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By David Rieder.
In eighth place after two days of the men’s NCAA championships, the Georgia Bulldogs could still go to bed plenty satisfied.
Just think about where head coach Jack Bauerle’s crew was supposed to be at that point—outside the top 15 with 37 points. Instead, the Bulldogs had almost double that point total with 73, and their 36-point improvement on the psych sheet projections was second-highest behind Texas’ 93.5-point jump.
After all that, Georgia went and put three swimmers into the A-final of the 400 IM. Chase Kalisz will be heavily favored to win the NCAA title in that event, and Jay Litherland and Gunnar Bentz are both podium contenders.
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Pace Clark qualified for the consolation final of the 100 fly, and Taylor Dale and Javier Acevedo will both swim in the 100 back B-final after Dale lost a swim-off for the final spot in the top eight.
Including the 200 medley relay (B-final), the Bulldogs are projected to score 79 points tonight, well up from a 54-point psych sheet progression. Once again, only Texas (plus-72) had a better team performance during the session.
The team entered the week projected for a 13th-place finish, well down from a fifth-place finish last season, but that script has already flipped. Georgia has elevated itself into a pack of six teams pushing Indiana for the final spot in the top five.
While Texas’ four wins in one session have elevated the Longhorns into the status of clear favorites and Cal has opened up a slight edge on Florida and NC State in the battle for second, Indiana has lost its firm grip on a top-five finish.
If all projections hold from over the meet’s final three sessions, the Hoosiers would finish with 222 points, just 30 points clear of sixth-place USC (190). That sounds like a lot, but Indiana finished minus-40 during the day three prelims session, tied with Ohio State for the biggest underperformance of any team.
In contrast, USC, Stanford, Georgia and Missouri all over-performed by at least 12 points.
What looked like five teams safely in the top five has now become four, and no team is coming on stronger than Georgia.
Below is the full list of psych sheet projections, including who moved up and who moved down during the prelims session.
| Team | Current Score | Day 3 Psych Sheet | Day 3 Seeds | Plus/Minus | Day 4 Projected Score | Projected Total Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1) Texas | 225.5 | 80 | 152 | +72 | 117 | 494.5 |
| (2) Cal | 143 | 98 | 116 | +17 | 85 | 344 |
| (3) Florida | 138.5 | 75 | 83 | +8 | 88 | 309.5 |
| (4) NC State | 123 | 82 | 72 | -10 | 112 | 307 |
| (5) Indiana | 121 | 77 | 37 | -40 | 64 | 222 |
| (6) USC | 75 | 50 | 62 | +12 | 53 | 190 |
| (7) Stanford | 105 | 51 | 55 | +4 | 29 | 189 |
| (8) Georgia | 73 | 54 | 79 | +25 | 30 | 182 |
| (9) Louisville | 57 | 72 | 60 | -12 | 55 | 172 |
| (10) Missouri | 71.5 | 40 | 61 | +21 | 34 | 166.5 |
| (11) Alabama | 32 | 58 | 59 | +1 | 62 | 153 |
| (12) Auburn | 69.5 | 16 | 28 | +12 | 25 | 122.5 |
| (13) Arizona State | 34 | 47 | 25.5 | -21.5 | 55 | 114.5 |
| (14) Michigan | 39 | 36 | 4 | -32 | 50 | 93 |
| (15) South Carolina | 40 | 11 | 22 | +11 | 28 | 90 |
The top 15 remains the same as the original psych sheets projection with the exception of South Carolina moving in to replace Ohio State. Buoyed by a two-up performance in the 500 free with Fynn Minuth and Akaram Mahmoud, the Gamecocks were plus-22 on day two and have moved up another chunk with Nils Wich-Glasen getting into the 100 breast championship final.
Check out the full list of ups and downs below.
Ups/downs from individual events:
Texas – 6/3
Cal – 5/2
NC State – 3/2
Florida – 3/1
USC – 3/0
Alabama – 2/1
Indiana – 2/1
Missouri – 2/1
Virginia Tech – 2/0
Louisville – 1/4
Stanford – 1/4
ASU – 1/2
Auburn – 1/2
Michigan – 1/1
South Carolina – 1/1
Wisconsin – 1/1
Duke – 1/0
Harvard – 1/0
Arizona – 0/2
Texas A&M – 0/2
Cornell – 0/1
Denver – 0/1
George Washington – 0/1
Minnesota – 0/1
Ohio State – 0/1
Penn – 0/1
Tennessee – 0/1
Georgia – 3/2
Penn State
Ups/downs in 200 medley relay:
A-final: Texas, Cal, Missouri, Florida, NC State, Louisville, Alabama, Stanford
B-final: USC, Tennessee, Arizona, Texas A&M, Indiana, Auburn, Georgia, ASU
