Preseason Poll (B Div.) - Who will be ranked in the Top 10?

[jimh3983]

There's a lot of good debate going on for the Preseason Poll for the A Division. Just wondering what people are thinking about the B Division for the upcoming season, plus it's nice to spark a little something for the B guys...

How are some of last years top ranked teams looking so far this season?

Who are some teams to watch out for?

Etc.


Also on a side note... What did the B Div. teams that made the national tourney last year think about how the 1st National B-Div. Tourney went?

[lil lady lax fan]

7th Regular Season MDIA Division B Top 25 Poll
Presented By Shamrock Lacrosse
May 25, 2005

1. Univ. of San Diego (16 First Place Votes) – 400 pts
2. Utah Valley State College – 383 pts
3. Montana – 352 pts
4. Calvin College – 340 pts
5. Harding University – 334 pts
6. Claremont College – 326 pts
7. Saint Johns University – 294 pts
8. Pacific Lutheran University – 270 pts
9. Davidson College – 257 pts
10. Appalachian State University – 240 pts

USD lost a few of their key players to graduation, including their brickwall of a goalie,Chris Robinson. They still should have a pretty solid team, though. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about them after next weekend's Laxtoberfest in Irvine. I thought I heard rumblings about a month back that they might be moving up to Div. A. The WCLL Fall Meeting is this Saturday, so we should know more about that after this weekend.

As for Claremont, I think they only lost two players to graduation so they should have a pretty solid lineup this year. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a few tricks up their sleeves in the form of new recruits. They had a pretty good batch last year. They have three really good captains and an excellent coaching staff leading the team as well--lots of experience and talent. I may be a little biased, but I think you can expect great things from this group.

Although not in the top 10, UC-Irvine and Pepperdine were in the top 20 of the post-season poll. It will be interesting to see how these two do this season.

[usdlax8]

as for the div b rankings this year there is a lot to consider. one of course is lost players especially when matched next to who those teams recruited in order to fill those empty spots. another is coaching which if it hasn't been noticed yet can change a crappy team into an amazing one. lastly is depth of the team. i was just at the scheduling meeting last saturday in santa clara and it is apparent that many teams have many great players coming in. most teams are confident that they have a much better team this year as compared to last. one thing is for sure, in the wcll the top few teams are all going to bout it out for the spot in the national tourney, i know our team will. the question that is on everyone's minds is what is the deal with the at-large bids? it would be a shame if good teams were short changed when trying to make the championship tourney (ie claremont was a very worthy candidate last year for sure and was better than two out of three teams we played in blaine). anyway how are the other div b teams looking this year?

[Zeuslax]

Does anyone have a clear answer about the at large bid(s)?

[Pinball]

I think USD was a step ahead of everyone last year when i saw them at the tourney, but maybe with their loss seniors and the improvement of other teams it will make the playing field a little more "even".

In the UMLL- St. Johns and St. Thomas have faced each other twice already this fall season in very very competitive games but St. Johns came out of top both times. For both those games we were missing our top scorers from last year Ben Ivory (studying in Chile) and Nic Michaelson, and Kyle Hinners and we still pulled it out. With addition of two high school all-americans and a few kids that had impressive high school careers SJU is really improved. ( the AA were Mike Freeman (lsm/D) and Brian Strauss A). UST added a nice longpole who is a few years removed from high school, i guess he started his collegiate career out in Vermont. UST's middies are looking strong as ever with Tornell and Joey Julius leading the charge. I know they will be hungry looking for their first UMLL title ever.

It may be a rough road back to the tourney for Calvin as they lost studs Kreuger and Pietrocarlo, and i know they lost to Ferris this fall.

I know UST and SJU will be going to the presidents day shootout in Irvine so that will be a good measure on how the teams stack up.

[Chris Larson]

Does anyone have a clear answer about the at large bid(s)?

As long as at least 8 conferences meet the requirements to qualify for an AQ there will not be any at-large bids in 2006. At some point down the line the B division tournament could be expanded, but there's a lot of ground to cover before that becomes a reality.

A shortage of AQ's, which some would argue exists in the A tourney as well, tend to improve the play of a) teams from strong conferences that feel they were deserving but didn't win their conference playoffs and b) teams from weaker conferences who now see elite level of play for which they will strive. This improvement then tends to trickle down to other teams in the conferences and raise the overall level of play.

[jimh3983]

I was under the impression that it is already going to be expanded to 12 teams in the tourney for 2006. I'm pretty sure that was said during our conference meeting, but that info could have been wrong. This also makes sense because this year all 9 conferences have AQ's to send a team to the B Division Nationals, last year the PCLL did not.

