Who's Your New Top 5 in D1?

[Phantanimal]

1 - Michigan (4-0) - Knocked off #1 in Provo, OOC road wins over ASU and UA, and beat Kenyon convincingly.

2 - Chapman (6-0) - 3-0 in WCLL strong start, knocked off BYU, but smooth sailing until later in the season.

3 - Oregon (5-0) - 3-0 in PNCLL strong start and potent offense, but will be tested with tougher games down the road

4 - CSU (3-1) - Good OOC wins over BC, UMD, tough schedule remainder of the season.

5 - UCSB (5-1) - (2-0 2nd in WCLL LA) good division wins, with a fairly tough schedule remaining.

IMO, any of the top 4 could swap basd on some preferences but Michigan just feels right. CSU maybe shouldn't drop those spots but the undefeated teams have stepped up with some quality wins. Congrats to all the teams...

[Timbalaned]

was going to respond, but man this is hard. I wrote out about 5 different top 5s but wasn't really happy with any of them. Feel bad for the voters. Could tell you the Top 2 should be Michigan/Chapman. 3 is CSU 4-7 is SB, Oregon, BYU, and UMD. Michigan and Chapman have both played well out of the gate and are up there, I still might give it to Chapman as of right now. CSU has played some tough close games and come out of them well. I hate that they are always a threat up there. After that I still think BYU is good, but they lost to two of the best teams if not best right now so they have to fall some, but they are still up there. SB has been playing some good games and will continue to play tough games to prove themself. Duluth played a tight game against a real tough CSU team and proved they are legit. Oregon, playing well right now, will get their chance to show their stuff against some top dogs later in the season and show if they are legit.

[Ravaging Beast]

I'm going to have to agree with Brauck. I can name the top 3: Michigan, Chapman, CSU, but after that, there is no legitimate reasoning behind Oregon, UCSB, BYU, or UMD holding any of those next 4 spots. You can shuffle them around for any reason.

[buffalowill]

1 - CSU (3-1) - Nice wins at the C.J. Invitational. Lone loss in overtime to a good CC team (see upset of #16 Wash. and Lee) may be better than UM's blowout win over Kenyon.

2 - Chapman (6-0) - Very good team that is still riding high from their win over BYU. Can they stay focused an entire season?

3 - Michigan (4-0) - Big time win in Provo moves them up to #3.

4 - UMD (2-1) - I am not going to drop them too far after a close loss to my #1 CSU. Giving them (and CSU) a free ride near the top of my rankings until proven otherwise.

5 - BYU (2-2) - Some tough losses as of late, but this team is still very dangerous.

6 - Oregon (5-0) - They have proven that they can score 30, but they have not really been tested. Toughest game to date is against a Chico squad that has 3 WCLL losses already. First game of note is at home vs Montana this weekend.

7 - UCSB (5-1) - I am just not convinced that this UCSB squad belongs in the top 5. Loss by 6 to BYU at home does not look as good now that the Cougars have lost twice since. That being said I think this team can improve a lot as the season goes on and can contend in May.

8 - Arizona State (3-1) - I think this team has some serious firepower and it looks like their defense may be a bit improved from last year. Their lone loss was a close one versus red-hot Michigan. Their suspect D will be tested again next week in Utah.

9 - Sonoma State (3-0) Hard to gauge how good this team is right now.

10 - Toss up!

Is that more than 5...oops! Let's see if I get blasted for placing UCSB #7 like I did when I "coronated" Chapman at the beginning of the season.

[Ravaging Beast]

6 - Oregon (5-0) - They have proven that they can score 30, but they have not really been tested. Toughest game to date is against a Chico squad that has 3 WCLL losses already. First game of note is at home vs Montana this weekend.

I didn't even know they have a team. How is this a game of note? It's a bit of a stretch to rank Oregon other than on potential. They have yet to be tested.

[nhoskins]

6 - Oregon (5-0) - They have proven that they can score 30, but they have not really been tested. Toughest game to date is against a Chico squad that has 3 WCLL losses already. First game of note is at home vs Montana this weekend.

I didn't even know they have a team. How is this a game of note? It's a bit of a stretch to rank Oregon other than on potential. They have yet to be tested.

Guess you missed the Division 2 championships last year then...

That being said, I don't think Oregon has a game of note until the 22nd when they face Colorado.

[Ravaging Beast]

6 - Oregon (5-0) - They have proven that they can score 30, but they have not really been tested. Toughest game to date is against a Chico squad that has 3 WCLL losses already. First game of note is at home vs Montana this weekend.

I didn't even know they have a team. How is this a game of note? It's a bit of a stretch to rank Oregon other than on potential. They have yet to be tested.

Guess you missed the Division 2 championships last year then...

That being said, I don't think Oregon has a game of note until the 22nd when they face Colorado.

Must have missed it or just not paid attention.

[Timbalaned]

6 - Oregon (5-0) - They have proven that they can score 30, but they have not really been tested. Toughest game to date is against a Chico squad that has 3 WCLL losses already. First game of note is at home vs Montana this weekend.

I didn't even know they have a team. How is this a game of note? It's a bit of a stretch to rank Oregon other than on potential. They have yet to be tested.

Guess you missed the Division 2 championships last year then...

