Mock Post Season Div B Poll

[Pinball]

1. San Diego
2. St. Johns
3. Montana
4. Eckerd
5. Claremount
6. St. Thomas
7. Northern Colorado
8. Harding
9. UVSC
10. Augustana
11. Calvin
25+. Southwestern

- The rest I have no idea about so pick 12-25
-I factored in some of the consolation games, but i also saw evey team play and knew their capabilities.
- How are these teams looking for next year, will any drop off the map cause they lose their studs?

[cjwilhelmi]

Couple things...

Harding should be ranked higher than UNC. Both teams treated that like a regular game, not consolation. I know because I worked the table.

I did not see the Augustana/UVSC game but Augustana did win by an incredible margin. If you are going to put them next to each other then I would switch their positions. Other than that I pretty much agree. I dont think that Southwestern should be 12 if you add in the other teams from around the country. I have seen them at different times this season and again at nationals. There are other teams that would be ranked higher than them.

We had a good discussion at one of the tables about consolation games in both A and B (actually I think it was Kyle Berggren, sorry I just butchard your last name). Consolation in B does matter considerably more than in A. A teams play tons of OOC games with B still playing very little as a whole. The consolation games for B is a way for teams to get seen nationally and to be able to see how they truly match up against different conferences at a neutral site.

On a completely side note. There is a ton of difference between A and B. Everyone knows the I love the B conference and I support them having one. However, it really looks bad to look at a B game and then go watch an A game. Looked like high school JV and true college. Maybe one day the B's will progress to that level, but not today or tomorrow. Actually next year doesn't look good either.

[Grizzly01]

Montana should be #2 and St. John's should be #3. I say this because Montana gave San Diego a much better game than the one sided victory we saw in the championship game.

[CyLaxKeeper00]

Montana should be #2 and St. John's should be #3. I say this because Montana gave San Diego a much better game than the one sided victory we saw in the championship game.

st john's beat san diego 10-8 during the season.

[DIEHARDLAX]

I thought that both Harding and UNC gave a great showing in their final game and showed who really should have been chosen for the last at large bid.

[lil lady lax fan]

Montana should be #2 and St. John's should be #3. I say this because Montana gave San Diego a much better game than the one sided victory we saw in the championship game.

st john's beat san diego 10-8 during the season.

True, but USD beat them by an incredible margin in the championship. Montana did better at keeping the scoring down, scored more against the Toreros, and only lost by two goals (10-3 vs 8-6). If anything I'd go with a tie for second. As for fourth and fifth, I think the two teams are pretty close. Eckerd made it one step further than Claremont, but Claremont blew the doors off St. Thomas in their matchup after losing a very close game in the final seconds to Montana. I'm opting for a tie there as well. I wish those two, or Eckerd and Montana could've squared off for a consolation game. That might make it easier to rank those teams. Harding beat Northern Colorado in Consolation so I have them ranked higher for that win.

Two through four are really close, as are 6-10. Sounds like it was a really good tournament. Maybe next year I can see it first-hand. Anyway, here's how I would rank them.

1. San Diego
2. Montana
2. St. Johns
4. Eckerd
4. Claremount
6. St. Thomas
7. Harding
8. Northern Colorado
9. Augustana
10. UVSC
11. Calvin

[Brandon Carlson]

As a former Johnnie, it pains me to say so, but I agree that Montana should be ranked above SJU. SJU played a heck of a tournament and deserves the three spot, but I think USD and Montana take the one and two (as has been pointed out repeatedly previously the polls should represent what is happening now and not at the beginning of season...blah blah blah).

[KnoxVegas]

For the record:

Augustana defeated Harding in the GRLC championship game, 11-10.

Augustana defeated UVSC in Plano, 9-2.

UVSC defeated UNC twice, 11-8 and 9-7.


Not a sermon. Just a thought.

[Dr. Jason Stockton]

It is my understanding that UVSC lost several players between the RMLC championship and the National Championships. . .

I would love confirmation from someone from UVSC, but I think their poor showing was due to the loss of key players involved in their successful season.

This information certainly doesn't mean that UVSC should be ranked higher, but using UNCs games versus UVSC a few weeks ago as a comparison for what happened in Plano just simply isn't going to give a complete picture.

[Kyle Berggren]

I'm biased but my first thoughts would be Montana & Claremont over SJU... The 2 goal loss vs the 7 goal loss (consecutive days) leads me to believe Montana was a better team. I have Claremont up there because any given day, any of those 3 teams beat each other, it just depends on who is hot (sorry SD, you've clearly been the best B team at least the last 2 years).

What throws me off is the Claremont loss to USD in the WCLL championship, I just don't get it. They looked great against Montana, and I couldn't picture them losing that badly to SD. I thought Montana was in for a hurting when I watched their Claremont game, but the SD/MU game wasn't a blowout. It leads me to believe Claremont played a down game just before Nationals. I have to go, but I'll try and add more to this when I get a chance.

