Third MDIA Div. A Top 25 Poll is out (3/22/06)!

[yourmom]

Per LaxPower

1. Colorado State (1)
2. Sonoma State (2)
3. Michigan (3)
4. UCSD (5)
5. Oregon (4)
6. Cal Poly (13)
7. BYU (8)
8. NorthEastern (18)
9. UCSB (6)
10. Arizona (15)
11. Colorado (7)
12. Minnesota-Duluth (11)
13. Florida State (9)
14. Chapman (17)
15. Virginia Tech (12)
16. Utah (14)
17. Lindenwood (10)
18. Oakland (19)
19. UCLA (22)
20. Michigan State (21)
21. Texas (24)
22. Chico (23)
23. Arizona State (20)
24. Simon Fraser
25. Texas Tech (25)

[horn17]

perfect example of why laxpower isnt used for polls....but thanks for letting us know...

[Sonny]

Matchups if the tournament was today:
ROUND ONE
1. CSU v. Texas
2. SSU v. Northeastern
3. Michigan v. Utah
4. Oregon v. Cal Poly
5. UCSD v. Va Tech
6. UCSB v. UMD
7. Colorado v. Lindenwood
8. BYU v. FSU

Those are some very good 1st round games.... Getting through to the semis is getting tougher and tougher and tougher...

[cjwilhelmi]

Matchups if the tournament was today:
ROUND ONE
1. CSU v. Texas
2. SSU v. Northeastern
3. Michigan v. Utah
4. Oregon v. Cal Poly
5. UCSD v. Va Tech
6. UCSB v. UMD
7. Colorado v. Lindenwood
8. BYU v. FSU

I would love to see Colorado and Lindenwood play this year. Didn't they play last year in Blaine?

[FredaFelcher]

That is the exact 2 first games CU played last year in Minn. Beat Lindenwood in first round and lost in triple OT to Sonoma in the quarters. I am sure CU wouldn't mind another shot at Sonoma in the playoffs

[steveperry]

I am very confused by how this last poll was done. Did voters even look at the games of the last two weeks? This poll is suposed to reflect that. How does:



5.UCSD - recent wins from the last week include one over UCSB, the number 6 ranked team and over Chapman. How are they ranked below Oregon, a team the recently beat Chico State and Duluth?

10. Lindenwood - very weak schedule up to this point. #15 notheastern(a 2-1 team with a very weak schedule), #17 Oakland (a team that is 5-2 with no wins over ranked opponents). I am not sure why that does not put them between maybe 12-15.

12.Virginia Tech - One of the weakest schedules of anyone in the top 20. They were beat by Sonoma, and were beat badly by UCSD. Florida State is their only ranked game left out of 3 total. They do not deserve a ranking in side the top 20! Number 12 is UNBELIEVABLE!

13. Cal Poly - Wins over BYU and Chapman really boosted their team, but that was before the last poll. Since then, they have lost to Utah and Duluth, how do they move up?

14. Utah - Big one goal wins against Arizona and Cal Poly help their case, if we are only looking like we should at what they have done since the last poll.

15. Arizona - this is a hard one to understand. They beat BYU by two, a huge win, but then lose by one to Utah and by 8 to Chapman. How they could be ranked in front of Chapman is very UNCLEAR.

16. Georgia Tech - Only wins in top 25 were against #21 Michigan State, They lost to Florida State and only have one ranked team left, BYU. They do not deserve a #16 ranking.


17. Chapman -Since the last poll, they beat Arizona (by , Texas Tech, Michigan State, and lost in overtime to the number 5 team in the country. They were punished for their loses in the last poll, yet they barely move up in this one. How could Arizona be so far ahead of them.

18. Northeastern - only win in top #25 is against Oakland, again, a team that is ranked too high. Lost to Lindenwood and have no more ranked games. Why in the top 20?

It would be great to see the polls reflect where teams are right now and now where they were before the last poll.

