Acrosse the Lacrosse Polls: March 3, 2014

These pieces are usually more substantial, but as everyone is still kind of idling in the driveway, it's really hard to make internal combustion when you're just holding a can of gasoline and a bucket of screws. So, you get what you get at this point.

The media and coaches polls are out and there is a new Supreme Dictator of the Democractic Republic of Lacrosse:

• In the media poll, Maryland eased into the top spot of the poll, earning 21 first-place votes and 458 points. The Terps' position as Division I's best team (at least according to media voters) isn't without mitigation, though: Virginia and Duke each picked up a first-place vote this week. Notable upward movers this week were Pennsylvania (rising seven positions), Notre Dame (rising five positions), and Johns Hopkins, Loyola, Penn State, and Massachusetts (rising three positions each). Notable downward movers this week were Fairfield (falling 10 positions), Denver (falling seven positions), North Carolina and Princeton (falling five positions each), and Syracuse (falling three positions). Ejected from the poll was Fairfield while St. John's moved back in to the top 20.
• In the coaches poll, Maryland assumed the top spot with 14 of 15 first-place votes (Virginia earned the other first-place vote). Notable upward movers this week were Pennsylvania (rising six positions), Massachusetts (rising four positions), and Notre Dame (rising three positions). Notable downward movers this week were Fairfield (falling around eight positions), Denver (falling six positions), North Carolina (falling four positions), and Duke, Princeton, and Syracuse (falling three positions each). Ejected from the poll were Fairfield and Ohio State while Army and St. John's moved in to the top 20.

Below is an aggregation of both the coaches and media polls. I'm holding off on featuring computer-type rankings until next week.

In the media poll, Army (21), Colgate (21), Hofstra (11), Villanova (9), Delaware (7), Bellarmine (6), Bryant (3), and Fairfield (2) also received votes. In the coaches poll, Ohio State, Bellarmine, Villanova, Colgate, Bryant, Hofstra, Bucknell, Fairfield, and Providence also received votes (the USILA does not release the number of votes).