College Crosse Week One Top 20.

We believe in transparency here at College Crosse. So to provide all of our readers and followers a better understanding of who we think belongs in the top 20 we decided to do a weekly post wherein everyone would share their top 20. We thought this was a better idea instead of arguing RESPECTFULLY bantering on Twitter.

Special shout out to our boy, Adam, as this was his idea. I thought it sounded fantastic and was definitely on-brand for us. Adam’s the man and you should definitely follow him on Twitter.

Below the Big Board are some comments some of us shared to further explain why we voted the way we did. Don’t worry, Jason is still going to do his weekly media poll post (his first one should be next week after everyone has played at least one game) and I am still going to do a weekly aggregation/summation post on Tuesdays; this is merely something new that we thought would be fun to do this year. So without further ado here is the College Crosse Week One Top 20.

Isn’t it beautiful? Now you can yell respectfully disagree with all of us in one comments section. Synergy! Let’s go to the commentary!

Comments.

• Adam: Denver, Maryland, and North Carolina were all pretty close in my mind headed into this weekend and I thought Denver's commanding win over Air Force was the most impressive. UNC only putting up 7 on Furman is a little suspicious.
  Syracuse, Hopkins, and Penn State all look like top 10 teams right now. Not sure Loyola should be penalized too much for a one-goal loss to a Virginia team that already looks like a complete 180 from last year.
  Really would have loved to bump Duke out of the top 20 completely but they looked much better against High Point and at the end of the day I'm not really sure these other teams like Bucknell and BU who are 2-0 are really better than Duke. Same goes for Navy, which had a tough draw playing Hop and Maryland to start their season. The wins are coming soon for them.
  My favorite stat from the first two weeks of lacrosse: B1G is 10-0! ACC is 5-1 and Patriot League is 7-6 ouch.

• Chris: After putting UNC #1 in my preseason rankings, Denver takes the top spot and Maryland leap frogs the Heels to #2. Denver and Maryland have played two ranked teams and won both games, while UNC struggled against Furman on Saturday.
  If Colby Kneese can prove to be reliable over Will Schreiner in the next few weeks, Penn State will definitely be a contender for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. Their offense, led by Grant Ament and freshman Mac O'Keefe, could be a huge juggernaut.
  For the time being, Ohio State's my last team in my Top 20. It was down to them, Bucknell, and Monmouth. The Bison need to prove themselves more and not win games by one goal. They take on Fairfield next week, who got embarrassed by Richmond on Saturday.
  As much as Monmouth's win against Villanova was great, they were pretty much outplayed in nearly every category. Nick Hreshko needs to get a ton of credit for the win, making 15 saves on Villanova's 49 shots.
• Jason: Only beating Furman by 4 raises an eyebrow or two, but looking at the goalie stats brings things into focus. (UNC)
  Really impressive in the early going. Is the Hop back?
  I've NEVER been a UVA fan, but looking at the results from the Loyola game gives me warm fuzzies inside.
  There are no moral victories, but that was a helluva game for an opening L. (Loyola)
  Offensive firepower has me very intrigued. You've got my attention PSU. Proceed accordingly.
  People will criticize this, and some of the my other picks, but until you play a game you're going to suffer more in the polls than thrive. (Notre Dame)
  Only 2 goals allowed? Ridiculous. (Army)
  The second half the the JHU game raised some concerns, but gutting it out against a top UMD team restored some of my wavering faith in the Mids.
  I had Towson here until I realized I forgot to include Air Force. Towson gets bumped simply because they haven't played yet. Sorry Tigers. AFA beat Duke in Durham and then kept pace with Denver for the first 44:30 of their game. This is a solid defensive team and perhaps too patient on offense. Don't let the Denver score fool you; this team is dangerous.
  Founder and charter member of the Will Sands Fan Club. (Bucknell)
  A good second half against HPU keeps Duke in my top 20 for now, but I have more concerns than answers about the Blue Devils right now.
• Safe: I’ll save most of my commentary for the aggregation/summation post but I will say that UVA really impressed me. I didn’t have them in my preseason top 20 but they appear to be adjusting to BOSS Tiffany’s new scheme nicely. That was a nice win for UVA. I had to drop Navy out of the top 20 this week. I love the mids and believe they will still be a player in the Patriot League but 0-2 is 0-2.