2023 FanLax Forum Poll

[njbill]

You are overlooking Syracuse’s win over Northwestern, which to my mind is the most significant “big win” on the season to date.

Syracuse also trounced Maryland. Yes, Maryland’s stock is free falling, but that is still Maryland’s worst loss of the season.

Carolina’s victory over BC certainly was a great win. But I don’t think Carolina is as good as they looked that day or that BC is as bad as they looked.

As of today, I think Syracuse has a slightly better résumé, largely due to their Northwestern win. It’s only early March. This is one poll on March 6. Nothing more. The top teams will have multiple opportunities to help or hurt their rankings going forward. Most significantly, UNC will have a chance to beat Syracuse later in the year. Maybe multiple chances.

In terms of allegiances, this year I’m not really rooting for either Syracuse or Carolina. The past couple of years there were a couple of players on Carolina I really liked, so I tended to root for them in most of their games. Those players are gone now. There’s no one on Syracuse I root for this year. In fact, I generally don’t root for Syracuse in their games, though I do like the coach.

This year I am rooting for Rutgers (home state) and Northwestern since I am a big Scane fan. Also, Army because I really like Michele Tumolo. Beyond that, I’m just watching games. I also root for former Quakers to do well in their games.

[Justalaxdad]

I also root for former Quakers to do well in their games.

I saw one yesterday

One of the nicer kids you'll come across and she played a great game!

[njbill]

I know which one you are talking about. Yes, great kid. Former club mates, she and your DD. That was one great club team.

[Justalaxdad]

How can anyone objectively say UNC isn't number 1 right now? they have better wins than Syracuse, who's big win vs MD is looking weaker, JMU for UNC is looking better. on Top of being undefeated defending champs. Even without the defending champs bump, they would still be 1 based on performance. What arguments do you have for Cuse over UNC? Some on this board were convinced UNC was going to suck and they don't want to admit they were wrong. Don't want to have to dig through the receipts..Let the inheritant biases go of who's your fav team and rank based on facts.

It's the first week of March and rankings are based on opinions, of course there are inherent biases. Just re-read all of your player and recruiting rankings and you'll see what I mean. According to you, everyone other than UNC should throw in the towel for the next 5 years - and those kids haven't even played a college game yet. If I had to rank the top 10 according to March 6th it would look like this:

1- UNC...I had 'Cuse here last week. My eyes are telling me it's UNC now. 1 and 1a could flip flop a few times until they meet on 4/15
1a - 'Cuse...see above. Let's see how both teams do away form their home fields against the top teams. Only then will we know
3 - Northwestern...they can flat out outscore almost anyone
4 - Denver...hard to beat them if you can't score on them
5 - BC...I have to believe that was a bit of an anomaly in Chapel Hill
6 - JMU...That was a clutch win. Great defense and great coaching leads to lots of wins
7 - Stoney Brook...Best win is 14-11 over Stanford on a neutral field, time will tell on them
8 - UVA...Best win is 14-11 @Stanford (sound familiar?). Decent schedule so far but the gauntlet is about to begin for them this weekend.
9 - Army...Just believing what my eyes are seeing. It's them or Loyola in the Patriot. We'll find out on 4/15
10- Loyola...Reluctantly putting them here. As always, the second best team in Maryland and soft schedule so far.

[Justalaxdad]

I know which one you are talking about. Yes, great kid. Former club mates, she and your DD. That was one great club team.

Bill - I miss those summer tournaments so much. That team was so fun to watch!

[ExLax]

Army because I really like Michele Tumolo.

Quite the early season run!

[Matnum PI]

Heads-up: We created a new input system for the FanLax Forum Poll. Everything about it is self-explanatory and I believe it's an improvement.
and
Reminder: FanLax Forum Polls are due on Monday at noon EST. Enjoy this weekend's games. Forum Poll Link (with Submission Links towards the bottom of the page).

[Dr. Tact]

Heads-up: We created a new input system for the FanLax Forum Poll. Everything about it is self-explanatory and I believe it's an improvement.
and
Reminder: FanLax Forum Polls are due on Monday at noon EST. Enjoy this weekend's games. Forum Poll Link (with Submission Links towards the bottom of the page).

NIce. I can finally see my choices

[njbill]

Heads-up: We created a new input system for the FanLax Forum Poll. Everything about it is self-explanatory and I believe it's an improvement.
and
Reminder: FanLax Forum Polls are due on Monday at noon EST. Enjoy this weekend's games. Forum Poll Link (with Submission Links towards the bottom of the page).

I think you mean EDT which reminds me I have to change the timestamp on my fanlax account on Sunday. Hopefully, I can remember how to do that.

[Matnum PI]

Heads-up: We created a new input system for the FanLax Forum Poll. Everything about it is self-explanatory and I believe it's an improvement.
and
Reminder: FanLax Forum Polls are due on Monday at noon EST. Enjoy this weekend's games. Forum Poll Link (with Submission Links towards the bottom of the page).

Noon EST

[Seacoaster(1)]

1. UNC -- nice win against a pretty tough UVA team.

2. Syracuse -- because they keep winning. Thought Notre Dame would put up a better fight. The Mashewske injury looms pretty large.

