FanLax Forum Poll

[Farfromgeneva]

In fairness, I would say, now coming into week six, some art is merited to mix with your science.

For D3, probably. For D1, I'm not so sure. Yes, the team's schedule (and whether they won or lost within this schedule) plays a large role in their rank but... that's no small part of a season, whether it's Week 6 or mid-May. What I will say is that art is critical and that art needs to be understood... so you can turn it into science.

You a chatbot as well?

Let me put it like this....the revolution will not be roboticized! Not on FFGs watch...And I got Bobby Digital on my side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpYVXf4aoT4

[Matnum PI]

... and 'nova at... #9 (not #18). 'nova has better wins than Yale yet... #18...

Two more teams that were diss'ed, though not as talented (thus far) as Villanova, are Lehigh and Richmond.

[kramerica.inc]

The pack is forming into three or four groupings for me:

Top Tier - I expect all of them to be playing on Mem weekend: UVA, Cornell and Notre Dame

Could beat anyone, anytime and at least one should show up Mem weekend: Maryland, Duke, Rutgers and Loyola.

A whole bunch of: "Look pretty good so far, but right now I would expect them to lose to everyone above them and I wouldn't be shocked if they lost to someone further down"

Then the "multiple personality disorder, who is hot this week? plus, wow these guys might really be good" group.

Fair assessment.
I expect UVA to roll in the ACC, maybe get a challenge from ND. I think they will beat Duke.
That group of Maryland, Duke, Rutgers and Loyola all play each other and should mix and match wins.
I could still see a tournament Cinderella pop out of the rest of the field too.
Gonna be a fun May.

[CU77]

No top 20 from Terry Foy at IL this week ...

[Farfromgeneva]

... and 'nova at... #9 (not #18). 'nova has better wins than Yale yet... #18...

Two more teams that were diss'ed, though not as talented (thus far) as Villanova, are Lehigh and Richmond.

Lehighs resume looks better than Richmonds so far.

[wgdsr]

... and 'nova at... #9 (not #18). 'nova has better wins than Yale yet... #18...

Two more teams that were diss'ed, though not as talented (thus far) as Villanova, are Lehigh and Richmond.

???? if someone forced me to make a top 20, i wouldn't consider richmond at the end of a gun rn. it's fair to question just how far they've fallen with their personnel losses.

[NovaLax17]

...but at this point are we awarding rankings based on name brand recognition or based on how teams have performed this year...

Are you really asking?...

... Villanova seems to not get credit for their Penn State win. NOVA beats PSU, PSU beats Yale, Yale beats NOVA. All teams have 1 loss. Why the disparity in the rankings? Should they not be clustered together? The Media Poll has Nova at 18, Yale at 11 and PSU at 8???...

You think they should be near each other because you're taking on a head-to-head perspective but head-to-head doesn't work. You need to adopt a resume/body of work perspective. Once you do that, the rankings look more like PSU at #8, Yale at #11 (more like, but not exactly), and 'nova at... #9 (not #18). 'nova has better wins than Yale yet... #18. I agree with you. Does not make sense. But Yale is Yale so humans will do what humans do.

All valid points and issues.

The Inside Lacrosse poll contradicts itself. The so-called lax media has some questionable rankings based on the information available as of Sunday, March 5th. Granted, it is early in the season and there is a certain degree of speculation, but IL is significantly in conflict with the Coaches' poll, USA Lax Magazine and (most importantly!) FanLax.

IMO, certain teams get evaluated by a different standard. This likely plays a roll in how teams are ranked all season, the whole SOS concept, committee criteria, etc.

Here are a few observations:

DUKE: #5
Duke has wins against two unranked teams, and two teams ranked below Penn State, but is ranked above Nova. If Duke beat Penn State, UDel and Hofstra by a wide margin, would the Blue Devils be ranked 18th (like Nova) by Inside Lacrosse?

02/04 vs Bellarmine W 19-7
02/07 vs High Point W 20-8
02/11 @ Jacksonville L 13-12
02/17 vs Denver W 14-13
02/25 @ Penn W 12-14
03/05 @ Syracuse W 13-14

OHIO STATE: #9
How about the Buckeyes? Wins over Air Force, Cleveland State and UNC? More impressive than Nova's wins over Penn State, UDel and Hofstra?

02/04 vs Air Force W 15-7
02/11 vs Clev. State W 19-12
02/19 vs UNC W 8-5
02/25 vs Virginia L 6-17
03/04 vs Cornell L 13-16

ST. JOE'S #13
The Hawks lost to Hopkins, won a close game against a 1-4 Towson and have three wins against teams with a combined record of 8-14. Does this constitute a strong body of work? It is said there are "no good losses."

02/11 vs Sacred Heart W 17-5 (0-5)
02/18 @ Towson W 13-16 (1-4)
02/25 vs Providence W 19-6 (3-3)
03/04 @ Hopkins L 15-14 (4-2)

PRINCETON #14:
The Tigers only have two wins against unranked teams and lost to lower ranked Georgetown, but are ranked #14 ahead of the Georgetown and Nova. Are their wins over Monmouth and Manhattan better than Nova's wins over Penn State, UDel and Hofstra?

