Syracuse Men's Lacrosse: Orange Picked 7th in USILA Coaches' Poll

The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association released its Preseason Coaches' Poll on Monday. The poll surveys division I lacrosse coaches every week throughout the season, and in the preseason rankings the coaches have placed the Syracuse Orange in the #7 spot. SU is slotted at #8 in the Inside Lacrosse poll and #5 in the Lax Magazine Poll. If you are looking at the Lax Magazine or USILA Coaches' Poll, SU will face seven ranked opponents, while the Inside Lacrosse poll places eight of SU's 13 opponents inside the top 20.

The Coaches' and IL rankings are usually pretty similar. Personally, I put more credence in the Inside Lacrosse rankings, but that's just my own view. There is not a whole lot of controversy in this release, but let's look at some of the interesting rankings.

I believe Notre Dame is the top team in the country, but I think there is a strong case to be made for Denver in that top spot. Duke and Maryland each received one first place vote, and I simply don't understand that. The Pios and Irish are the first and second best teams in the country, in whatever order you want to put them, everyone else is vying for third. I'm not saying that Duke and Maryland are not good, but I can't figure putting either above Denver or Notre Dame.

The Coaches' Poll got Albany right. The Great Danes are a perfect fit in either the #11 or #12 spot. I know that Lyle Thompson graduated, but this Albany team is still very strong I can't fathom why Lax Magazine has them at #17, that is just way too low.

Marquette was picked to finish third in the Big East, ahead of Villanova. The Golden Eagles return a strong defensive group, led by close defender B.J. Grill. I think Marquette deserves a spot in the top 20 but I'm not going to quibble too much with them being the first team left out. Another Big East team that the pollsters aren't in agreement about is Georgetown, which is ranked as high as #11 and as low as #18. The Hoyas strength is at its midfield where second team preseason All-American Craig Berge will look to expand on his 37 points in 2015.

Now to the ACC, where all five programs are placed in the top 8. In terms of the order of ACC teams, I think the Coaches' got it right. Every poll is in agreement that Notre Dame will be the best ACC team followed by Duke. The Coaches' Poll then has UNC, Syracuse, and Virginia, and I believe that will end up being the appropriate order in terms of the ACC standings at the end of the year.

The Poll

Also Receiving Votes: Marquette, Colgate, Princeton, Penn State, Army, Penn, Fairfield, High Point, Hofstra, Bucknell, Boston University, Richmond, UMass, Marist

Ranked Teams by Conference: ACC (5/5), Big East (3/6), Ivy (4/7), Big Ten (3/6), Patriot (2/9), America East (2/7), Colonial (1/6), Metro Atlantic (0/7), SoCon (0/8), Independent (0/2), Northeast (0/7)

Syracuse Opponents in the Polls:

USILA (7): Albany (12), UVA (8), Johns Hopkins (5), Duke (3), Notre Dame (2), Cornell (17), UNC (6)

Lax Magazine (7): Albany (17), UVA (9), Johns Hopkins (6), Duke (3), Notre Dame (1), Cornell (14), UNC (7)

Inside Lacrosse (8): Albany (11), UVA (7), Johns Hopkins (6), Duke (3), Notre Dame (1), Cornell (15), UNC (5), Colgate (20)