D3 Men Rankings

[Boomakegga]

I follow Cabrini. They had 5 would be Aa’s on offense. They now have 3 and the match ups are different. I thought they had a real chance to make a run before Loparo and Brooks went down. Brooks was clearly the on field leader. My guess is once the good coaches adjust their game plan to who plays now the weaknesses will show. Feel aweful for them. They had all the pieces and were off radar enough to catch teams by surprise. Still a playoff caliber team but would be surprised if they can get through the NCAA mid-seed gauntlet.

Ithaca is not a top 20 team. Cabrini sat Krug after q1 and Klein after q2.

I have my doubts about Dickinson as well. LYN is the real deal and game with Cabrini might have been different had it not been pouring rain with sticks bagging out.

[richard]

While discussing Cabrini people have dumped Dickinson,Amherst,Ursinus,Ithaca and put Cabrini in as maybe a top 15 team. If that is the case we are getting pretty thin for a top twenty.

[ergit]

No connection to team but...
You know what I like about Cabrini?
Undefeated with quality wins, and no dedicated thread.

[DeepPocket]

While discussing Cabrini people have dumped Dickinson,Amherst,Ursinus,Ithaca and put Cabrini in as maybe a top 15 team. If that is the case we are getting pretty thin for a top twenty.

One thing is for sure, everyone here is just an impartial observer.

[oldschoollax]

No connection to team but...
You know what I like about Cabrini?
Undefeated with quality wins, and no dedicated thread.

Ha, i love that too! I have only seen Cabrini play once the past couple years and it was in the NCAAs against Wesleyan last year when they were up 5-3 mid-way thru 3rd qtr.

[Boomakegga]

Cabrini embraces the off radar status the lax community gives them. Typically ranked with little to no media attention. Some really good players that in some cases started somewhere else and were injured or stumbled and then resurface at Cabrini for a second chance. Never met a better group of hard working parents in my life. In a weak conference so it’s hard for them to keep improving in April when summer league style gets the job done easily. Don’t have the budget for a spring break trip and the Mustang in the same year so can’t commit to being in Baltimore every year.

Pretty sure they have wanted a rematch with Wes. since the horn blew.

[DeepPocket]

New USILA

1 Salisbury 417 (18) 8-0 1
2 Amherst 394 (3) 5-0 4
3 Tufts 360 6-0 3
4 RIT 348 5-1 2
5 Cabrini 334 7-0 6
6 York 318 7-1 5
7 Wesleyan 299 5-1 7
8 Ursinus 251 6-0 9
9 Gettysburg 237 6-2 11
10 Dickinson 206 5-2 8
11 Bates 198 5-1 13
12 Stevens 193 5-2 12
13 Denison 168 4-2 10
14 Christopher Newport 134 6-2 15
15 RPI 116 6-0 17
16 Washington and Lee 78 5-4 16
17 Franklin and Marshall 77 4-3 14
18 Lynchburg 73 4-4 19
19 Ithaca 50 3-1 18
20 St. Lawrence

[Matnum PI]

Take some deep breaths before looking. It's a computer ranking based solely on Ws and Ls with no regard for brand names or previous seasons (after several games) so it bothers some but... I think its pretty good and, if nothing else, it's mind expanding.

[richard]

The computer ranking looks pretty good. 2 SLU games are not accounted for. So there is some up and down movement there.

[pcowlax]

Take some deep breaths before looking. It's a computer ranking based solely on Ws and Ls with no regard for brand names or previous seasons (after several games) so it bothers some but... I think its pretty good and, if nothing else, it's mind expanding.

Not bad at all this early in the season. There a few where team A beat team B head to head and each have the same number of losses and B is ranked ahead of A but the point numbers are so close this early that that will almost certainly shake out as the season goes along. The only big potential problem I see in the ante system (and correct me if I am thinking of the method incorrectly) is if some team that finished highly the year before has a massive loss to graduation and is much worse the next year. They will certainly fall as the year goes on but they would start at a higher point that a human observer, who knew of their likely projection, would have put them. I guess a caveat to myself is that humans often aren't very good at this and will rank a team high at the start of the year because they are "always good" rather than delving into what specifically they have coming back.

[Matnum PI]

The computer ranking looks pretty good. 2 SLU games are not accounted for. So there is some up and down movement there.

Bunch missing. Took care of this for the d3 women yesterday. (I won't admit how many hours it took.) need to steel myself and do the same for the d3 men. painful but worth it to get an accurate assessment of the St. Ls of the world.

[richard]

All of this is greatly appreciated.

[Matnum PI]

The Opening Points is *exactly* the bear to wrestle with. Once the Starting Points are set, you can adjust Points for Ws and Ls, Goal margins in Ws and Ls, etc., and... this is fair. (Losses are trickier but... Still fair.) Everything is fair except... The Starting Points. You can say, This is 100% based on 2019 but... It's a lie. If it was 100% based on 2018 then winning percentage, no matter who you played, would be the #1 team. Which is silly. So...