02/18 vs Monmouth W 22-9
02/21 vs Manhattan W 14-9
02/25 vs Maryland L 5-11
03/04 vs Georgetown L 10-13

Nothing against these teams It's the rankings I question. And we can dissect this all we want, but Inside Lacrosse pollsters are arguably outliers.

[RedIvy]

This early on I don’t believe you can go by record alone and should weight other criteria higher including returning proven players from previous season, proven coaching, past ability to develop younger players and freshman recruiting rankings. As the season progresses it will be much more about Wins and losses.

[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).

[FanLax Computer]

You a chatbot as well?

[ICGrad]

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).

Looks like a HUGE improvement. Thank you...

[10stone5]

ST. JOE'S #13
The Hawks lost to Hopkins, won a close game against a 1-4 Towson and have three wins against teams with a combined record of 8-14. Does this constitute a strong body of work? It is said there are "no good losses."

02/11 vs Sacred Heart W 17-5 (0-5)
02/18 @ Towson W 13-16 (1-4)
02/25 vs Providence W 19-6 (3-3)
03/04 @ Hopkins L 15-14 (4-2)

It doesn’t look like the numbers are in St Joe’s favor just now.
So, no they’re not getting any boost for “good losses”.
They’re #35, middle of the pack, per Massey.
And #50 per Laxpower’s way too early RPI calculator.
That should include the close loss to Penn.

[rolldodge]

ST. JOE'S #13
The Hawks lost to Hopkins, won a close game against a 1-4 Towson and have three wins against teams with a combined record of 8-14. Does this constitute a strong body of work? It is said there are "no good losses."

02/11 vs Sacred Heart W 17-5 (0-5)
02/18 @ Towson W 13-16 (1-4)
02/25 vs Providence W 19-6 (3-3)
03/04 @ Hopkins L 15-14 (4-2)

It doesn’t look like the numbers are in St Joe’s favor just now.
So, no they’re not getting any boost for “good losses”.
They’re #35, middle of the pack, per Massey.
And #50 per Laxpower’s way too early RPI calculator.
That should include the close loss to Penn.

Agree. They've been getting a major "favorite underdog" boost in the polls so far.

[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

[NovaLax17]

The lacrosse media folks at Inside Lacrosse are always slow to let go of their biases, but head-to-head competition gradually helps them along:

1. Virginia (6 - 0) 2. Notre Dame (5 - 0) 3. Duke (6 – 1) 4. Maryland (4 – 2) 5. Penn State (5 - 1) 6. Rutgers (6 - 1) 7. Cornell (4 - 1) 8. Yale (3 - 1) 9. Villanova (5 - 1) 10.Johns Hopkins (5 - 3)

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/league/DI/polls

[masondixonlax]

Head scratcher on where they put Cornell. Would have thought they be atleast in top 5

[ICGrad]

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.

Overall, an improvement, but after going through the process once a few suggestions for improvement:

1) If I'm logged into the forums, not sure why my name can't be autopopulated on the form (very minor).
2) Why am I filling in the date? Can the form not auto-fill today's date? And if I do have to fill in the date, can I have a calendar date-picker? Having to select from two picklists for the date is irritating (medium).
3) The picklists: Much more readable, but a step back in usability for two reasons:
3a) You used to be able to click on the the picklist and start typing. Now you have to click on the picklist, click again on the textbox, and then start typing. Very irritating. (The focus should automatically go to that textbox when the picklist is selected).
3b) It matches letters at the start of words and within words, then present alphabetically by first letter of the word. So, for example, when I typed the V for Villanova, it also matched Jacksonville, which also has aa V, an Jacksonville was listed first (medium)

Getting there, but still needs tweaks. Thanks!

[Matnum PI]

Getting there, but still needs tweaks. Thanks!

Just as a heads-up, I'm not a programmer. I didn't build this Forum Poll. It's just a plug-in. With this said...

1) If I'm logged into the forums, not sure why my name can't be autopopulated on the form... Because the Forum and this plug-in are two completely separate entities.
2) Why am I filling in the date? Can the form not auto-fill today's date?... Thought I might need this field and I do not. I removed it. Thank you.
3a) You used to be able to click on the the picklist and start typing... Yup. You need to click twice. Unless others also find this very irritating, I don't think this merits finding a new plug-in.
3b) It matches letters at the start of words and within words, then present alphabetically by first letter of the word... Yes.

Changed what I could change. And... Thanks, IC.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Getting there, but still needs tweaks. Thanks!

Just as a heads-up, I'm not a programmer. I didn't build this Forum Poll. It's just a plug-in. With this said...

1) If I'm logged into the forums, not sure why my name can't be autopopulated on the form... Because the Forum and this plug-in are two completely separate entities.
2) Why am I filling in the date? Can the form not auto-fill today's date?... Thought I might need this field and I do not. I removed it. Thank you.
3a) You used to be able to click on the the picklist and start typing... Yup. You need to click twice. Unless others also find this very irritating, I don't think this merits finding a new plug-in.
3b) It matches letters at the start of words and within words, then present alphabetically by first letter of the word... Yes.

Changed what I could change. And... Thanks, IC.

Give me 5 minutes to get my poll in!

[Typical Lax Dad]

Posted