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In the interest of transparency, here's how I voted in the Inside Lacrosse media poll this week. Some brief explanations follow the ballot.
RANK | TEAM | PREVIOUS | CHANGE |
1. | Duke | 1. | |
2. | Loyola | 2. | |
3. | Denver | 3. | |
4. | Syracuse | 4. | |
5. | North Carolina | 5. | |
6. | Johns Hopkins | 6. | |
7. | Maryland | 7. | |
8. | Pennsylvania | 9. | +1 |
9. | Notre Dame | 8. | -1 |
10. | Cornell | 10. | |
11. | Virginia | 11. | |
12. | Yale | 12. | |
13. | Hofstra | 13. | |
14. | Fairfield | 14. | |
15. | Bryant | 15. | |
16. | Harvard | 17. | +1 |
17. | Princeton | 16. | -1 |
18. | Army | 19. | +1 |
19. | Lehigh | 20. | +1 |
20. | Drexel | N/R |
- New this week: Drexel. Dropped out this week: Massachusetts. Also seriously considered: Ohio State, St. John's, Albany, and Penn State (in no particular order). I'm done with the Minutemen for a while; Massachusetts may not qualify for the THUNDERDOME! Tournament, and that's not exactly grounds to earn a top 20 raking. It was close in my head between Drexel, St. John's, Ohio State, Albany, and Penn State -- these teams are all flawed, but someone needs to end up in the top 20. I gave the nod to Drexel simply because the Dragons are peaking in THUNDERDOME! and they hold a head-to-head victories over Albany, St. John's, and Penn State.
- Notre Dame: I wasn't thrilled with the way that the Irish closed yesterday, and that caused some problems regarding whether to drop the Irish back to nine or push them back to the 10th position. I ended up only moving the Irish back one position given the fact that (1) Only Syracuse has played a harder schedule this season; and (2) Notre Dame isn't pivoting from a three-game slide like Cornell is. I think I'm comfortable with a 6-5 team within the nation's top 10.