FanLax Forum Poll

[Wheels]

That wasn't easy.

[Matnum PI]

Polls due at noon EST...

[rolldodge]

Maryland. 6-0 High Point, Loyola, Syracuse, Princeton, Notre Dame, Albany
Virginia. 6-0 Air Force, High Point, Towson, Syracuse, Hopkins, UNC
Princeton 3-1 Monmouth, Binghamton, Gtown, Rutgers /// L to Maryland
Cornell. 5-0 UAlbany, Lehigh, Hobart, Ohio State, Penn State
Ohio State. 5-1 Detroit Mercy, Cleveland State, North Carolina, Harvard, Notre Dame  /// L to Cornell
Georgetown. 5-1 Hopkins, Penn, Notre Dame. Mt St Marys, Richmond /// L to Princeton
Rutgers. 6-1 LIU, Marist, St Johns, Army, Loyola, Stony Brook. /// L to Princeton
Penn. 3-1 Duke, Penn State, Villanova /// L to GTown
UNC.  5-2 Richmond. Colgate, Brown, Hopkins, Denver. /// L to Ohio State, Virginia 
Boston U. 5-0 Merrimack, Bryant, UMASS, Colgate, Bucknell
Brown 5-1 Quinn, Vermont, Villanova, Providence, Stony Brook /// L to UNC
Army. 6-1 UMASS, Sienna, NJIT, Syracuse, Holy Cross, Lafayette /// L to Rutgers
Yale. 3-1 Villanova, UMass, Denver. /// L to Penn State
Jacksonville. 6-2 Duke, Mercer, Marquette, Denver, Air Force, Bellarmine /// L to Hopkins, Utah,
Duke. 7-3 Robert Morris, Vermont, Manhattan, Delaware, High Point, Richmond. /// L to Penn, Jacksonville, Loyola
Harvard 3-1 NJIT, Fairfield, Michigan. /// L to Ohio State
Hopkins. 4-3 Jacksonville, Towson, Loyola, Syracuse /// L to UNC, Georgetown, Virginia
Michigan 7-1 Bellarmine, Detroit Mercy, Holy cross, Canisus, Cleveland State, Delaware /// L to Harvard
Delaware. 5-2 NJIT, MSM, St Josephs, Monmouth, Marist /// L to Duke, Michigan
St. Joseph's 5-2 St. Bon, Penn State, Providence, Monmouth, Towson /// L to Delaware
Bucknell. 5-1 Mercer, Robert Morris, St Johns, Marist, Binghamton. /// L to Boston U
Stony brook. 4-2 Fairfield, Robert Morris, St Johns, LIU.  /// L to Rutgers, Brown
Dartmouth. 3-1 Bryant, Siena, Vermont. /// L to Merrimack
Utah 3-2 Vermont, Marquette, Jacksonville. /// L to Denver, UMBC
High Point 4-3 Colgate, Navy, Bellarmine, Robert Morris /// L to Maryland, Virginia, Duke

-----------------------------------------

Also considered

Drexel 4-2 Albany, LIU, St Joes, Marquette /// L to UMBC, Lafayette
Denver. 3-4 Utah, Air Force, Cansius. /// L to Duke, Jacksonville, UNC, Yale
Notre Dame. 1-3 Detroit Mercy, L to Georgetown, Maryland, Ohio State
Navy. 4-3 Mercer, Hofstra, Manhattan, Colgate. /// L to High Point, Lehigh, MSM
Merrimack 3-2 Darmouth, Holy Cross, UMAss Lowell. /// L to Hofstra, Boston U
Providence. 4-3 Holy Cross, Siena, Vermont /// L to Bryant, St Joes, Brown
Richmond 3-3 Marist, Towson, St Bon. /// L to UNC, Duke, Gtown
St Bonaventure. 5-2 Bellarmine, VMI, Hampton, Cleveland State /// L to St Joes, Richmond
UMass 3-3. Mass Lowell, Albany, LIU /// L to Army, Boston U, Yale
Villanova 3-3 Penn State, Fairfield, Hofstra. /// L to Yale, Brown, Penn
Towson 3-4 Mt St Marys, Loyola, UMBC /// L to Hopkins, Virginia, Richmond, St Joes
Penn State. 2-5 Lafayette, Yale. /// L to Villanova, Vermont, St Josephs, Penn, Cornell
Loyola. 2-4 Lafayette, Duke /// L to Maryland, Hopkins, Rutgers, Towson
Syracuse. 2-4 Holy Cross, Hobart. /// L to Maryland, Virginia, Army, Hopkins
Hobart. 2-2 Canisius, Lehigh. /// L to Cornell, Syracuse
Lehigh 2-2 Navy, NJIT, Holy Cross /// L to Hobart, Cornell

