Top 25 talk

[David Collinge]

My guess is that the new poll will be close at the top, ...

Check.  27 points divide #1 from #3, with Amherst just 18 points further back.

... with the #1 votes split closely between Brandeis, Point, and Rochester, ...

Uh, nope.  Rochester pulled in half of them (13), with Point getting 5 and 'Deis 2, and the other 5 votes scattered to the four winds.

[ILive4This]

I do not get one thing, Oshkosh, beats a top 10 team and goes from nothing to 13th, UMD beats the number 3, now number 2 team, and they are still off the poll.

[Gregory Sager]

I do not get one thing, Oshkosh, beats a top 10 team and goes from nothing to 13th, UMD beats the number 3, now number 2 team, and they are still off the poll.

UW-Oshkosh also owns a win over #21 Elmhurst in addition to its win over UW-Whitewater. Mass-Dartmouth hasn't beaten anyone else who is receiving votes in the poll.

[hugenerd]

I do not get one thing, Oshkosh, beats a top 10 team and goes from nothing to 13th, UMD beats the number 3, now number 2 team, and they are still off the poll.

UW-Oshkosh also owns a win over #21 Elmhurst in addition to its win over UW-Whitewater. Mass-Dartmouth hasn't beaten anyone else who is receiving votes in the poll.

UMD has a couple other solid wins, although they are not against ranked teams.  Western Conn's only other loss is to Trinity and Worcester State's only other loss is to WPI.  I agree with ILive4This, I dont like that people use this trap game excuse to justify a win (in the case of UMD over Brandeis). The fact is that Brandeis lost to an undefeated team and then beat the then ranked #1 team in the country.  UMD deserves some respect for what they have accomplished so far.  Nobody is saying to put them in the top 5, but they definitely deserve some consideration to be in the top 25. Calvin, for example, has 3 losses and their only win over a vote receiving team is WashU, who is not ranked as high as Brandeis currently.

[Gregory Sager]

I'm not saying that I agree with the pollsters about UWO and UMD. I'm simply offering what is their most likely explanation. I'm on record as not putting much stock in early polls, anyway.

[Knightstalker]

I'm not saying that I agree with the pollsters about UWO and UMD. I'm simply offering what is their most likely explanation. I'm on record as not putting much stock in early polls, anyway.

Early polls are for giving us something to bitch about.

[hugenerd]

I'm not saying that I agree with the pollsters about UWO and UMD. I'm simply offering what is their most likely explanation. I'm on record as not putting much stock in early polls, anyway.

Early polls are for giving us something to bitch about.

I think it means more to the players, however, and that is who it is most unfair to.  At the end of the season, the week 3 poll isnt going to mean much, but right now I am sure the guys at UMD feel like they deserve some respect.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

So... a win over Brandeis isn't good enough in their minds? They need to receive some Top 25 votes to feel better about themselves and feel like they are getting respect?

Jeez... give me a break. They've been the talk of D3 for most of the last week, that should be cool enough for a program that is showing some improvement. It's a good thing most of the voters probably don't consider the feelings of the players before putting together their ballots.

If they did or should, maybe they have kept Amherst #1 because it was a hard-fought game in a hostile enviroment... and we don't want to hurt the player's feelings with lost confidence.

And maybe Wash U should have stayed #1 despite the game losses and the loss of their leader. That drop in the polls and subtraction of #1 votes must have been an ego killer. I can't imagine they can continue playing this season.

And finally, Greensboro must be devestated for not getting any votes in the Top 25, despite their big win over then #3 Guilford - and while we are at it, give Goucher (2-5) some love because they nearly beat Greensboro in double-OT two days later.

Yep... the first thing voters should think about when voting is how the players would feel to get some love in the Top 25.

Ok... sarcastic moment over... on with the season!

[Golden Norver]

How about some top 25 love for Buena Vista? They are 6-1 and heavy laden with juniors and seniors.  They are off to a 2-0 start in the Iowa Conference.  They have scored an impressive road victory over Augustana (S.D.), a division 2 team sitting at 8-1.  But they aren't getting a single vote! I think that they are worth a look. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

"Vista hasn't proven me anything! Until they prove me something, I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon!"

