MCLA Nike / IL Division I Coach's Poll - 02/19/2013

[bhsvideodad]

Wow! Four people participating in a discussion. Reminds me of the good old days. Maybe we will have five people next week.

Hey Beast. I wondered where you were. I turns out I was just looking at the wrong forum. Must be more than five people now. This reminds me of the good old days when collegelax by Sonny was all the rage. Then I thought everyone disappeared onto Facebook. I like the forums better, if there is anyone there.

[bhsvideodad]

Great to see a revival of the old Collegelax forum including all the old posts.

[KenLovic]

If they are worthy Dan they will climb. I think there are like 4-5 teams above them that have not even played yet. SFU has big games vs CSU, CU, MSU and VT upcoming. it will all shake out.
It's so early. I even saw a team on twitter excited about their laxpower ranking- after 3 games!- and i think fishing for a top 25 ranking. It's so early....

Why are we doing polls when half of the teams have not played a game? Or why are teams allowed to start their seasons early to mid March?

So people on message boards have something to chatter about since Obama's BC is tired and Harlem Shuffle videos are annoying.

[Jac Coyne]

why are teams allowed to start their seasons early to mid March?

Because this is a less than ideal environment to play a lacrosse game in:

601970_10151436698719840_675401970_n.jpg

(George Washington v. Pittsburgh, played at Washington & Jefferson University on 2/17/13)

I wonder how many offsides and crease violations were called in that game. $10 says Chris Larson would have called it at halftime.

[Chris Larson]

I'm all about the kids, Jac. If they want to play, I want to ref (as long as it safe, fun, fair)

[slider]

Does anyone know if the MCLA has discussed a limit on "competitions" for the season? I'm pretty sure most leagues have an official start/end date, but that might straighten out the disparity between teams playing 10 games and those playing 18-20. It wouldn't help the early polls, but in the long run it's easier to compare teams playing about the same number of games. I also think having weekly polls this early in the season is overkill, but at least we're more organized in the administration of the polls this year.

[Ravaging Beast]

I understand that there is snow in the northeast, but why don't the teams travel to the south or out west where there isn't any snow? At least do that for the early March games. The bottom line is that the polls start too early. If they started the first Tuesday of March, we would have polls based more on performance and less on potential. And we wouldn't cling to that potential the whole season.

[Ravaging Beast]

Wow! Four people participating in a discussion. Reminds me of the good old days. Maybe we will have five people next week.

Hey Beast. I wondered where you were. I turns out I was just looking at the wrong forum. Must be more than five people now. This reminds me of the good old days when collegelax by Sonny was all the rage. Then I thought everyone disappeared onto Facebook. I like the forums better, if there is anyone there.

I wasn't a fan of the format on the MCLAfan forums. I think this format better. Plus it saved all of the pre-2008 posts. Hopefully they will be able to bring back the one in between, but I think someone said the hard drives were fried.

[bhsvideodad]

Glad to see the old forum coming back to life, even it it seems to disregard my posts. Maybe this one will stick.

[George Washington]

I understand that there is snow in the northeast, but why don't the teams travel to the south or out west where there isn't any snow? At least do that for the early March games. The bottom line is that the polls start too early. If they started the first Tuesday of March, we would have polls based more on performance and less on potential. And we wouldn't cling to that potential the whole season.

For GW, it's more about practices than games. Without an indoor facility, we have to cancel too many practices due to weather in January and February. We will certainly be starting our season even later next year.

I agree with you that the polls start too early. Personally, I would be fine with the first poll being released in mid-March. Heck, even LaxPower disclaims that its rating are not reliable, "until almost all teams have played around five D-1 games." I believe that the MCLA should be similarly cautious in releasing its rankings.

[OAKS]

I understand that there is snow in the northeast, but why don't the teams travel to the south or out west where there isn't any snow? At least do that for the early March games. The bottom line is that the polls start too early. If they started the first Tuesday of March, we would have polls based more on performance and less on potential. And we wouldn't cling to that potential the whole season.

We're not all made of $$ Mr. Moneybags.

In other news, UNLV??? 3-1 with a two goal loss to BYU and a very solid schedule. What's going on in LV?

[Chris Larson]

Article 1.1 (g) of the MCLA Operating Policies provides the following definition:

“Regular Season ” means the period between January 15th of each year and the start of a team’s conference tournament.

Season start should be dictated by the date of the USLacrosse Convention which is the venue from which the college officials receive rules interpretations and mechanics updates each year. Lots of big changes to get through this year.

This year we had all of 2 days to get everyone not at the convention trained.

I'd be in favor of withholding the onset of the regular season until sometime between Feb 1 & Feb 10. No limit on scrimmages before then. I'm sure the Florida/Texas/Cali contingent would object.

[LaxTV_Admin]

Article 1.1 (g) of the MCLA Operating Policies provides the following definition:

“Regular Season ” means the period between January 15th of each year and the start of a team’s conference tournament.

Season start should be dictated by the date of the USLacrosse Convention which is the venue from which the college officials receive rules interpretations and mechanics updates each year. Lots of big changes to get through this year.

This year we had all of 2 days to get everyone not at the convention trained.

I'd be in favor of withholding the onset of the regular season until sometime between Feb 1 & Feb 10. No limit on scrimmages before then. I'm sure the Florida/Texas/Cali contingent would object.

I don't object at all. I see no reason to have full on games in Jan. I think early to middle Feb. is a great time of year to start the season and it makes sense to get officials trained. In our first scrimmage it was clear we were all still learning. Coaches yelling about old rules, refs blowing the whistle slowly, etc. Get those kinks out in Jan / early Feb and then start the season.

The BYU win by just 2 goals is interesting. Fortunately, BYU faces Chapman tonight which ought to settle some of the questions around that score.

Northeastern v. Cal last night was a heck of the game. Both teams are legitimate threats to make the National Tournament. Can't help but think that this game may be something the selection committee will end up talking about come late April. I think both teams ought to end up staying about where they are now in the polls.

[LaxTV_Admin]

In other news, UNLV??? 3-1 with a two goal loss to BYU and a very solid schedule. What's going on in LV?

BYU beats Chapman 11-8. Chapman plays UNLV on Sunday. Gotta think that is going to be a close game. Assuming Chapman wins, is the quality loss going to come back to vote UNLV into the Top 25?

[Ravaging Beast]

I'm a little worried for the Northeastern at UCSB game. They look to be a lot better than #22. Hopefully Cal and Stanford wore them out.