[Brew26]

I believe that lil lady lax fan is correct here in saying that montana and St. John's should be tied. They are both great teams and I would lean to have Montana ahead of St. John's because of their performance in Nationals, but St. John's was the only team A and B to beat San Diego all year. That gives them my vote for second as well as them losing an all national tournament defender the day before the national championship game. Also, Kyle why can't every team have a bad game? It happens. St. John's played a very good first half leading most of the way, but they could not connect on anything in the second half. It was one bad half, and it was too bad that it had to be in the national championship game.

[lil lady lax fan]

I'm biased but my first thoughts would be Montana & Claremont over SJU... The 2 goal loss vs the 7 goal loss (consecutive days) leads me to believe Montana was a better team. I have Claremont up there because any given day, any of those 3 teams beat each other, it just depends on who is hot (sorry SD, you've clearly been the best B team at least the last 2 years).

What throws me off is the Claremont loss to USD in the WCLL championship, I just don't get it. They looked great against Montana, and I couldn't picture them losing that badly to SD. I thought Montana was in for a hurting when I watched their Claremont game, but the SD/MU game wasn't a blowout. It leads me to believe Claremont played a down game just before Nationals. I have to go, but I'll try and add more to this when I get a chance.

Didn't want to put Claremont up too high because of my bias. Glad to see someone feels the way that I do about their abilities. Hope you got to see them play against St. Thomas. They were playing well in that game.(12-6).

If you look at the score of their first matchup against San Diego it tells a different story from their second game. It was a very low-scoring game (6-3) in fact the lowest scoring game of San Diego's season, if I'm correct. Both teams played well, but San Diego played an exceptionl game at the WCLL championship. Read the respective team's write ups in USLMDIA.

[thedude]

I now see why we no longer do post season polls.
If the coulda woulda shouldas got any thicker....
At any rate we know the seriousness of consolation games have to be taken with a grain of salt, some teams played their hearts out, while some didn't really care anymore.
Also when looking to next year,
teams in our division aren't consistent with talent or funding, so we will have to wait till next spring to begin talking about ranking and who is the top. All that is certain is USD must be on everyones hit list, they have set the bar and we all must rise above it.

(my two cents Calvin should be ranked higher than Harding, as far as quality LAX goes. Also, hangovers do not produce great things...)

[Kyle Berggren]

Also, Kyle why can't every team have a bad game? It happens. St. John's played a very good first half leading most of the way, but they could not connect on anything in the second half. It was one bad half, and it was too bad that it had to be in the national championship game.

Well, SJU did a great job feeding the crease in the first quarter, but pressure on the crease and on the ball really made that difficult as the game went on. They didn't ride SD especially effectively the entire game (off the top of my head). I was surprised how well they were able to move the ball in tight situations. In my eyes, SJU did not play a bad game, but they got beat badly. It looked as though they used 2 (maybe 3) zones throughout the game, which drastically slowed down the SD offense, and really frustrated them in the first quarter.

I personally thought the zone was not run properly, but each team has their own goals and schemes, and they know their personnel (and their strengths) much better than I. The reason I did not like the zones, was because when SD was able to adjust (halftime), SJU allowed shots from the top center constantly. No adjustment was made, SD was able to keep on shooting. Eventually the D stretched, and the skip pass allowed about a 10 yard shot from about 45 degrees. SD was smart shooting, they hit the corners or missed, keeping possession with a man at X. When SJU went into man defense, I was finally very impressed with SD. There was simply no answer from SJU, and SD pulled away.

With that in mind, it wasn't a bad half, it might have been a coaching battle, I don't know... but SD dominated time of possession, shots, cleared at will, & moved the ball effectively. I didn't see SJU 3 months ago, I saw them in a weekend of games. In one game they showed a ton of heart, and battled back to get the win versus and under-ranked Eckerd team. In another, they didn't have the firepower to get past an SD team that was playing well. On the other hand, neither did Claremont, which is why I had a hard time putting them in my 3 spot. If team A loses by 2, and team B by 7, to the same opponent, on consecutive days, most will not tend to tie the 2... I was personally more impressed by Claremont than just about any other team at the tournament (B division), so they got my nod. Eckerd has rights to those top spots as well, but shouldn't be ranked above SJU as they lost to them on Friday. If you're argument for we beat them in February and had a bad half were to hold up in May, we wouldn't need to play the games, we'd just argue about it all day. I stand by my rankings, although I wish I could have seen more of Eckerd (and more SELC/PCLL/ & STU teams).

[Jolly Roger]

Do you think the injury to the starting SJU defenseman had anything to do with their defensive scheming?