[lil lady lax fan]

It would be nice if they had some AQ's. Three of the top ten teams last year (per the May 2nd poll) didn't have a chance to compete for the top spots since they finished second in their division. It would be nice to give all of the top teams a chance to compete in a national venue. How are they going to work it if all nine conferences qualify and they only have eight spots?


Pinball
Looking forward to seeing y'all in Irvine this February. Should be some mighty fine shootin'!!!

[usdlax8]

well just to keep this thread alive, i will go ahead and say that i think the top 5 will include: claremont, usd, st. johns, maybe pacific lutheran, and appalachian. i think appalachian has a chance for some reason, hopefully they can get some good out of conference games. show their stuff. also, i would like to see what happens with montana this year. last year they had pretty much no team structure but tons of talent, does any one know how they are doing in fall ball?

[Hi-Line Lax]

Montana did not lose any players to graduation and has picked up some pretty decent talent in the off season. This fall we've played two scrimmages against Montana State (we won both) and just got back from the Gem State Invitational in Boise where we won 12-3 over Utah State, lost 8-7 in a great game with Utah Valley, and then won 12-4 over Nevada-Reno. On Nov 6th we will be playing Washington and Gonzaga in Spokane. We're starting to have a pretty good idea of what our roster will look like, and I can say we're certainly happy to have more than 18 guys that can travel. Other than that...the original post was wondering how the tournament went last year and, despite the weather, I thought it went really well. People were worried that teams wouldn't be able to even make the trip, but everyone did and there were definitely some good games. I was glad to see talent like USD out there last year to give us something to work for this season. I don't really know about a top five or top ten since I haven't really seen enough of anybody, but good luck to everybody that was there last year and for everybody that wasn't, it is definitely something to shoot for.

[lil lady lax fan]

Did UVSC lose many players? I think they'll be a definite contender.

And Steve, I think Claremont's going to give y'all more of a fight this year. Don't know much about their incoming freshmen and recruits, but their squad was pretty young/new last year. They've got a year under their belt and I think you'll see the difference. (P.S. couldn't help teasing you a little in the Div. A polls )

Sounds like things might be a little more competitive this season!

[pepsi24]

there seems to be one forgotten team in this whole mix and that is harding. and yeah...im biased...but who on these boards isnt.

we did lose an all american and national points leader in tomassoni, and a great goalie in jonathan johnson. but we picked up a couple of really good guys and the team is coming together very well. still have what i would argue as one of the best attack lines in the country, 2-3 very strong midfield lines, a stout defense and a brand new goalie that has really stepped up to the learning curve. we gained a great intangable in a consistant coach that knows the game.

who knows if we will win our confrence and make it back to nationals again. only time can tell. but dont think that we are done.

[LAX SAMURAI]

I really believe that due to SD's gradutation of key players, the B division is wide open. I still, however, think they are the team to beat. All the teams at the national tournament last year, and a few others as well, have the capability of making a run at the title. We will have to wait and see the results of the key out of conference match-ups that are scheduled for this upcoming season before we can jump ot any conclusions about favorites to win it all. Also, not to stir the pot, but which stats are you getting "national point leader" from?

[cjwilhelmi]

Also, not to stir the pot, but which stats are you getting "national point leader" from?

Stats on USLIA.COM

That doesn't have all of Tomassoni's stats on it. For a complete regular season stat sheet please see www.grlc.org. He scored 96 points during the regular season and was well over 100 points if you count conference playoffs and the national tournament.

Actually, JT never cared about stats he wanted the W.

[lil lady lax fan]

I really believe that due to SD's gradutation of key players, the B division is wide open. I still, however, think they are the team to beat. All the teams at the national tournament last year, and a few others as well, have the capability of making a run at the title. We will have to wait and see the results of the key out of conference match-ups that are scheduled for this upcoming season before we can jump ot any conclusions about favorites to win it all. Also, not to stir the pot, but which stats are you getting "national point leader" from?

Good to see you on the boards again.

If he's referring to the stats on the main page then we both know how off those are!! Of course those stats don't take into account the degree of difficulty when it comes to the overall schedule played by the player's respective teams. I'm sure, though, that he's a great player.

I have to agree, the out of conference games will be a big factor this year. It's definitely going to improve the level of competitiveness in this division. There's some big ones scheduled for the WCLL division B teams in Feb--four of the top ten teams competing in the President's Day Shootout. Five if Calvin College decides to take a road trip out our way. Were OOCs required last year for Division B?