3/19/08 LaxWorld MCLA Top 25 Division 2 Poll Is Out!

by **Sonny** on Wed Mar 19, 2008 6:07 am

LINK:
http://www.collegelax.us/news/?p=7061

**Sponsor**

by **bulax6** on Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:47 am

just an observation....
Biola drops from 10 pts in the last poll to 5 pts this poll
St. Edwards goes from 0 pts in the last poll to 13 pts this poll
Cal State Fullerton goes from 0 pts in the last poll to 11 pts this poll

Biola beat St. Edwards 15-4
Biola beat Fullerton 20-6

hmmmm.....

by **USTLAX06** on Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:55 am

just an observation....
Biola drops from 10 pts in the last poll to 5 pts this poll
St. Edwards goes from 0 pts in the last poll to 13 pts this poll
Cal State Fullerton goes from 0 pts in the last poll to 11 pts this poll

Biola beat St. Edwards 15-4
Biola beat Fullerton 20-6

hmmmm.....

I see your point, but don't you think it's kind of trivial to be arguing the placement of a team that isn't even in the top 40?

by **Gvlax** on Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:19 am

Top 20 is pretty competitive. Elon made a big jump with the convincing win over Charlotte but Charlotte takes a little hit. We also see the first PCLL team in the top 25 for this year.

by **laxmid1077** on Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:24 am

Quite a bit of moving around since the last poll. A few teams won a game or two and fortunately for them saw big movement. For a few other teams they saw some big drops even with impressive wins. GVSU is still winning despite against low level teams with the exception of a D1 win, but saw a 4 spot loss over the last two polls, where Montana state saw a huge jump with similar wins and a two goal win over metro state. Should be interesting come end of march.

by **Gvlax** on Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:35 am

it is understanding somewhat that gvsu feel despite wins low level D2 teams the past weekend because their season its just beginning. Most teams have started their main season and have seen tough competition. GVSU has that coming up with games against Eau Claire, Augustana, and St. Thomas in which voters should keep an eye on all of those teams competing. Not to mention a tough CCLA north division and hopefully a match up with Dayton in the Conference playoffs. I just hope that the voters will see this when GVSU's season really gets in full swing with 14 games in 30 days beginning March 29th in IL, until then GVSU is satisfied.

by **seulax10** on Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:19 am

bulax6 wrote:just an observation....
Biola drops from 10 pts in the last poll to 5 pts this poll
St. Edwards goes from 0 pts in the last poll to 13 pts this poll
Cal State Fullerton goes from 0 pts in the last poll to 11 pts this poll

Biola beat St. Edwards 15-4
Biola beat Fullerton 20-6

hmmmm.....

Well, St. Ed's dropped from 29th (37 pts.) to 0 pts. in the previous poll while going 2-1 (4-1 overall) and the one loss was to #1 Westminster. Maybe the 13 points is to make up for the assumed mistake last time? However, I agree that arguing points out of the top 30 is more trouble than it's worth and I also will agree the Biola is a great team and deserve more than 5 points.

by **bulax6** on Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:25 pm

USTLAX06 wrote:
just an observation....
Biola drops from 10 pts in the last poll to 5 pts this poll
St. Edwards goes from 0 pts in the last poll to 13 pts this poll
Cal State Fullerton goes from 0 pts in the last poll to 11 pts this poll

Biola beat St. Edwards 15-4
Biola beat Fullerton 20-6

hmmmm.....

I see your point, but don't you think it's kind of trivial to be arguing the placement of a team that isn't even in the top 40?

I totally agree. But if pollsters aren't taking the time to do the entire poll correctly, who's to say that they aren't jumbling a few teams up top. Especially with so many teams from the RMLC and PNCLL that are ranked, it could really throw off the at-large bids for a team or two. I chose Biola because I play for them and obviously, feel that we are better than that.

by **woulax4** on Wed Mar 19, 2008 6:49 pm

If you are going to complain about Biola dropping 10 points than maybe I should do the same. In the span from the last poll Western Oregon went 3-0 winning with a combined 67-13 and we dropped 12 points. So yeah it happens to every team.

by **Kyle Berggren** on Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:42 am

Teams get leapfrogged... Happens... If your point total is close, look at it as someone did something more impressive than you & passed you, or voters are shuffling the strength of the conferences a bit. 5 points... That could mean you went from 25 in 5 polls to 26th... I see your concern, & I personally don't think either of those teams should be receiving votes, but who knows. Could be 2 voters having them close to 20. There are enough voters that small anomalies like that don't effect the big picture.