[Matnum PI]

We start with last seasons finish. Usually an average of the sane polls. Try to be as fair as possible. Then 2019 starts and we use our Starting Points System which is based on each teams best Ws and worst Ls in 2019. BUT... For the first few games, there's a transition from 2018 to 2019. Anyway, not 100% 2019 based, but pretty close and gets teams into 2019 relatively quickly.

[pcowlax]

I took that Cabrini comment as "I really don't know anything about them so they can't be good". They are legit. Check out their schedule and the results so far. 5-0 and they haven't played cream puffs (other than their opener). There is good lacrosse being played all over the place now. Not just at the traditional powerhouses.

I’ll take it as I know a lot about D3 lacrosse and they are a very good team but with their injuries they are definitely not a top 5 team but are a top 15 team, and so it is. Ctbagataway, you know I am not tossing out snark. The only comment on here from someone who obviously does not know much about or watch much D3 lax outside of his own team or league was not from me but from the guy that said Cabrini had 5 AA attacks. There are usually 12-14 D3 AA in 3 teams for attack. If you think 5 of them are on Cabrini, it is YOU who don’t really know much about lacrosse. I have nothing at all against Cabrini. You want to be considered a top 5 team, beat a top 5 team or make the final 4, most of those early season wins everyone was crowing about this year are going to sink out of the polls. Good luck for the rest of the year, I would love to see them take out Salisbury, do that and I will build a Cabrini shrine. Lose that one, and they will, and they will be ranked 10-15, as I said, and as they should be. Still a very good team, just not the ecstatic spew of Cabrini love and smug snark from the last page.

[overandback]

Been there, done that...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... Shrine.jpg

[ctbagataway]

Plow-I have no beef with your analysis or thoughts on Cabrini's ranking. But responding nearly two weeks later? Remember at the time few of the top 5 teams had beaten anyone in the top 10, so most of the rankings were all conjecture. Injuries definitely hurting acabrini it sounds like and you were right. But I was just trying to stick up for a program which st the time was undefeated and had played decent teams.

[Fandadof3laxers]

Anyone else think CNU is overrated? Watched a few games and they are a turnover machine probably due to their aggressiveness, but I’m not convinced they deserve top 20 status.

[Boomakegga]

I took that Cabrini comment as "I really don't know anything about them so they can't be good". They are legit. Check out their schedule and the results so far. 5-0 and they haven't played cream puffs (other than their opener). There is good lacrosse being played all over the place now. Not just at the traditional powerhouses.

I’ll take it as I know a lot about D3 lacrosse and they are a very good team but with their injuries they are definitely not a top 5 team but are a top 15 team, and so it is. Ctbagataway, you know I am not tossing out snark. The only comment on here from someone who obviously does not know much about or watch much D3 lax outside of his own team or league was not from me but from the guy that said Cabrini had 5 AA attacks. There are usually 12-14 D3 AA in 3 teams for attack. If you think 5 of them are on Cabrini, it is YOU who don’t really know much about lacrosse. I have nothing at all against Cabrini. You want to be considered a top 5 team, beat a top 5 team or make the final 4, most of those early season wins everyone was crowing about this year are going to sink out of the polls. Good luck for the rest of the year, I would love to see them take out Salisbury, do that and I will build a Cabrini shrine. Lose that one, and they will, and they will be ranked 10-15, as I said, and as they should be. Still a very good team, just not the ecstatic spew of Cabrini love and smug snark from the last page.

You might re-read the post. It not only was inline with your perspective but it said offense as oppose to attack. It’s a fact that 5 of their starting 6 offensive players from the beginning of the season were Aa last year. I would expect them to finish the season outside the top 10 with 3 losses including the ncaa’s. They are down to ssdm 4 and 5 as well who York scored half their goals on. Maybe they will get better with more PT. None of this is excuses just a belief that they were natty contenders healthy and now we will never know.

[Wall Ball1]

Anyone else think CNU is overrated? Watched a few games and they are a turnover machine probably due to their aggressiveness, but I’m not convinced they deserve top 20 status.

Funny you brought them up. Last year, their seniors were in charge, they never looked out of sorts like they do this year. I’m not seeing the same command and flow. They were a very good transition offense that scored quickly. This year, too many high risk passes to players that are not in the best position, who are covered by multiple defenders. They have an outstanding defense and net minder. Their biggest weakness is their Fogo. This years team might be more athletic but last years team was under control and played smart ball.
Don’t forget, their loses this year are to some really good teams.
CNU is bringing some new blood to the rankings. This years schedule is the hardest in their programs history. Mikey Thompson and Zach Thomas are the best young coaches in all of lacrosse.