2025 Men's College Draft

College - Mens
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Final Roster:

(3) Mihailo Vukazic, 2mD/Attacker USC. 2024 Cutino finalist. I normally pick my defenders late, but he is really an attacker. Incredible shooter with size. I’m looking forward to seeing him play with a stacked USC lineup. I expect him to him get a ton of good looks flanked by Duart and Brankovic

(14) Botond Balogh, Attacker, Stanford. Was really impressed with how accurate his shot was last year. I put him amongst the elite shooters in college water polo this season. I expect him to be the top 1-2 scorers for Stanford this year. Will play the 1/2 side for my team.

(19) Ryan Ohl, Attacker, Stanford. Great 2-way player. With all the senior talent Stanford had last year, he wasn’t able to fully showcase his offensive talents. That starts this season. He will play all over the pool, but i’m going to slot him in at the 4 and will guard the opposing team’s best perimeter player. I suspect this will look like a good value when all is said and done

(30) Frederico Carsalade, Driver, UCLA. Another good value pick here. Great driver, and will open up the shooting lanes for my attackers. Scores in bunches as he has a knack for getting open shots.

(35) Nate Tauscher, Goalie, UCLA. He was the last good goalie left as the two i wanted were picked right in front of me. He was the starting goalie for the national champs last year, so this could end up being a great value. I think he has something to prove this year as his first season as a full time starter. Time will tell.

(46) Wade Sherlock, LH Attacker, UCLA. I was tempted to not pick a lefty, as there were a bunch of righties that I can’t believe were not drafted at this point, but I prefer a balanced offense. Sherlock is not afraid to take the open shot, and he will get plenty of looks this season. I expect 25 plus goals from him. On a side note, I hope the other lefty for UCLA gets more aggressive as a shooter this season.

(51) Brett Ormsby, Coach, J Serra. I always reach to get coach Wright, but I waited too long this year and he was picked right in front of me again. I believe Brett Ormsby to be one of the finest coaches in the country and he was trusted enough to coach UCLA at national league this season. I still can’t believe Stanford blew it with him. Would of been awesome to see him leading that program.

(62) Barnabas Eppel, Center, Fordham. My strategy going in was to pick a center last, as the position is very deep this season. I had Leichty, Eppel, and Dom Brown as possible picks. Jeff, who also waited, got Dom before I could get him. Everyone sleeps on Liechty, but he is a great center and part of the UCLA 3 headed monster. But I decided I had too many Bruins on my team, so I went with Eppel. Has scored just over 100 goals in his 2 seasons. His style is on the edge of getting a contra foul every time, which is what I want from my center (as long as he can read the refs). If i was a defender, this is the last guy I would want to have to guard, as its going to be physical, long, game.

I think UCLA will win it, but I won’t be suprised at all if USC wins with that starting lineup and superior goaltending. I’m tempted to pick USC, but UCLA had a great off season winning the most competitive national league we’ve ever had. Won the UOP tournament, and finished second in the World University Games without their top players and a scaled down roster. I think the early game against Fordham on the east coast will be telling on how this may play out. That is a brutal early season matchup. Morning game, in an indoor pool that most of those guys aren’t used to playing in. Not saying Fordham is going to win, but its possible, and if they did lose, you can probably rule them out for a 1 seed like Trevor suggested they will get. So I have that game circled as very important for both teams.

Cutino: Ryder Dodd

NOY: I guess Vukazic is eligible? If so, I’d go with him, but I don’t like not picking a freshmen. I think the USC center is the best freshmen by far (I’d hope so considering he was picked 7th)

COY: Adam Wright

Team that will outperform expectations. I’ll throw a wild card out there and say CBU. This is completely a gut choice as I think they have a really good coach who can recover from losing their two best players. Expectations are pretty low

Some players I was targeting that I think will have good seasons: Ben Larsen and Bode Brinkema can flat out play and Bode was hitting some lasers from outside over the off season. Ben also a good outisde shooter and defender. Aran Pina, like the feeling I had when I picked Weinberg coming into his freshman year, I have the same feeling with Pina. I really wanted to pick Kai Inoue as my lefty, but they have a log jam of lefties, so his playing time was uncertain for me. But I think you will see some flashes from him this season. Erik Ionescu and Jon Carcarey from Pepperdine are two other guys I couldn’t find a spot for, but are going to have good seasons.

