference will win an event at NCAAs, with these only happening rarely over the past decade.

Finally, with the Pac-12 beginning to fall in dominance, it is expected that this trend will continue and the Pac-12 will likely only win a handful of events on any given year, as opposed to the beginning of the decade when they were clearly the strongest conference at NCAAs.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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Thomas A. Small

6 years ago

Congratulations

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