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Yesterday I shared the USILA Preseason Top 20 Poll. Today let's compare the coaches poll with both the LM/Nike and IL poll, and see if we can gain any insight.
| Rank | USILA Poll | LM/Nike Poll | Inside Lacrosse Poll |
| 1 | Denver | Notre Dame | Notre Dame |
| 2 | Notre Dame | Denver | Denver |
| 3 | Duke | Duke | Duke |
| 4 | Maryland | Maryland | Maryland |
| 5 | Johns Hopkins | Syracuse | North Carolina |
| 6 | North Carolina | Johns Hopkins | Johns Hopkins |
| 7 | Syracuse | North Carolina | Virginia |
| 8 | Virginia | Yale | Syracuse |
| 9 | Yale | Virginia | Brown |
| 10 | Brown | Brown | Yale |
| 11 | Ohio State | Georgetown | Albany |
| 12 | Albany | Loyola | Loyola |
| 13 | Georgetown | Ohio State | Ohio State |
| 14 | Loyola | Cornell | Harvard |
| 15 | Harvard | Navy | Cornell |
| 16 | Towson | Towson | Marquette |
| 17 | Cornell | Albany | Villanova |
| 18 | Navy | Marquette | Georgetown |
| 19 | Villanova | Stony Brook | Towson |
| 20 | Stony Brook | Harvard | Colgate |
Some things that jumped out at me:
- No real meaningful differences in slots 1-10 on any of the above polls. All 3 have the same 10 teams from 1-10, with some moderate discrepancies in the order. Denver tops the USILA poll while Notre Dame is #1 in the other two.
- Looking at teams 11-20, we see that Villanova, Marquette, Navy and Stony Brook only make the top 20 in two out of the three polls. Marquette is outside the USILA top 20. Villanova doesn't make the LM/Nike poll, While Stony Brook and Navy aren't on IL's list. IL is the sole poll with Colgate in their top 20.
- Not to pick nits, but Ohio State at #13 (LM/Nike & IL) doesn't seem right. Even the Buckeyes at #11 (USILA) seems just a hair too low. While OSU had a couple ugly losses last year and lost Jesse King to graduation, this is also the only team in D1 to have wins over Denver, Hopkins, Maryland, and Duke in 2015. Maybe I am too high on the Buckeyes, as I figured they'd be in the preseason top 10. Anyway, it's not a big deal, but it did catch my attention.
- Georgetown is interesting as they are as high as #11th (LM/Nike) on one poll and as low as #18th (IL) on another, which is actually understandable. The Hoyas were a very solid team last year, but they just didn't have a signature win on their resume, so was difficult to tell if they really belonged with the top 10 in 2015. Denver in Washington D.C. on April 9th, will go a long way towards getting Georgetown back in the tournament for the first time since 2007.
- Conference breakdowns:
USILA: ACC (5), Ivy (4), Big East (3), Big 10 (3), America East (2), Patriot League (2), and CAA (1).
LM/Nike: ACC (5), Ivy (4), Big East (3), Big 10 (3), America East (2), Patriot League (2), and CAA (1)
IL: ACC (5), Ivy (4), Big East (4), Big 10 (3), Patriot League (2), America East (1), and CAA (1)
Besides the OSU thing, I don't see much fault in any of the three polls. But the games haven't started, so nobody really knows. Share your thoughts on who should've gotten more love in the comments section.