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this is a scary team with that size. Gyapjas is the best goalie in college as well.

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Team 5:

Chase Dodd

Peter Castillo

Albert Ponferrada

Luca Silvestri

Finn Lesieur

Charlie Mills

Brian Bacharach

Johann Thrall

NCAA Champions: UCLA — to be the man, you gotta beat the man and the man right now is UCLA, I really don’t see anyone upsetting them at the moment. They will have their usual close calls and maybe a loss early in the season, but Adam Wright has a plan and he follows it to get the best out of his team when it matters.

Cutino Award: Ryder Dodd — at this point I fully expect him to win 4 in a row

MPSF Newcomer of the Year — I’ll go with Tomas Perrone from Cal

ACWPC Coach of the Year — Brian Bacharach wins this award as Fordham makes their second semifinal in a row

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Team 1

Ryder Dodd (most likely to win Cutino)

Jack Martin (dominant in national league)

Luka Krstic (Great all around shooter and facilitator, could be big west player of the year)

William Whitstone GK (If he gels with the Long beach team he could be big west defensive player of the year)

Landon Akerstrom (Solid all around game)

Tommoso Baldineti (reco Itally, Dad coached for reco, Fast, Smart, quick accurate shot)

Ante Buzov (big and solid)

Coach Adam Wright.

NCAA Champs, UCLA.

Cant wait for the season to kick off this Friday.

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Jackson Matos is not playing this season

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sbwp, feel free to select another center defender.

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Bernardo Herzer - G - USC

Andras Toth - Att – Fordham

Marcel Szecsi - C – UCLA

Stefan Brankovic - Att – USC

Tomas Perrone - Att – Cal

Beso Akhvlediani - Att – Cal

CJ Indart - 2MD – Stanford

Gavin Arroyo, coach, LBSU

Here are my picks:

NCAA Champions: I was tempted to pick USC just to be the contrarian, but UCLA has earned the right to be the favorite. I expect UCLA to dominate early given how much the team has gelled while others integrate key pieces. In the end, I expect to see a UCLA vs. USC final that will be very competitive such that could go either way. Ok I just talked myself into it and since no one else will do it…I will. Going with USC

Cutino Award Finalists: Ryder Dodd, Bernardo Herzer, Luca Provenziani

Cutino Award: Bernardo Herzer

Newcomer of the Year: Strahinja Krstic

Coach of the Year: Seems to always go to the coach who wins so Marko Pintaric

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I’ll take Luke Baird, Center Defender, Santa Clara

I did my predictions above, but I forgot to comment on my team. So I’ll do so below

Robert Lopez Duart, Attacker, USC

Lopez Duart is as electric of a shooter as we have in college water polo this year. A returning first team All-American, I expect him to make a Cutino push this year. If USC wins it all, it’ll be on his back.

Gabi Acosta, Center, LBSU

Just an absolute bully in the middle, but not without great finesse. Often, Centers are either efficient scorers or exclusion/penalty magnets, but Acosta’s combination of strength and quick moves makes him a threat for both every time the ball gets entered. With him and Corbin Stanley manning the middle, expect everyone to drop heavy against LBSU.

Kristof Kovacs, Goalie, Princeton

I think he is the most underrated goalie in college water polo. People forget that he unseated West Temkin for the Princeton job which led to Temkin heading to Stanford. I think Temkin is excellent, which speaks to the quality of Kovacs. Princeton is free to play aggressive defense with Kovacs behind them, and you see it especially when they play the top teams.

Marci Szatmary, LH Attacker, Cal

Cal is down a lot of goals with their graduates over the past two years. I think Szatmary has been one of the most underrated lefties in the country the past two seasons. The only thing that could make this pick look bad is the sheer number of quality left-handers on Cal’s roster. But I expect Szatmary will take up a big role this season and is a serious scoring threat from the 4-5 side.

Bode Brinkema, Attacker, UCLA

I was shocked I got Brinkema as late as I did in the draft. My initial impressions of him coming out of high school were not as high as others, but everything he has done since has proved me wrong. I thought he was the most improved player on the U20 Worlds Team. It was clear Kocur trusted him to play big minutes and have the ball in his hands a ton to dictate play for the 1-2 side attackers. He’s a much improved shooter on top of already being a good decision maker and incredibly fast.

