Lax World MCLA Div 1 Top 25 Poll (3/26/08) is out!

[CATLAX MAN]

The positions between 3 & 12 are a crapshoot. Any of those teams could be in virtually any of those positions. There are a couple of teams that I can't see as deserving of their positions. UCF should not be in the Top 25. Period. The other team is Lindenwood. I just don't see how they are not towards the bottom end of the top 25. They seem to hold on to their position with very little movement.

[EvanFSU]

The positions between 3 & 12 are a crapshoot. Any of those teams could be in virtually any of those positions

This should make for an amazing tournament.

[DG]

If the tournament was played today, this is how it would be broken down by conference:

LSA 1 (AQ)
PCLL 1 (AQ)
SELC 1 (AQ)
GRLC 1 (AQ)
CCLA 1 (AQ)
UMLL 1 (AQ)
PNCLL 2 (AQ +1 at large)
RMLC 3 (3 at large)
WCLL 5 (AQ + 4 at large)

#16 Georgia is bumped by #17 A&M who gets the AQ for the LSA. the bracket would look like this:

Top
1 Michigan (37)
16 Texas A&M

8 Sonoma State
9 Arizona State

5 Oregon
12 Colorado

4 Colorado State
13 Cal Poly SLO

Bottom
3 Minnesota-Duluth
14 Lindenwood

6 BYU
11 Florida State

7 Simon Fraser
10 California Santa Barbara

2 Chapman University (3)
15 Boston College

Holy cow! There are no easy games here. BC lost to CSU by 2 and Chapman has to play them in the first round. But check out some of the other first round matchups...UCSB/SFU, BYU/FSU, SSU/ASU, Oregon/CU. Those would have been good semifinal games in years past.

If the seedings hold, the 2nd round matchups are:

1 Michigan (37)
8 Sonoma State

5 Oregon
4 Colorado State

3 Minnesota-Duluth
6 BYU

7 Simon Fraser
2 Chapman University (3)

Sure, Chapman and Michigan are the favorites, but all of these teams have a legit shot of winning it all.

I may have to take a whole week of vacation to go to Dallas this year...

DG

[Zamboni_Driver]

Although I think he can be blamed for the overhyping of Central Florida

I really thought I was on to something there. But I've moved on to Stanford.

[freddoi]

my thoughts:

oregon and byu should switch. oregon has not played anyone really, other than csu which was a 4 goal loss. byu's only losses were to teams above them and all were closer than 4 goals.

7, 8, and 9 bother me, but i don't know if i could legitimately change them. i just feel asu was pushed aside while doing nothing to hurt themselves.

i agree with ucsb staying one up on fsu because it was a one goal game on the road for ucsb, and was apparently a kicksave away from overtime, and if the gauchos got that face (read that they were dominating them) it probably would have been a different outcome.

calpoly does not deserve that spot in my opinion because they have not beaten anyone significant. for a while i thought that they were there because it was hard to move anyone else to their spot, and the two t10 wins against now diminishing teams, but now i think it is time for a change in the 13-20ish spots. glad i don't have to decide what it should be though

i think that there are teams not in the top 25 that could make just as good of cases, or better ones, than the teams seeded 22-25. anyone else agree?????

[Ravaging Beast]

i think that there are teams not in the top 25 that could make just as good of cases, or better ones, than the teams seeded 22-25. anyone else agree?????

I agree. I think Northeastern, Central Florida, and Arizona should not be in the top 25. But they will probably be out of the top 25 in the next poll unless they have a big win in that time.

[DG]

my thoughts:
oregon and byu should switch. oregon has not played anyone really, other than csu which was a 4 goal loss. byu's only losses were to teams above them and all were closer than 4 goals.

7, 8, and 9 bother me, but i don't know if i could legitimately change them. i just feel asu was pushed aside while doing nothing to hurt themselves.

BYU is about where they should be. Yes, all the teams they lost to are above them, but they have 3 MCLA losses. Close losses count for something, but at some point the L's have to start weighing on your ranking. The good thing is that their strong schedule gives them another opportunity to increase their ranking. They still have games with CU/CSU/Oregon, plus CC (DIII) and the RMLC playoffs where they will likely see one or both of CU/CSU again.

Most people are forgetting that ASU lost to BYU after the last poll. The results of that game (as far as I know) were not available to the pollsters at that time. There was more than one eyebrow raised when BYU stayed at #4, but most people said that they thought it was reasonable given the outcome of that game in Provo.