If we don't play any meaningful games before the next poll, I'll expect us to lose a few points as well... Enless teams above us lose, then I'll probably smile & take the points. I voted for the past few years (not this year), it's harder than you all think. God forbid these guys have full-time jobs, families, girlfriends, & a team of players to coach/mentor/babysit (that was intended for my players). It's tough, some mistakes will happen, but this is very small scale & doesn't effect at-large bids or teams trips to nationals. It actually doesn't even effect folks in the top 25...

by **btriley01** on Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:43 am

bulax6 wrote:I totally agree. But if pollsters aren't taking the time to do the entire poll correctly, who's to say that they aren't jumbling a few teams up top.

For example, Harding lost to a D1 school and beat another, but dropped from 12 to 16. I'm not mad about it, because we have yet to play our OOC games against #4 dayton, #12 southwestern, and #20 CMU, all which will be in the next 3 weeks. It is way too early to be comlaining about spots. They're always messed up in the beginning. No one has played the important games, with exception to a few top 10 competitions. If your team is who thay say they are, you won't need the polls to prove it. All you'll need is the title of national champs.

by **Gvlax** on Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:49 am

btriley01 wrote:
bulax6 wrote:I totally agree. But if pollsters aren't taking the time to do the entire poll correctly, who's to say that they aren't jumbling a few teams up top.

For example, Harding lost to a D1 school and beat another, but dropped from 12 to 16. I'm not mad about it, because we have yet to play our OOC games against #4 dayton, #12 southwestern, and #20 CMU, all which will be in the next 3 weeks. It is way too early to be comlaining about spots. They're always messed up in the beginning. No one has played the important games, with exception to a few top 10 competitions. If your team is who thay say they are, you won't need the polls to prove it. All you'll need is the title of national champs.

Most PNCLL teams have played their important games except a few who have OOC games left. I just wonder how this will affect voters down the road when teams start to play their important games after PNCLL teams are done with theirs for a few weeks.

by **Hi-Line Lax** on Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:04 am

how will the PNCLL effect anything now with virtually no more OOC? They don't have a team in the top 10 now, they won't at the end of the year.

The real problem with the Div 2 poll is the number of teams that people think should be in the Top 25... narrowed all the way down to 47 teams for this poll. That is way too many and those teams on the bottom of that list have no business receiving any votes at all. Lots of conference bias and lack of OOC games is a factor, but so is common sense. Voters have to vote for deserving teams not somebody they just feel might do well.

by **Gvlax** on Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:05 am

Also metro beat a few ranked teams but lost badly to Colorado school of mines but yet is ranked higher. I believe metro should be in the top 25 but thought it was interesting they go ahead of a team they got handled by.

by **dgr01002** on Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:42 am

Gvlax wrote:Also metro beat a few ranked teams but lost badly to Colorado school of mines but yet is ranked higher. I believe metro should be in the top 25 but thought it was interesting they go ahead of a team they got handled by.

Firstly, Metro State has played a tougher T25 schedule thus far (N Ariz, CSM, Mont State, N Colorado).

CSM got whooped 10-2 by a 2-6 N. Arizona. Metro beat N. Arizona.

For voters, they weighed that Metro has played a very tough T25 schedule and faired very well in each game versus CSM's sound win over Metro. Both teams are ranked very close together in this poll. CSM actually moved up one spot. Remember, poll rank is given by total number of points awarded for each spot a pollster gives. So, many pollsters could have voted CSM consistently at say #24 or #25, while Metro gets a lot of #24 and #22 votes and several #19's...the points go to Metro to be higher for earning more points. The polls aren't as simple as Team A beats Team B. It's total body of work thus far.

This poll does have some suspect votes, like Elon getting a #1 vote. I'm not saying they "couldn't" be #1 but they haven't earned that vote thus far. That to me, shows a biased vote, especially when they were ranked #19 the week before. That's a hell of a jump for no OOC games played.

I think the hardest conference to judge fairly is the PNCLL and the WCLL. We haven't seen a lot of OOC match-ups within the T25 to get a better picture. Every week is tougher and tougher to judge how they stack up, but pollsters know they have some really good teams out there.