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(Ed. Note: Bolded teams are College Crosse Big Board Certified Dimes ®)
| Rank | Lacrosse Magazine | USILA Poll | Doc_Lunchbox | Inside Lacrosse | Eri_Barrister |
| 1 | Brown | Denver | Denver | Denver | Maryland |
| 2 | Denver | Brown | Brown | Brown | Denver |
| 3 | Maryland | Maryland | Maryland | Maryland | Brown |
| 4 | Syracuse | Albany | Albany | Albany | Albany |
| 5 | Notre Dame | Syracuse | Syracuse | Syracuse | Loyola |
| 6 | Albany | Notre Dame | Yale | Yale | Syracuse |
| 7 | Yale | Yale | Notre Dame | Notre Dame | Yale |
| 8 | Duke | Loyola | Loyola | Loyola | Notre Dame |
| 9 | North Carolina | Duke | Navy | Johns Hopkins University | Air Force |
| 10 | Towson | Johns Hopkins University | North Carolina | Duke | Duke |
| 11 | Loyola | Towson | Johns Hopkins University | Towson | Towson |
| 12 | Navy | Air Force | Towson | Air Force | Johns Hopkins University |
| 13 | Johns Hopkins University | Stony Brook | Air Force | North Carolina | Stony Brook |
| 14 | Air Force | North Carolina | Stony Brook | Navy | North Carolina |
| 15 | Villanova | Navy | Villanova | Stony Brook | Penn State |
| 16 | Rutgers | Villanova | Duke | Villanova | Army |
| 17 | Penn State | Penn State | Bryant | Rutgers | Navy |
| 18 | Marquette | Rutgers | Rutgers | Penn State | Rutgers |
| 19 | Bucknell | Marquette | Marquette | Marquette | Villanova |
| 20 | Stony Brook | Bryant | Quinnipiac | Bryant | Marquette |
Major Guest List News.
- Quinnipiac. Shout out to the Bobcats for their first appearance on the Big Board courtesy of the good @Doc_Lunchbox. Quinnipiac's been very strong this season, going 9-3 overall and a perfect 6-0 in the MAAC. The Bobcats will host the MAAC Tournament this week as the top seed and will go up against #4 seed Canisius. Should the good times continue and the Bobcats win the MAAC AQ, it'll be the first trip to the Big BBQ in Quinnipiac's history.
Polls.
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Maryland at #1. I know it is splitting hairs when you look at Maryland, Denver, and Brown, but I think it's pretty reasonable to say that Maryland has been playing the best of those three over the longest period of time. Don't get me wrong, I love Denver and the Bears, and I'm well aware they have only 2 losses combined. However, it's difficult for me to ignore the fact that Maryland just keeps on winning and has been on a tear since their last loss against Notre Dame back on March 3rd (11-game win streak including Ws over 6 teams on the Big Board). I think Maryland is the most complete team in the nation right now and thought they merited the #1 spot after their thorough win over Hopkins giving the Terps a perfect regular season record in the B1G.
Moreover, Maryland's won, often times convincingly, against the 3rd toughest SOS in the country (Denver's 25th and 21st). Denver's only played 3 teams with a .500+ record since their win over Notre Dame on March 13th, and lost one of them to Penn State. Since beating Stony Brook back on February 27, Brown's only played 4 teams with a .500+ record (3 Ws and 1 L to Bryant). Over the last two months Maryland has beaten almost as many Big Board teams as Brown and Denver have played games against .500+ opponents, combined. When you step back and look at the havoc Maryland's wrecked on the D1 landscape it's quite terrifying.
Now, I picked Brown and Denver to make the Final Four on our Crossecast on Monday night, and I think both are excellent teams, so I'm not knocking either of them. I can easily see either of them winning it all in Philly on Memorial Day. However, I think the Terps are the most complete team right now and gave them the #1 spot this week. #DontAtMe
- Navy on the bubble? Tough week for Navy after their loss to Army in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament. Navy dropped in all the polls but still has a reasonable case for an at-large bid. However, the Midshipmen definitely hurt their at-large resume, as an appearance in the PL title game probably would have made them close to a lock for the tournament.
Navy's loss to Army is unfortunate, and an extra win never hurts one's at-large resume, however, it's the fact that Navy didn't get a chance to play the additional game against Loyola (#7 RPI), which hurts their case the most. A win against Army would've helped, but just playing a late season game against a team with a top 10 RPI would've boosted Navy's numbers significantly. Without the AQ or the RPI boost from playing Loyola, Navy will probably be sweating a little more than they'd like on Selection Sunday as they wait in the at-large queue with a handful of other teams. -
DOWN GOES JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY!! The Jays lost to Maryland in another round of the greatest rivalry in college lacrosse. (Ed. Note: BOOOOOO!) The game and legendary broadcaster, Booker Coorigan, got a nice shout out on Barstool Sports though, so that was cool! #GrowTheGame
(Ed. Note: They didn't write the above-linked Barstool MD vs. Hop post, but shout out to @CharlieWisco & @BarstoolJordie for all their lax coverage this year.)
- The NCAA released an updated RPI ranking on Monday.
#AnotherOne (Updated through May 2).
— College Crosse (@SexyTimeLax) May 2, 2016
Full list link: https://t.co/syVcZCkCQj pic.twitter.com/dDkF6ySrYb
- Bracketology coming. We got our regular podcast tonight, so we'll definitely be talking about the conference tournaments this week. I'll have a Bracketology post up by this afternoon as well.
I'll see you out there!