Dr. Strangelax -- Weekly D1 men's rankings
We agreed last week to place an asterisk next to the Virginia squad because of Peter Lamade, the super-senior from Duke’s 2006 false accusation debacle. He will, through no fault of his own, carry the asterisk for life. He has poisoned the 2008 Virginia squad with the asterisk, as well.
This is not terrible news for Virginia or their fans, as the asterisk means nothing in reality. The only bad news for UVa. fans is that the asterisk Lamade brings Virginia complicates any discussion of the allowance by the NCAA of the super-seniors at Duke being unfair. If it is unfair in one instance, it is certainly unfair in all instances. It means that the Blue Devils will play in May, as they are fully loaded.
But Duke lost to Georgetown this week anyway and that takes them off the hook, doesn't it? An undefeated Duke team seems a lot more unfair than a Duke team that lost to Georgetown. Totally.
On this week’s rankings, we cannot see Loyola any higher carrying that Siena loss, or Siena any further up with the St. Joe’s loss. Loyola may be held out of the tournament if St. Joe’s doesn’t get better fast. Just kidding, sorta.
Hofstra gets another win but can go nowhere because the UMass loss is so strong and getting worse as UMass drags itself and anyone whom they beat down. This week was interesting as Loyola beat UMass, 15-1. This team beat Hofstra, who beat Hopkins?
Beating Yale by one dropped Cornell significantly after ripping Denver early in the week. Yale’s only win is over lowly UMass.
Hobart was misplaced last week and that has been corrected, but it did not help itself this week, losing to Rutgers, 13-10. Rutgers can turn its season around with a win over Princeton this week. Many teams in our rankings will fall or rise based on that outcome. It’s a big game in the real and fairly ranked lacrosse world.
The RRRR Men's Division I Lacrosse Rankings for March 24, 2008
1
Virginia* 9-0
2
Duke* 8-1
3 - 7
Syracuse 5-1
Maryland 6-2
North Carolina 6-2
Notre Dame 5-1
Georgetown 3-2
8-12
Navy 8-1
Cornell 3-1
Johns Hopkins 3-3
UMBC 3-3
Army 5-2
13-14
Bucknell 5-2
Drexel 7-1
15 - 21
Ohio State 4-3
Delaware 6-2
Quinnipiac 6-0
Loyola 4-3
Denver 3-4
Princeton 2-3
Stony Brook 3-3
22 - 36
Penn 4-2
Brown 4-2
Hofstra 3-2
Harvard 4-2
Towson 1-4
Yale 1-4
Hobart 3-3
Binghamton 2-2
Penn State 3-3
Fairfield 3-2
Siena 5-2
Sacred Heart 5-1
Rutgers 2-3
Massachusetts 2-5
Albany 1-5
Comments
You have short changed Georgetown I think. They lost to Syracuse who tied the game with 2 seconds left at Syracuse and then won in double overtime. Also,their record is 4-2.The real polls have them 5th which is the right position.
Posted by: howard coale | March 25, 2008 9:01 AM
Howard,
I think you misunderstand the leanings within the groups. Right now we have the Hoyas as a possible 3rd in the nation to a possible 7. Those teams are tied and the order had to be chosen so the leaning come in, but they are tied for 3rd. Georgetown deserves a chance at better than 5th. I think we agree there.
Posted by: John Weaver | March 25, 2008 9:12 AM
This time you spelled Binghamton and Siena correctly, but you got Cornell's record wrong, and ranking them at the same level as two teams they've beaten and two teams with three losses shows...um...rather serious bias. Frankly, I'm not impressed at all with the RRRR so far. Seems like a duplication of effort and, sadly, a waste of time.
Posted by: Al | March 25, 2008 1:44 PM
I apologize for the error. Cornell is 4-2 and not 3-1. I personally think Cornell belongs right where they are though. They did, in fact, beat Army and Navy, each by 1, which we have said before is an indicator of closeness and not distance to us. The fact that they beat both would perhaps persuade even us to move them ahead of this group BUT they lost to Yale. It's a bad loss that Navy and Army cannot match, yet.
And if I have a bias here it is for Cornell. I loved watching them in Texas and am a huge fan of Max Seibald and Rocco Romero - the best player at Vail 2007, Coach Richie Moran and the Irish National Team, and the whole Rusty Red organization who've always been good to E-Lacrosse. So, I am bias. Yes. Cornell folks are great!
Posted by: John Weaver | March 25, 2008 2:27 PM