HA! Sorry, had a Hoopsville flash-back there when Buena Vista was brought up in conversation.

I'm now back to the present... phew!

[Flying Dutch Fan]

So... a win over Brandeis isn't good enough in their minds? They need to receive some Top 25 votes to feel better about themselves and feel like they are getting respect?

Jeez... give me a break. They've been the talk of D3 for most of the last week, that should be cool enough for a program that is showing some improvement. It's a good thing most of the voters probably don't consider the feelings of the players before putting together their ballots.

If they did or should, maybe they have kept Amherst #1 because it was a hard-fought game in a hostile enviroment... and we don't want to hurt the player's feelings with lost confidence.

And maybe Wash U should have stayed #1 despite the game losses and the loss of their leader. That drop in the polls and subtraction of #1 votes must have been an ego killer. I can't imagine they can continue playing this season.

And finally, Greensboro must be devestated for not getting any votes in the Top 25, despite their big win over then #3 Guilford - and while we are at it, give Goucher (2-5) some love because they nearly beat Greensboro in double-OT two days later.

Yep... the first thing voters should think about when voting is how the players would feel to get some love in the Top 25.

Ok... sarcastic moment over... on with the season!

Why stop there?  Just like with the peewee leagues, we should just stop keeping score so the losing team doesn't feel bad        

[hugenerd]

So... a win over Brandeis isn't good enough in their minds? They need to receive some Top 25 votes to feel better about themselves and feel like they are getting respect?

Jeez... give me a break. They've been the talk of D3 for most of the last week, that should be cool enough for a program that is showing some improvement. It's a good thing most of the voters probably don't consider the feelings of the players before putting together their ballots.

If they did or should, maybe they have kept Amherst #1 because it was a hard-fought game in a hostile enviroment... and we don't want to hurt the player's feelings with lost confidence.

And maybe Wash U should have stayed #1 despite the game losses and the loss of their leader. That drop in the polls and subtraction of #1 votes must have been an ego killer. I can't imagine they can continue playing this season.

And finally, Greensboro must be devestated for not getting any votes in the Top 25, despite their big win over then #3 Guilford - and while we are at it, give Goucher (2-5) some love because they nearly beat Greensboro in double-OT two days later.

Yep... the first thing voters should think about when voting is how the players would feel to get some love in the Top 25.

Ok... sarcastic moment over... on with the season!

There is one difference.  All the teams you listed lost and they deserved to lose votes.  UMD did not.  And I did not say anything about caring about the players feelings.  Someone said why does a week 3 ranking matter.  I said it doesnt matter to anybody besides the guys who are undefeated and not getting any respect.  So although you interpreted what I said in some extreme manner and somehow got from that I was trying to be touchy feely or something, that is pretty far from the truth. 

I can make an analogy to college football.  In week 7 of this year, Hawaii was 7-0 and had beaten two crappy teams (LA Tech and San Jose State, who finished they year 5-7 in crappy conferences) by 1 and 7 points.  Yet, although they had no respectable wins in 7 games and nearly lost to two crappy teams, they were still ranked 18th in the country without a win over any quality opponent (let alone the 2nd ranked team in the country).

In summation, UMD not getting more votes is BS and your response to my comment is also BS.

[sac]

UMD went from zero votes in poll 2, to 27 in poll 3 a theorhetical ranking of #31......and are only 19 poll points from being ranked.  In week two there were 47 teams that received poll votes.........UMD moved from a minimum of #48 to #31 in one week based on one win really, but realisticly probably moved up many more spots.

Not really worth getting upset about, if they deserve to be ranked they'll get there soon.

[frank uible]

If UMD is truly good and if it is self- confident as a truly good team should be, then it should not care about what others think of it.

[hugenerd]

I was not upset with them not being ranked.  I was upset by McHugh's interpretation of my post (Dutchman).  I merely was sharing my opinion on a topic relevant to this board.  I have no connection to UMD, I actually attend a school that barely lost to Amherst last week, but my opinion is still that UMD should be ranked currently.  Down the line they may lose some games to some bad teams and not deserve to, but right now I think they have earned it.