Gavin West, Attacker, Stanford

Going along with my theme of guys that coaches seem to trust, Gavin West seems to always be in games for long and important stretches. He’s not the dynamic scorer that he was in high school or when he was the best player in the pool for the 18u Boys JOs Final in his last club season, but he is a plus defender and someone Flacks is comfortable playing in big moments.

Luke Baird, Center Defender, Santa Clara

This is a deep cut pick for the “ball knowers” out there, but I think Baird is very underrated. He has a very solid frame and has excellent technique defending center. Santa Clara hasn’t impressed on the national stage, but Baird had a great redshirt freshman season and I think he will continue to improve going forward.

Ross Sinclair, Coach, Newport Harbor HS

In my opinion, Sinclair is the best developer of talent in the country. The depth of the Newport teams over the years is a testament to that. Having as many transfers as they have in the last few seasons has helped their cause, but their depth of homegrown talent is truly impressive. He gets his teams ready to play and play well.

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My reactions to the 2025 draft:

I think Provenziani was a bit of a reach with No.2. I think Vukazic is the safer pick, but I loved Trevor’s point about him forcing guys to play less offense. He is a monster on the counter. I was a little surprised to see Herzer at No.6 and Gyapjas at No.8. Both are incredible, but I’m not sure I’d justify selecting a goalie that high. For reference, the first goalie was taken at No.17 last year. I also think Krstic was a bit of a reach at No.7. I remember Patrick Kolak going super high last year. I think Martin will see more minutes to start and there will be some adjustment to the college game, which is reffed differently.

I think RbPolo hit it out the park with his first three picks and I believe he has the best team out of the 8.

Other observations — I think that Krstic was a bit of a reach at 17 and there were better player selected after him. I like the value of Ponferrada at 21, but he has a lot to prove after a down year with no Papa. However, I loved the Akerstrom and Brinkema picks at 33 and 36, respectively. I think both will have breakout years.

Appeldorn at 47 is a great value pick. My top five steals of the draft are Andrej Grgurevic at 24, Tico Carsalade at 30, Bode at 36, Appeldorn at 47, and Barnabas Eppel at 62 is incredible value.

Luke Baird???

Did we forget about some centers? Ilias Stothart from Brown, Corbin Stanley from LBSU, and Big Al from Stanford. He might be the most underrated player in America. Also, Nik Mirkovic from Cal should’ve 100% been picked. I know he’s a freshman but I would’ve considered picking Gavin Conant. Wondering if any gave that a thought… What about Jon Carcarey. Also, I was surprised to see Gianpiero Di Martire not selected. Will be a big player for Stanford this year.

My top five teams:

  • Rbpolo: Vukazic, Balogh, Ohl, Tico is a crazy talented and dyanmic four.

  • Retired guy: Dodd, Castillo, Ponferrada is as good as you can go for your first 3. Was a bit confused about the Johan Thrall pick.

  • Jeff: the size on that team is insane and will cause problems for just about any team.

  • Rolled 1: any team with Ryder will be incredible and Ryder and Akerstrom on the 1/2 is lethal. However, I’m not so sold on the others.

  • Sbwp: confused about Baird and West, but love the rest of the picks.

For oldschoolpolofan’s team, I’m a little skeptical about the overall talent on the team, much of which I attribute to drafting a goalie first. For H2Opolo10, I’m just skeptical of the 4/5 side defense with two lefty’s. How can you expect them to guard the dominant 1/2 sides like Rolled1’s team. Lastly, Trevor’s team was just interesting. I’d probably put them 6 over the two teams above, but it confused me a little. I think Trevor could’ve got Legget much later in the draft.

overall, thank you all for providing the community with this draft. Everything above is my opinion and I’m open to quality discussion. Looking forward to watching the triton invite this weekend. Some great games to start the season.

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I agree with all of the centers you listed as being capable of being drafted. I’d add Chase Wilson, Cal to that list as well. The six centers that got picked are all excellent. If we were doing a positionless draft, I think they all get picked in the 56. But we have to have a center and a center defender. If there was a year to go double post, it’s this year. All of the top teams have 2-3 really good centers.

