In the interest of transparency, here's how I voted in the Inside Lacrosse media poll this week. Some brief explanations follow the ballot.

• New this week: Holy Cross. Dropped out this week: Ohio State. Also seriously considered: Ohio State, Colgate, Villanova, Drexel, and Penn State (in no particular order). The back of the poll remains fluid and that's to be expected. This is a blur of "Maybe?" and will remain that way for the foreseeable future. All of the teams from 18th back through the "also considered" group have decent cases for inclusion, and the aggregated poll should smooth out the edges inherent in my individual ballot.
• Yale-Maryland created some problems in the ballot. Again: We don't know a ton about these teams and are making some decisions based on only a handful of results. This thing is admittedly messy from seven through 13-ish. That's a big bloc of mush.
• Teams that I didn't nick too badly but expect others to more severely punish: Loyola and Johns Hopkins. Look: The 'Hounds played in a nightmare of weather, and even though Holy Cross played in the same insanity, that has to influence thoughts about Loyola. As for the Jays: Hopkins' ceiling looks more like the team that pressed North Carolina than the one that freaked out against Towson. Patience here is probably required.
• Harvard was the victim of elbowing Yale into the top 10 and flipping the Crimson with Albany. Harvard is still tiered where I think they should be (at least right now).
• I didn't punish Army for going up to the Dome and losing, especially considering how the Black Knights went after the Orange. I actually thought about increasing the Cadets' position but decided against it.