[Maple Leaf]

i agree completely with joker... how is va tech ranked in the top 20, nevermind 12th??? they have beaten no teams in the top 25, while numerous teams below them have beaten quality teams. No disrespect intended to their program, but losing to sonoma by 3 is not grounds for an AQ to the national tournament over teams that have also played tough schedules, and beated top 25 teams. I know this isn't the final poll, and things will adjust themselves.... blah blah blah.... but i wonder what the voters were thinking

[UofMLaxGoalie11]

joker, I would like to see you put together a top 25 so you could understand how hard it is for the pollsters. I keep hearing about how none of these teams should be in the top 20, but who is gonna replace them? I cant think of 10 teams that i would say are better than the teams in the poll.

[Danny Hogan]

I keep hearing about how none of these teams should be in the top 20, but who is gonna replace them?

i was thinking the same thing. Joker's top 25 would only have like 8 teams in it.

[steveperry]

joker, I would like to see you put together a top 25 so you could understand how hard it is for the pollsters. I keep hearing about how none of these teams should be in the top 20, but who is gonna replace them? I cant think of 10 teams that i would say are better than the teams in the poll.

There is no question that it is hard putting the poll together. My concern is simply the process. It is so easy to look at each teams schedule, wins, losses. It should be a no brainer to not have Virginia tech at 12 after looking at what they have done. If the pollsters looked at the last two weeks of games, you would think it would be a no brainer to have Chapman ahead of Arizona after they beat them by 8 goals. They were already rewarded in the last poll for beating BYU. You would even think that after beating the number 6 team in the country, that UCSD would be infront of and Oregon team that has not beat anyone in the top 12. If I was a pollster, I don't think I could move Cal poly UP a spot for losing two games since the last poll.

As hard as this is, there are some things that just don't make sense at any level. I wish there could be a new system for polling, because when you throw in auto bids from weak leagues, the polls are really important for the teams that are killing themselves to make that top 14 or so. A team like Texas will probably win the LSA, but they may not even be in the top 20 at the time. That makes sense to everyone? Lindenwood can have a weak schedule, because it doesn't matter where they are ranked (they are too high anyway), they are most likely going to win the auto bid.

I think that some day, the whole system is going to need to change.

[Sonny]

I think that some day, the whole system is going to need to change.

Design the new mousetrap and I'm all ears.

[Blue99]

I don't see why everybody is concerned with these early polls, they mean absolutely nothing at all, just bragging rights. The only poll that matters is the last one, and thats the only one where you can get a clear picture of where teams started to where they ended, even with showing bumps in the road, if the #50 team beats #1 in OT but the #1 team constantly beats other good ranked opponents its just a hickup and they still deserve to be there, to move up in the polls you have to show your better CONSISTENTLY! utnil you earn that respect, don't cry over spilt milk, if your teams deserves to be up in the top 15 they will be by the end of the season.

[steveperry]

I don't see why everybody is concerned with these early polls, they mean absolutely nothing at all, just bragging rights. The only poll that matters is the last one, and thats the only one where you can get a clear picture of where teams started to where they ended, even with showing bumps in the road, if the #50 team beats #1 in OT but the #1 team constantly beats other good ranked opponents its just a hickup and they still deserve to be there, to move up in the polls you have to show your better CONSISTENTLY! utnil you earn that respect, don't cry over spilt milk, if your teams deserves to be up in the top 15 they will be by the end of the season.

There is no question that if a mediocre team has a high ranking now, and they keep winning against unranked teams, pollsters have a hard time dropping them back too far, because they are winning. Things will be shaken up each poll, but why not do things right every poll and give teams respect that is earned. They way you put, it sounds like pollsters can throw darts at a board until the final poll, and it doesn't matter.

[Zeuslax]

Blue 99:

I don't see why everybody is concerned with these early polls, they mean absolutely nothing at all, just bragging rights.

I would have to agree and disagree with that. For many teams poll positioning is just arbitrary. However, for some, even this early in the season they are jockeying for positioning. With the at large bids dictated by the polls the rankings do matter. The cream does rise to the top, but the middle of the pack is where the debate is.

[Lefty]

If I was a pollster, I don't think I could move Cal poly UP a spot for losing two games since the last poll.

Poly beat BYU after the last poll came out. I even heard a pollster mention last time that they would have had them higher had the result come in prior to the voting. So since the last poll they beat BYU and lost 2 OT games to teams ranked in their neighborhood.