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Love the feedback NorCalDad!

I was considering Ben Leichty for my first pick and in hindsight I would go with him first. I probably could have gotten all or most of the other guys I got and had Leichty instead of Ohl.

Still fun. Gotta learn some lessons now before my first water polo GM job!

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is Gheorghe playing this season? Someone said he wasn’t. Di Martire would of been a good pick. Their roster wasn’t updated so it wasn’t totally clear he was playing.

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Here are my predictions for the 2025 season:

Top 2
UCLA and USC

Next 4
Cal
Fordham
LBSU
Stanford

Next 4
Pepperdine
Princeton
UCSD
U.C. Irvine

Within these groupings, I think the schools could finish in any order.

NCAA Champions: UCLA unless Strahinja Krstic is as good as some knowledgeable observers say he is. It’s rare for a center to dominate in his true freshman year (Krstic doesn’t turn 19 until November). Ben Hallock redshirted his freshman year after playing in the 2016 Olympics before enrolling at Stanford. If Krstic is or deserves to be a 1st team All-American this year, I think USC will win its first NCAA men’s water polo championship since the Jovan Vavic era. Otherwise, UCLA will wins its second in a row.

Surprise team: There is no obvious choice here but I will choose UCSD.

Cutino Award finalists: Ryder Dodd, Luca Provenzani, and Robert Lopez Duart.

Cutino Award winner: Ryder Dodd

MPSF newcomer of the year: Krstic or Aran Pina

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Yes, Gheorghe is playing this year. Earlier this year, it had come out that he was redshirting due to losing a year of eligibility due to professional pay. However, I was told that this was appealed, and he now has two years of eligibility remaining. He was also dealing with an injury, but I’m told he’ll be good to go.

Di Martire was also just put on the Stanford roster this morning and is good to go.

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Good news for Stanford. That changes their prospects a bit for me. I’d probably go UCLA, USC, Stanford, Cal for the MPSF right now. I would of had Gheorghe pretty high on my center board if I knew he was playing.

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No one picked Di Martire because he wasn’t listed on Stanford’s initial 2025 roster and therefore we didn’t think he was eligible for our draft. Otherwise, I’m sure he would have been drafted.

With all due respect to Gheorghe, with the mixed reports on his status for the season and his stamina, I didn’t have him listed as a top 8 center. He’s not the best center on his own team.

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While Schneider was exceptional at World’s, it remains to be seen how he does during a demanding 3 season. He’s been dealing with hip issues for a while now and was being carefully managed by the U20 worlds staff during the tournament to be ready for gameday. He didn’t play some weekends at NL due to the hip injury. If his hips are still bothering him, Stanford will rely heavily on Gheorghe to do the heavy lifting at center.

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I was bored this morning and went back to re-visit my draft. All of my players made the final 4. I had two 1st team all Americans. I was most skeptical of my Tauscher pick but he played well beyond my expectations and was a great value. I thought Ohl would be more of an offensive force but that was not his role. I think Stanford is better when he’s more involved in the offense.

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I was curious about this as well. My pick of Krstic first round turned out to be a great pick. I was either going to go with him or Ben Leichty and both ended up with great seasons and on the 2nd team All American list. Tommy Kiesling ended up being a GREAT value pick. I think he was the last attacker I chose and he’s the one and only Big West player on the first 3 All American teams (over Acosta who won BW POY). I should have gone with Vort over Bettino. I thought Bettino would play the role Vort did.

Ended up with the second best goalie, best center, 2nd best center defender (I’d say Carson was the best CD after Vukazic, right?), so really strong up the middle. Solid left side attackers. Could have done better on my right side. DiMartire would have been a top 5 or 10 pick and would have changed things up drastically.

If I somehow got Vort (I also could have chosen Sherlock instead of Bettino) and DiMartire (probably not possible for me to get DiMartire, Krstic, and Temkin) instead of Bettino and JP Ohl, I would be really happy with my team. I still am, but I like to look at where I could have drafted better.

I’m pretty satisfied with Krstic, Temkin, Carson as my first 3 picks and Kiesling as my best value pick.

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I wish there were a way to see all the teams side by side. But from what I can tell I think RB and retiredguy had the best teams and maybe I can humbly throw my team into the top 3? Haha