Top 20 instead of the Top 25?

[CyLaxKeeper00]

Should we only rank the Top 20 the MDIA div A and Top 10 in div B?

ie lacrosse mags 2006 preseason ranking.

[Sonny]

According to Andy Sharp's count:
http://forums.uslia.com/viewtopic.php?p=26998#26998

The MDIA will have 98 Division A teams and 91 Division B teams this year. Given those large numbers, I think it would be counterproductive to limit the rankings to 20 (Div. A) and 10 (Div. B).

[CyLaxKeeper00]

As of 2005 NCAA has 57 teams in Div I, 31 teams in Div II and 130 teams in Div III. A grand total of 218 colleges and universities playing NCAA men's lacrosse.

*info from laxpower*

[SDSULAX]

Top twenty A & B.

[Bentiss]

Why would that be beneficial? If anything, it should be a Top 30...I would think minimizing the number ranked would only cause more controversy and anger...

[SDSULAX]

After being a pollster, it is relatively easy to determine the top 10 or 15, after that the next 5 are more difficult and going to 25, the last 5 are shots in the dark. Why not make it the top 90? Laxpower already does that with their computer rating system.

[Bentiss]

This isn't necessarily something I think the MDIA should adopt, but I think it's a good idea, especially with the way the league is run.

Instead of pollsters voting for the TOP 25, why not vote for the TOP 20, BUT rank EVERYONE who receives votes...Do not limit it only to 20 or 25. Since it is already shown which teams receive votes and how many, one could argue their rank based upon their number of votes if they are not in the Top 25. So, if the Top 25 are ranked and 13 other teams receive votes, why not just rank them too, up to 38. But, if pollsters eliminate 5 teams they vote for, it would minimize the other teams receiving votes, therefore eliminating some of the blind votes some teams get at the bottom of the rankings from pollsters.

I probably over-simplified this and made it even more difficult to understand and that is why I decided to end this post now...

[Sonny]

After being a pollster, it is relatively easy to determine the top 10 or 15, after that the next 5 are more difficult and going to 25, the last 5 are shots in the dark. Why not make it the top 90? Laxpower already does that with their computer rating system.

That is why it is critical to rank teams 16 - 25 in the rankings, even though it's much more difficult to rank those programs. For the most part, those are the teams trying to get into at-large mix for the national tournament. If you limited the rankings to say 15 teams, how could you accurately guage 7 at-large bids?

[Bentiss]

If the pollsters rank only 20, it doesn't mean that all the pollsters will agree on the same 20 teams. Therefore, you can rank EVERY team that receives a vote. It will be less than when pollsters ranked the Top 25, but I can guarantee that at least 25 teams will receive votes...It will just eliminate some of the teams that do no deserve any votes...

That's only my opinion, though...

Sonny, go over the votes for the Pre-Season poll and eliminate everyone's vote from 21-25 just as an experiment...Rank ever team that received a vote, and let me know that turns out...I can almost guarantee that more than 25 teams will be ranked.

[univduke21]

The biggest problem with determining the 9 at large bids is that 5 of them are gone before you even start the discussion. You have to think that 3 teams from the WCLC (Sonoma, UCSB, Arizona) and 3 teams from the RMLC (Colorado State, Colorado, BYU) will be in the tournament and since there are only 1 automatic bid between those 6 teams (the RMLC doesn't have one), you are left with 4 at-large bids left. Last year 2 teams that won their automatic qualifier were outside the top 16 (Minnesota and Texas Tech). Only the non conference winners ranked 14th and above go to the tournament. This year to start there are two conference with a team outside the top 16 (LSA, UMLC) but the PCLL team is #16, so again that would compromise the number of teams that get into the tournament, so really a team outside the top 14 in the nation has absolutely no chance to make the national tournament unless they win their automatic bid. So teams ranked 20-25 have absolutely no chance unless they make sure they have to go because of the automatic qualifier. So why is it so important to include all of these teams that have 1 or 2 votes in the top 25? Is it so that they will feel special? Or are coaches/past players/lax mom's voting for their own team?

[JW]

I think that it would be counterproductive. The MDIA is trying to promote itself as a virtual varsity program, then keep it the way it is. Every other college sport has a top 25 poll. To have a top ten poll would make it sound like a High School league.

[CyLaxKeeper00]

Every other college sport has a top 25 poll.

all except for ncaa lax

[benji]

UnivDuke21 ....

I highly doubt that player's moms/ coaches/ or old players would actually vote for their respective team of preference without those teams actually deserving a vote. If anything, and I speak of the Rank 15-25 teams you speak of, said individuals would bring a lot to the table for voters because of their potentially unique insight into maybe lesser known programs. Those 1 or 2 votes you speak of are very important to the poll because they establish a certain means to better gauge the talent of teams across the league.

I think the top 25 makes sense. Like JW said, the fewer number of teams that are included in the poll, the less prominent, I believe, it would make the league seem.

... If nothing else, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[camthrax]

I side with the people arguing that the last 5 or so rankings dont mean much. This is especially true in B division.

[umdulax1]

NCAA Division I Hockey only had a Top 20 with a total of I believe 58 teams but they also have the pairwise rankings which works much like laxpower's power rankings.

Its a tough call, but in a way the NCAA Div 1 hockey tournament works much like ours with the confrence champions going to the tournament and then at large bids from those ranked highest of the teams to create the 16 team feild. I think a 20 team poll doesn't hurt anyone and it makes life a lot easier on the pollsters, you'll still round out the top 25 with the others recieving votes.

Hopefuly I'm making some sense here...