DG

[StrykerFSU]

my thoughts:
i agree with ucsb staying one up on fsu because it was a one goal game on the road for ucsb, and was apparently a kicksave away from overtime, and if the gauchos got that face (read that they were dominating them) it probably would have been a different outcome.

As the source of much of this information, I think you are overstating things a bit. So IF Heiman doesn't make his 16th save of the day AND the GAUCHOS win a faceoff AND they manage to score again THEN UCSB wins so they should be ranked higher than FSU??? That's a whole lot of hypotheticals in one statement. FSU was having trouble on the draw in the first but got things turned around in the second half but that my stats on faceoffs aren't the best as I was usually on the phone updating my poster during the draws. As for the possibility for overtime, the Gauchos were the beneficiaries of a dubious tripping call that gave them a man-up for the last 18 seconds of the game. In that time, all they got was an outside shot as time expired (I'm not even sure that it would have counted, I was watching the ball and not the clock.) FSU won that game, to say anything about score and location smacks of excuses to me.

The argument that UCSB stay higher than FSU based on their only other loss being to BYU while FSU lost to UGA is far more legitimate. Stick with that one.

[CATLAX MAN]

The argument that UCSB stay higher than FSU based on their only other loss being to BYU while FSU lost to UGA is far more legitimate. Stick with that one.

Agree, I think freddoi was raeaching more than just a little bit.

[freddoi]

ok, i agree with you. i reached. the other argument is more valid. does that mean that you agree that fsu should be one behind ucsb also?[/quote]

[Ty Webb]

WCLL has 9 teams top 25 36% 4 teams top 10 40% Says a lot about the league and the high school talent that is now being generated in CA/AZ

[Ravaging Beast]

WCLL has 9 teams top 25 36% 4 teams top 10 40% Says a lot about the league and the high school talent that is now being generated in CA/AZ

Not much different from other years. The WCLL has always had depth.

As for the possibility for overtime, the Gauchos were the beneficiaries of a dubious tripping call that gave them a man-up for the last 18 seconds of the game.

Did he fall?

[PNWLaxer]

This might have also have something to do with it.

ASU - 5 OOC games - 2 in Utah, 3 at home
UofA - 6 OOC games - 2 in Utah, 2 in Colorado, 2 at home
Poly - 4 OOC games - 2 in Colorado, 2 at home
Davis - 6 OOC games - 3 in PCLL, 3 at home
UCLA - 2 OOC games - 2 at home, cancelled trip to Mich
UCSD - 3 OOC games - 2 at home, 1 neutral site
UCSB - 5 OOC games - 2 in FLA, 3 at home
Chico - 8 OOC games - 2 in Ore, 3 in TX, 2 at home, 1 neutral
Cal - 5 OOC games - 3 in FLA, 1 at home, 1 neutral
Chap - 5 OOC games - 5 at home
Clar - 2 OOC games - 2 at home
LMU - 5 OOC games - 2 in FLA, 1 in GA, 1 at home, 1 neutral
UNR - 3 OOC games - 2 in UT, 1 at home
SDSU - 4 OOC games - 3 in TX, 1 at home
USD - 4 OOC games - 2 in Ore, 2 at home
SCU - 5 OOC games - 3 in FLA, 2 at home
SSU - 5 OOC games - 2 in WA, 2 at home, 1 neutral
USC - 4 OOC games - 2 at home, 2 neutral
STC - 3 OOC games - 3 at home
SU - 2 OOC games - 1 at home, 1 neutral


Total Div I OOC games 86 games

Home Games 42
Road Games 36
Neutral Site Games 8

[Andy Sharp]

Location, location, location.

PNWLaxer, of those ~90 OOC games, how many were outside of the WCLL region?

For a team located in a state that is about to allow us only our second outdoor practice today, location and facilites are a key factor.

The WCLL teams have undoubtedly made the most of their location.
--------------------------------------
I'll amend my post as well. Impressed the WCLL teams are travelling more!

[DTwizzie]

calpoly does not deserve that spot in my opinion because they have not beaten anyone significant

Using your own logic who should be in front of them? The teams behind them seem to be beating up on each other but haven't beaten anyone significant, with Georgia beating FSU the exception. I think they are right where they need to be. They should be ahead of the teams behind them, but should be behind the teams in front of them. They are not going to have a stellar record but they have one of the toughest schedules in the nation (top 5 laxpower SOS). The loss to Colorado was not good but I just dont think the teams behind them are better in comparison.