[HGK]

What am I missing on Jacksonville? Definitely great to see them doing well but their wins and losses all to teams behind them yet the National polls agree with you Rolldodge. So my poll will be an outlier i guess in terms of the Dolphins. And no disrespect to them, I just don’t see their overall resume warranting such a strong ranking.

[Catbird]

That wasn't easy.

Rest easy because you could have thrown darts at the wall and done better than this week's Media Poll.

[rolldodge]

What am I missing on Jacksonville? Definitely great to see them doing well but their wins and losses all to teams behind them yet the National polls agree with you Rolldodge. So my poll will be an outlier i guess in terms of the Dolphins. And no disrespect to them, I just don’t see their overall resume warranting such a strong ranking.

They are trending downward in my poll, as the Duke win will continue to get less weight as time goes on, and they won't have a lot of chances to get top 20 wins going forward. I might be giving the Duke and Denver wins too much weight now, but that (along with 6 overall wins) is what is propping them up in my poll. The fact that they are trending downward gives less weight to wins over them (paradoxically) and thus I have them ahead of Hopkins and Utah. I still think their "body of work" is a bit better than those behind them, but it's not very clear cut. They are getting the benefit of having played more games than some of the other teams.

[jersey shore lax]

Polls due at noon EST...

can you send me link to enter? worked the first week but I can not log in.

thanks

[Matnum PI]

can you send me link to enter? worked the first week but I can not log in.

Try this link: https://fanlax.com/2022/02/20/fanlax-fo ... -d1-men-2/

[10stone5]

Maryland. 6-0 High Point, Loyola, Syracuse, Princeton, Notre Dame, Albany
Virginia. 6-0 Air Force, High Point, Towson, Syracuse, Hopkins, UNC

…

That’s some serious work !

[Matnum PI]

D1 MEN: FanLax Forum Poll (03/14/22)

[HGK]

I am not an ND Fan but interesting to me that a team that loses in good games to our Forum’s 1 5 and 7 is ranked so low. I am an eye test guy granted but have to think their resume, and I am considering their record, is still better than ranking. I would bet teams a few slots in front of them would not be favored head to head. But this is what makes this poll fun so happy to hear the counter argument.

[DU-fan]

Any reason certain people are only picking 20 instead of 25? I think it would best if we are consistent, especially this year because the difference between a team ranked 15 and 25 might not be that much.

Jersey Shore Lax's picking strategy is very interesting. I guess he could not decide who should be ranked 11

[Matnum PI]

I am not an ND Fan but interesting to me that a team that loses in good games to our Forum’s 1 5 and 7 is ranked so low... But this is what makes this poll fun so happy to hear the counter argument.

ND's problem is that they only have 1 win and that W is over Detroit Mercy, 24-2. From where I'm sitting, in the name of earning your ranking based on your performance and not on your brand, I believe that currently ND shouldn't be on anybody's radar.

[HGK]

I hear you but that philosophy basically says teams should schedule down as you and other pollsters are massively discounting losses to good teams. Nova to me is another example. I get their resume isn’t great but they are a tough team and I guarantee that manifests itself when Big East play starts. I think my issue with how the resume voting crowd works is that I truly think the eye test is way more relevant to who advances in May than discounting good losses and valuing uninspiring wins in February and March.

