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It's the "calm before the storm" in the lacrosse world. We're a week away from getting all those glorious conference tournaments. Focusing exclusively on conference playoffs, however, would be a bit unfair to some of the action coming up in the week ahead. Consider this the scattered thunderstorm ahead of the bow echo supercell with an F3 tornado inside of it. It won't get all that Weather Channel hype, but it'll still give you thunder and lightning for your entertainment.
THE FACEOFF has last week's scores to let you know how everyone did, this week's media poll to give you an idea of who's where, and leaderboards to tell you who's looking impressive in different categories. We've also given you a headstart on some games to pay attention to over the next seven days, with many of them crucial in determining seeding or entrances into conference tournaments. Let's cut the chatter and get straight to the chase with this week's edition of THE FACEOFF:
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Next week THE FACEOFF will branch out a bit with separate editions for conference championships. The primary one will remain in place to provide a recap of the week, but be on the lookout as we zero in on each conference ahead of their tournament.