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We have a bit of a change at the top as Johns Hopkins replaced UNC in the top three of all 5 polls on the Big Board. Also, HELLLLLOOOOO, PENN! The Quakers went from 0-to-100 real quick this week, as their win over UVA propelled them into the top 10.
As usual, we compile all the major polls (Links for Week 3 polls: Inside Lacrosse, Lacrosse Magazine, and USILA Coaches Poll), plus Jason and my media poll top 20, into one table. You can find the College Crosse Top 20 for Week 3 here. I also HIGHLY encourage you to read Adam’s wonderful Amateur's Guide to Lacrosse Polls post that went up earlier today. It’s an excellent longread on how to think about the polls and best practices for filling out your own personal top 20.
Let’s go to this week's Aggregation Big Board!
Week 3 Aggregation Big Board.
| Rank | Inside Lacrosse | Jason Myers | Lacrosse Magazine | USILA Coaches Poll | Safe Fekadu |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Inside Lacrosse | Jason Myers | Lacrosse Magazine | USILA Coaches Poll | Safe Fekadu |
| 1 | Maryland (Tied for 1st | Denver | Denver | Denver | Johns Hopkins |
| 2 | Denver (Tied for 1st) | Johns Hopkins | Maryland | Maryland | Maryland |
| 3 | Johns Hopkins | Maryland | Johns Hopkins | Johns Hopkins | Denver |
| 4 | Notre Dame | Penn State | Notre Dame | Notre Dame | Notre Dame |
| 5 | Penn State | Notre Dame | Penn State | Penn State | Penn State |
| 6 | Yale | UNC | UNC | UNC | Yale |
| 7 | UNC | Yale | Penn | Yale | UNC |
| 8 | Penn | Virginia | Yale | Penn | Syracuse |
| 9 | UVA | Loyola | UVA | Albany | Towson |
| 10 | Syracuse | Syracuse | Richmond | Rutgers | Rutgers |
| 11 | Loyola | Rutgers | Loyola | UVA | Richmond |
| 12 | Richmond | Towson | Towson | Syracuse (Tied for 12th) | UVA |
| 13 | Towson | Boston | Stony Brook | Loyola (Tied for 12th) | Loyola |
| 14 | Rutgers | Penn | Rutgers | Towson | Albany |
| 15 | Albany | Richmond | Army | Army | Ohio State |
| 16 | Army | Albany | Syracuse | Richmond | Penn |
| 17 | Ohio State | Stony Brook | Albany | Duke | BU |
| 18 | Stony Brook | Brown | Ohio State | Stony Brook | Army |
| 19 | Brown | Duke | Brown | BU | Stony Brook |
| 20 | Duke | Army | BU | Ohio State | Providence |
Summation.
Top 7: The one thing you’ll notice in the above 5 polls on the Big Board is that (for the most part) the same 7 teams, Maryland, Denver, Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame, Penn State, UNC, & Yale, all appear in some order in slots 1-7. Lacrosse Magazine is the only poll that is a little different than the other 4, as it has Penn in its top 7, with Yale coming right behind the Quakers at number 8.
Now in all likelihood, we won’t have the exact same 7 teams a month from now. All 7 of these teams have areas where they need to improve on and teams 8-20 aren’t that far behind them. But, for the time being at least, there does seem to be a consensus forming around the top half of the top 20.
Quaker Rising: Penn had the best weekend of any team in the top 20. The Quakers went from the bottom of the top 20 to the top 10 after their big win over UVA in Philly on Saturday. Shout out to our man Quint Kessenich who was on the Penn bandwagon early before almost anyone else.
Live look at @QKessenich RIGHT NOW! pic.twitter.com/t2hIcPYG9r
— College Crosse (@SexyTimeLax) February 25, 2017
Bad Weekend For Brown: Things did not go well for the Bears this weekend. After dropping 25 goals on Quinnipiac two weekends ago, Brown found itself on the other end of a drubbing on Saturday, as Stony Brook beat the Bears 25-17 in Rhode Island. Brown was between 9-11 on last week’s Aggregation Big Board, and now finds itself either 18th or 19th on three of the above polls and outside of the top 20 on two other polls (USILA & my poll).
I still wouldn’t count the Bears out this season. Going undefeated in not a prerequisite to get in The Big BBQ 2017. The season is still young, and some growing pains were to be expected when you replace 5 out of your top 6 scorers from last year and an entire coaching staff. Nevertheless, Stony Brook exposed the fact that Brown has a lot of work to do on the defensive end.
Richmond’s Web Of Success Is Growing: I felt Richmond’s win over Marquette was the fourth best win of the weekend (Hop over UNC, MD over Yale, & Penn over UVA, the only ones better). While Marquette might not be as strong as they were last year, holding any top 15 team to only 2 goals is a very impressive feat.
Richmond’s 4-0 on the season and the Spiders are locked in on defense as they’ve only given up 4.25 goals/game. Richmond is playing very well right now and a win against Duke on Sunday would give the Spiders a strong case to be in the top 10.