3. Northwestern -- because I have to.

4. BC -- really don't know how good this team is, and don't know if SBU is better than BC. Close call to the eye test.

5. SBU -- see above.

6. Denver -- keep winning.

7. JMU -- have a single loss on the season, to the current No. 1 and defending national champion. So well coached.

8. Florida -- nice, tough, composed win against Loyola. I would like to see a Florida-UVA match.

9. UVA -- good effort against the current No. 1. I would like to see a UVA-Florida match.

10. Loyola -- not sure who else can be here. Could have won the game in Gainesville -- didn't.

I wanted to include Army....

[Kleizaster]

1. UNC- here until someone knocks them off.
2. CUSE- good win against a good ND team. But these injuries are extemely concerning and getting harder to ignore the idea that there is something rotten going on there.
3. NW- UNC matchup looking very tasty
4. BC- Flawed team. some of the concerns i had about this team are starting to rear their ugly heads. But 99% of the time they'll have more talent than the other team and that's enough.
5. JMU- tough team. Even in their early season loss to UNC they put up a valiant effort. Offensively they are pretty much one note but are solid everywhere else
6. Denver- Undefeated so they get a bump. But realistically they are closer probably around 10-15
7. Florida- a much better team offensively than previous Florida teams. They play hard too. wouldn't wanna play them come tourney time.
8. UVA- They impressed me in their loss to UNC. Definitely passed the eye test. Rachel Clark is really good.
9. Layola- tough loss but great battle against Florida
10. Army- give them their flowers! undefeated

[Matnum PI]

[Seacoaster(1)]

Watcher, respectfully, what's the thinking behind putting Maryland over Denver? Just curious (that is, I do think there is a case for thinking Maryland on another day might be the better team, but Denver did travel to College Park and win)?

[watcherinthewoods]

No thinking ... just operator error. Happens more often than I like at this stage. I am predisposed to dislike Denver due to their (IMHO) tendency to swing their sticks like weapons and who nearly lost to a 1-4 Colorado team. Plus, I find the UI for submitting picks a tad unfriendly. Note also that I forgot to include UVA. Pains me to include them, but they have earned it. Will try and do better next week, promise!

[Brownlax]

How do you even enter your teams for the poll? I see the link to the polls but not a link on how to enter teams.

[FanLax Computer]

Humans:

- Based on your FanLax Forum Poll, based on how you rank, value the D1 Women's Teams, UNC is #1, N'western is #2, and SU is #3. UNC has the Best Wins, N'western has the 2nd best, and SU is in the #3 spot, and N'western's Ws are better enough over SU that they offset their loss to "#1 SU". Yes, I understand head-to-head. But you cannot use head-to-head to set rankings. Resumes, body of work, not individual games. That's the #1, #2, and #3.
- You have BC too high. They should be #8, not #4. Notre Dame, too. You have them at #13 when they should be #23. Yale, Duke, more of the same.
- Teams you undervalued include UMass, PSU, Louisville, Jacksonville, USC, etc. None of these teams are dominating D1 Women's lacrosse but they're having better seasons (thus far) than many teams you're patting on the head.

Overall, not terrible. Not bad for humans.

[Matnum PI]

How do you even enter your teams for the poll? I see the link to the polls but not a link on how to enter teams.

For D1 Women, you do it here: https://fanlax.com/2022/02/20/fanlax-fo ... 1-women-2/. Next one will be due next Monday at noon.

[Seacoaster(1)]

Humans:

- Based on your FanLax Forum Poll, based on how you rank, value the D1 Women's Teams, UNC is #1, N'western is #2, and SU is #3. UNC has the Best Wins, N'western has the 2nd best, and SU is in the #3 spot, and N'western's Ws are better enough over SU that they offset their loss to "#1 SU". Yes, I understand head-to-head. But you cannot use head-to-head to set rankings. Resumes, body of work, not individual games. That's the #1, #2, and #3.
- You have BC too high. They should be #8, not #4. Notre Dame, too. You have them at #13 when they should be #23. Yale, Duke, more of the same.
- Teams you undervalued include UMass, PSU, Louisville, Jacksonville, USC, etc. None of these teams are dominating D1 Women's lacrosse but they're having better seasons (thus far) than many teams you're patting on the head.

Overall, not terrible. Not bad for humans.

Speaking of “too high,” what is the reasoning behind discounting the Syracuse head to head win over Northwestern? Is it because Syracuse beat Notre Dame by eight goals and Northwestern beat ND by…wait, not that. One of the trials of being human is that we reflect on things.

[FanLax Computer]

... what is the reasoning behind discounting the Syracuse head to head win over Northwestern? Is it because Syracuse beat Notre Dame by eight goals and Northwestern beat ND by…wait, not that...

Teams A, B, C, D, E, and F play in the same conference. The play each other twice every season, home and away. So a 10 game season. They all agree that the team with the best record at the end of the season is the champ, the #1 seed for the end-of-season tourney, however we want to paint this imaginary conference. So, at the end of the season, A is 9-1, B is 8-2, C is also 8-2... and F is 1-9. A is obviously the champ, the #1 seed, etc.. BUT... F says, Hold on! We beat them head-to-head! We should be #1! For obvious reasons, their argument doesn't hold water because every other team in the league beat F twice (and A even beat them once). But F has "head-to-head" in his/her back pocket, ready to throw at the situation... like so many of us. Head-to-head sounds strong, appears solid, and, for the sake of argument, can even be a decent tie breaker but... It doesn't work. You've gotta look at the body of work and only the body of work. Head-to-head appears to work, but it does not. It just doesn't...