That being said, I don't think Oregon has a game of note until the 22nd when they face Colorado.

Must have missed it or just not paid attention.

Probably still asleep after a long night of looking for tall chicks

[Ben Clark]

This is going to be a fun poll to try to figure out. As of right now, here's how I see it:

#1. Michigan - Three very impressive road wins against some top competition is impossible to ignore.

#2. Chapman - I voted Chapman #1 in the last poll. They have done nothing to lose the #1 spot, but like I said - what Michigan did is impossible to ignore.

#3. CSU - Good wins against BC and UMD. Seems like they have been really playing well late in games.

#4. BYU - Dropping a couple slots for their loss at home against Michigan. Obviously still a very dangerous team.

#5. UCSB - Just plugging away, winning games. Awesome team.

#6. UMD - I had them at #5 in the last poll, and while they have played at a high level as expected, they get bumped one spot to accommodate Michigan.

[DG]

1) Michigan - Winning on the road has been their achilles' heel in the past. Looks like that might be solved.
2) CSU - Very impressive winning 3 on the road in consecutive days.
3) UMD - Good win over BC. Tight loss to CSU. We'll know a lot more after 3/8 game with Michigan.
4) Chapman - undefeated with nice win over BYU.
5) Oregon - undefeated but untested

Since I'm a Cougar fan, I have to mention that I think BYU fits somewhere between 6 and 8.

DG

[Ballin']

1) Michigan- most impressive team so far with some BIG wins
2) Chapman- have convinced me that they are for real
3) CSU- beat a legit UMD team as well as BC
4) UMD- close game with CSU and good win over BC
5) Oregon- not tested yet but have blown out everyone they have played

i have a hard time putting BYU up there being a .500 team, but i am sure they will work back up there before the season ends

UCSB could very well be up there to

[ineedmorecowbell]

i was not impressed with michigan or byu this past saturday. that being said, i know what kind of talent byu has. once they get their defense playing together, they will be a force to be reckoned with. they need to quit lunging, stop ball watching, and stop the over pursuit. they would either rush out, trying to be aggressive, and fly by the guy that they would be trying to mark, or they would just stand there, watching ball, and get back cut on. they need to pick a style of d and be good at it. their ride also needs to tighten up and hier needs to stop the absolutely retarded slashes. he needs to cool his head.

michigan should probably be at the top of the poll right now, but i hope that they also had a bad game against the y, because it was not pretty lacrosse by any means. lots of dropped passes. sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. especially on clears, and not because of byu's ride. the offense as a whole wasn't very effective. most of the goals (both teams) were one-on-one-no-slide situations. there was no movement.

i will say this though: michigan's face off man was nasty.

all teams should come to me for advice, for i am a genius.

[SoCalLaxDoctor]

Seems to me Ben has taken logic lessons and actually votes based upon current performance and not on reputation. Pre season rankings are speculative at best.

This is going to be a fun poll to try to figure out. As of right now, here's how I see it:

#1. Michigan - Three very impressive road wins against some top competition is impossible to ignore.

#2. Chapman - I voted Chapman #1 in the last poll. They have done nothing to lose the #1 spot, but like I said - what Michigan did is impossible to ignore.

#3. CSU - Good wins against BC and UMD. Seems like they have been really playing well late in games.

#4. BYU - Dropping a couple slots for their loss at home against Michigan. Obviously still a very dangerous team.

#5. UCSB - Just plugging away, winning games. Awesome team.

#6. UMD - I had them at #5 in the last poll, and while they have played at a high level as expected, they get bumped one spot to accommodate Michigan.

[Jolly Roger]

Seems to me Ben has taken logic lessons and actually votes based upon current performance and not on reputation. Pre season rankings are speculative at best.

That doesn't change the fact that Dan Morris is going to unleash evil upon him....

[Dan Wishengrad]

As a voter I have been reading this thread with great interest. It is pretty clear there is no consensus #1 right now. A compelling argument can be made for Michigan, Colorado State or Chapman, as all have quality wins over highly-ranked opponents. Oregon deserves some consideration, too, but until the Ducks defeat a Top-10 team they likely won't get the nod from the pollsters.

To me a more interesting discussion might be "Who is your bottom five?" I'll probably find it easier myself to rank teams 1 through 5 than to rank teams 21 through 25. All of us who "pay attention" know that the top 10 teams from the previous poll are all deserving. But there are new teams stepping up like Central Florida (5-0 with a win over VT) and Texas (5-0). Stanford upset ranked Northeastern. Auburn played Lindenwood to a one-goal loss. LMU has impressive wins over Stanford and SDSU, two underrated teams in '08. Then there are solid teams like Utah and Michigan State which don't have winning records but still must be considered. There is a lot of parity in conferences like the SELC, the WCLL and the PNCLL right now, and sorting out all the teams worthy of ranking consideration is not easy. I'd say "Who is your #21 through #25" is even tougher than who gets the 1st through 5th ranking. I wish I could rank my own Huskies but we haven't beaten a ranked team so I can't do so, and didn't in the previous poll although someone else did give us a vote. I have my own team somewhere between 30-35 right now. But the bottom five spots will be really, really tough for me to rank next week.

Just my two cents...