This Week's Poll - Pollsters confronting a confusing mess!!

[sohotrightnow]

I think that's because all the east teams are in Division I

Hey genius, this is an MDIA board right?

[Bluevelvet]

I don't disagree with your premise that the WCLL is on top now, but I would definately add the RMLC as an equal at the top.
What concerns teams from these leagues is that some teams, from other leagues around the country, build up impressive won lost records against lesser competition and lay claim to a top spot in the polls.
It has nothing to do with geography!
Yes, the WCLL has a scheduling advantage because there are so many good teams in the league, so it is cheaper to play a top schedule if you are in the western part of the country.
But, that does not change the facts and the age old question that arises. Who is better; the undefeated but not thoroughly tested team or the battle hardened team with a few inevitable losses. How good is Florida St? How would Florida St do against CSU and Michigan? We will not find out during the regular season in 2006. My guess is that FSU would probably lose to one or both of those teams. UCSB on the othet hand plays #1, 2, 4, 5, 7, & 9 this year. Although they have a young rebuilding team, they have been competitive in their 2 losses.
Who is better?
I just don't think that teams that run up undefeated records against substandard opposition should reap a benefit by virtue of their scheduling.
Remember, Auburn in 2002?
So, this year, we will have the debate again. My personal feeling is that FSU is a very good team. How good compared to other top teams is hard to guess. But, it has nothing to do with geographic pride.

Evan,
I just looked up CW Post and Bryant on laxpower. They are not on their way to anything in D2, yet. Although they are preseason top 10 picks, they have not played a game in 2006. The first game of the season for both teams is Florida St. CW Post has the FSU game listed as an exhibition game on their website.

PS. In my mock poll. I had FSU at #5. I pointed out in a criptic aside that FSU's schedule was not very difficult. That's how this digression began.

[Dan Wishengrad]

For me it was not only difficult to rank the top consensus 17-18 teams (those that all the pollsters will vote for) but also some of the unranked teams that have beaten or lost to top teams and "muddied the waters".

A prime example for me is Stanford, which with all due respect was terrible last year but obviously now is much improved in 2006. I thought that the Cardinal win over Oregon State at Oregon earlier this year meant that the Beavers must not be very good, after all. But then Stanford played Chico State to a 6-5 loss and I got to see OSU for myself this weekend. OSU's win at Simon Fraser after their draining game with us the day before is very impressive in my eyes. The Beavers may not be at Oregon's level quite yet, but the gap is not very large.

But there are loads of teams on the bubble that may be worthy of 20-25 consideration, and what is really tough is some of these have not even played yet -- like New Hampshire. I sure hope it gets easier in two weeks is all I can say!

[NomaBlueCollar]

i wasnt aware there was a poll updated every week, what day is it updated on?

[Sonny]

i wasnt aware there was a poll updated every week, what day is it updated on?

Read the post "pinned" at the top of the POLLS forum. It details the '06 poll schedule of events.

[CyLaxKeeper00]

The USL MDIA Top 25 Division A Regular Season poll will be conducted 6 times during the 2006 regular season. The six Division A Top 25 polls will be announced on USLIA.com on these dates:
Wednesday, February 22
Wednesday, March 8
Wednesday, March 22
Wednesday, April 5
Wednesday, April 19
Monday, May 1

[Laxbum]

It kills me to say what I'm about to say, but here goes:

FSU has improved from last year. I think they have more speed, talent, and so far are much more consistant than last year. I wish FSU was going out west this year and competing against the top 5 teams out there. I say this because after watching FSU in person and BYU on t.v., I don't think BYU will be a huge test for FSU. BYU made too many fundamental mistakes from what I saw on t.v. and FSU is a team this year that will pounce on all your mistakes as they should. I realize that I only saw one game from BYU and have only seen one game from FSU and BYU did beat Michigan and I realize that FSU struggled with GT (I did not see this game). However, if the same BYU team that I saw against AZ shows up to Florida, than it won't be that big of a test for FSU. I'm not saying that FSU is the best team in the country, by any means. They are definitly a beatable team as everyone is vulnerable on any given day on the field. But, if everything is clicking for FSU and Goren is on his game which he seems to be lately, than they are really a tough team to beat. And this is why I wish they were heading out west so that we could find out if my statements are valid or not. Until they compete against those top teams out west than they should stay where they are in the polls around the #5 or #6 spot. Further, i'm interested to see if VT has improved from last year. There is a long way to go for all the teams this year and we'll just have to see what happens. I'm sure not too many people care what I have to say but just thought I'd throw my long winded 2 cents in.


Adam Weinstein
Head Coach
University of Georgia Women's Lacrosse
UGA LAX Alumni 2001-2005

[benji]

"What exactly does that mean? We play lax on regulation fields with refs and rules? I see Colorado dropping significantly and/or the 3 LSA teams improving slightly. The 3 teams Colorado played gave them good competition. Why overlook that?"


You see Colorado dropping significantly? For winning three games in three days on the road? They worked Tech by seven, they should drop for that?

Worked? Please. We hope to see Colorado in Plano. No 3-men down situations, hopefully, next time.

I could see Colorado dropping a couple spots after this weekend. All the teams they played were on the road, too, by the way. The 7 goal difference didnt come until the last 2 minutes of the game. It was a 1-3 goal game for most of regulation. Good game I thought.

[sohotrightnow]

Is Colorado undefeated? I believe so. So why on earth should they drop?

[FredaFelcher]

Final Score: Colorado 13 Texas Tech 6. Tech got beaten by seven goals. Whose fault were those three men down situations? I am sure CU would be THRILLED to see Tech in the playoffs, most likely a 2 seed vs. 15 seed type situation.

[benji]

We would most certainly look forward to another shot at Colorado... I'm not blaming the man-down business on anyone but ourselves, and as I said, hopefully it won't happen again... actually, now that I think about it, No. 8 CU didn't even score while three men up; I'm not sure why I brought that up in the first place.

So to prevent from getting off topic, my point is that I think other teams had more impressive play in the past weeks than Colorado did in Texas, and that could potentially harm thier rankings. But then again, Texas isn't the real world now is it?

[FredaFelcher]

Since three teams ranked above CU lost and the Buffs are 3-0, I think they will most likely move up slightly.

[benji]

I guess there's a good reason why I don't get to vote in these things.

Who do you think will move down?

[FredaFelcher]

You gotta figure BYU will move down. Despite their win over Michigan, they did lose to Arizona(who turned around and lost to Utah) and they lost to Cal Poly which is a huge loss. Eventually CU will leap frog Oregon and FSU, but I am not sure if it will happen in this poll.

[CATLAX MAN]

BYU is the most likely to move down after their loss to #19 Cal Poly and #15 Arizona. They have a win against #4 Michigan to offset that somewhat, but I think it will translate into a drop of a few spots. Michigan's loss to #5 BYU is offset against their win over #3 UCSB. UCSB has lost twice to #2 CSU and #4 Michigan, so I would expect them to drop 1 spot at the most. Michigan may possibly move up one spot.