College D-III Women's Pool Generator

Check out what pool play for College Nationals might look like based on our projected rankings!

Ultiworld subscribers also get access to custom pool generation features: add/remove/drag teams, change the number of pools, choose a pool assignment method, and then automatically generate pools with those parameters. Create your own pool scenarios for nationals or any other tournament!



  

Snake
Teams are sorted by rating and assigned to pools in serpentine order. The first round fills pools left to right, the next round right to left, and so on.

For example, a 16-team event with 4 pools would have Pool A (seeds 1, 8, 9, and 16), Pool B (seeds 2, 7, 10, and 15), Pool C (seeds 3, 6, 11, and 14), and Pool D (seeds 4, 5, 12, and 13).

Double Snake
Similar to the Snake method, but the direction reverses every two rounds instead of every round (forward, reverse, reverse, forward, …).

For example, a 16-team event with 4 pools would have Pool A (seeds 1, 8, 12, and 13), Pool B (seeds 2, 7, 11, and 14), Pool C (seeds 3, 6, 10, and 15), and Pool D (seeds 4, 5, 9, and 16).

Pot Draw
Teams are sorted by rating and divided into pots, each with a number of teams equal to the number of pools. Pot 1 is placed into pools in rating order. The remaining pots randomly assign one team to each pool.

For example, a 16-team event with 4 pools would have 4 pots: Pot 1 assigned in order (seeds 1-4), Pot 2 assigned randomly (seeds 5-8), Pot 3 assigned randomly (seeds 9-12), and Pot 4 assigned randomly (seeds 13-16).

Pot Draw with Region Limit
Pools are initially assigned using the Pot Draw method. Then, a region limit is applied: no single region may have a majority of teams in any pool. For typical 4- or 5-team pools, this means no more than 2 teams from the same region per pool. The limit scales with pool size.

If the limit is exceeded, the draw is rerun until the limit is satisfied. If it's not possible to satisfy the limit, the pools will be generated with a warning.

This method was introduced in the 2023 USAU Club Guidelines and was used for Club Nationals through 2025.

Pot Draw with Proximity
Teams are sorted by rating and divided into pots based on the largest gaps in ratings between consecutively ranked teams. Pot 1 is placed into pools in rating order. Remaining pots are drawn randomly into pools using Double Snake positioning (i.e. if a pot covers the 3-6 seeds, any of those seeds could end up assigned to where those seeds would be with the Double Snake method).

The same region limit is then applied: no single region may have a majority of teams in any pool. If necessary, redraw until the limit is satisfied or generate pools with a warning.

This method was introduced in the 2026 USAU Club Guidelines. It falls in a middle ground between the pure Double Snake and pure Pot Draw methods in terms of how much structure and randomness it uses: teams are generally sorted in a double snake order, but closely grouped teams can switch positions reflecting the uncertainty in small rating differences.

Random
All teams are assigned to pools completely at random with no consideration for seeding or region.