[calourie]

I am not an ND Fan but interesting to me that a team that loses in good games to our Forum’s 1 5 and 7 is ranked so low. I am an eye test guy granted but have to think their resume, and I am considering their record, is still better than ranking. I would bet teams a few slots in front of them would not be favored head to head. But this is what makes this poll fun so happy to hear the counter argument.

Good teams either know how to win from the get go, or learn how to win as the season progresses. ND has already eliminated the first option so I am waiting to see if they manifest the second. Had ND managed to win any one of their three losses I would have had them in my top 10, but as things stand currently I am of the opinion that they need a victory against Michigan to indicate that they even belong in my top 20 and are realistically capable of turning this season around. On a player by player basis, Notre Dame looks like it has the talent to compete with anyone, on a team being either better or worse than the sum of their individual parts they look like they still have some work to do.

[rolldodge]

I hear you but that philosophy basically says teams should schedule down as you and other pollsters are massively discounting losses to good teams. Nova to me is another example. I get their resume isn’t great but they are a tough team and I guarantee that manifests itself when Big East play starts. I think my issue with how the resume voting crowd works is that I truly think the eye test is way more relevant to who advances in May than discounting good losses and valuing uninspiring wins in February and March.

The "good loss" rationale got really out of hand in the old Laxpower days. I wish I could find my old "Laxpower Loss Leaders" parody poll. Losses aren't "massively discounted" -- they aren't counted. Notre Dame will have plenty of opportunities to improve their position with the strength of their schedule and a couple good wins will put them in the mix with those that already have them. Just can't rationalize ranking them now based on a win over Detroit Mercy. It doesn't matter who you schedule if you don't win. I have no reason to believe that anyone I currently ranked 10-20 couldn't also have lost "close" games to Gtown (-5), Ohio State (-3), and Maryland (-2) -- and they also have high winning percentage with at least decent wins.

FYI, for Georgetowns sake in terms of at-large chances, I hope ND ends up turning it around. But with their schedule the rest of the way, there is a not-so-unreasonable chance they won't get to 500, and then May is out of the picture.

[Matnum PI]

...as you and other pollsters are massively discounting losses to good teams...

I don't think that's the case. This crew seems to *love* the undefeateds...

[PizzaSnake]

I am not an ND Fan but interesting to me that a team that loses in good games to our Forum’s 1 5 and 7 is ranked so low. I am an eye test guy granted but have to think their resume, and I am considering their record, is still better than ranking. I would bet teams a few slots in front of them would not be favored head to head. But this is what makes this poll fun so happy to hear the counter argument.

Good teams either know how to win from the get go, or learn how to win as the season progresses. ND has already eliminated the first option so I am waiting to see if they manifest the second. Had ND managed to win any one of their three losses I would have had them in my top 10, but as things stand currently I am of the opinion that they need a victory against Michigan to indicate that they even belong in my top 20 and are realistically capable of turning this season around. On a player by player basis, Notre Dame looks like it has the talent to compete with anyone, on a team being either better or worse than the sum of their individual parts they look like they still have some work to do.

"On a player by player basis, Notre Dame looks like it has the talent to compete with anyone, on a team being either better or worse than the sum of their individual parts they look like they still have some work to do."

Corrigan is poison. Needs to be put out to pasture.

[Gobigred]

I hear you but that philosophy basically says teams should schedule down as you and other pollsters are massively discounting losses to good teams. Nova to me is another example. I get their resume isn’t great but they are a tough team and I guarantee that manifests itself when Big East play starts. I think my issue with how the resume voting crowd works is that I truly think the eye test is way more relevant to who advances in May than discounting good losses and valuing uninspiring wins in February and March.

Anybody can lose to good teams. The 60th best team can lose to good teams. Losing to good teams proves nothing. You haven't shown yourself to be a good team until you beat one. Polls aren't intended to predict the winner in May, they're to assess what you've done to date. If you want to predict what results will be in May, start a prediction contest.

[Matnum PI]

...Losing to good teams proves nothing. You haven't shown yourself to be a good team until you beat one. Polls aren't intended to predict the winner in May, they're to assess what you've done to date...