Syracuse Men's Lacrosse: No. 3 All Around

The three major polls were released on Monday afternoon. The Syracuse Orange sit at third in every poll, again. The big story this week is the elimination of Virginia from every poll. Last week UVA barely beat Saint Joseph's and fell to Cornell. Virginia has significant talent, but can't seem to put it together. The Cavaliers are 27^th in RPI but have a combined goal differential of +1. Elsewhere in the ACC, UNC is on the brink. At 4-3, I believe the Tar Heels are one loss away from exiting the polls as well. Carolina hosts a strong Richmond team which has already taken down Duke this year. While nothing is set in the ACC, and theoretically both North Carolina and Virginia could make the NCAA Tournament, both squads need to start showing up big in the next few games. Remember the ACC still has an automatic qualifier, but this will be the last year unless another team is added.

In the Big Ten, Penn State re-enters each poll after an exciting overtime win against Harvard. Meanwhile, Ohio State exits each poll following a loss at Hofstra. OSU has zero quality wins, and I think they have become a long shot to make the Tournament. That being said, the Buckeyes have several opportunities to correct the course as games reamain against Towson, Denver, Notre Dame, Penn State, Johns Hopkins, Maryland, and Rutgers. That is quite a second half of the season.

The Big East continues to have just two teams in the polls. Obviously Denver is #1 in each ranking, but I'd be willing to bet that few people had Villanova as a top ten team to start the year. The Wildcats are 4-1 overall with a loss at Harvard and a win at Penn State that keeps looking better and better.

Clearly this season has seen the most parody in college lacrosse ever. Currently, only two conferences, the Metro Atlantic and the Northeast Conference, do not have teams in the top 20. Teams like High Point, Richmond and Boston University all make appearances, something that a few years ago would have been unthinkable. While it's pretty cool to see, it should make the blue chip programs pretty nervous.

Finally, in my mind the Nike/Lacrosse Magazine poll lost a lot of credibility this week. Take a look at it, there are some big shakeups.

NIKE/USILA Coaches' Poll

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

Biggest Movers:

Villanova +7

North Carolina -7

Exiting the Poll:

Ohio State, Virginia

Syracuse Opponents in the Poll:

Albany (11), Johns Hopkins (8), Duke (9), Notre Dame (2), UNC (17)

Rank	School	Last Week
1	Denver Pioneers	1
2	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	2
3	Syracuse Orange	3
4	Yale Bull Dogs	3
5	Brown Bears	4
6	Villanova Wildcats	13
7	Maryland Terrapins	12
8	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays	11
9	Duke Blue Devils	7
10	Towson Tigers	6
11	Albany Great Danes	15
12	Hofstra Pride	14
13	Stony Brook Seawolves	18
14	Harvard Crimson	8
15	Loyola Greyhounds	9
16	Boston University Terriers	19
17	North Carolina Tar Heels	10
18	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	16
19	Richmond Spiders	N/R
20	Penn State Nittany Lions	N/R

Also Receiving Votes: Army Black Knights, High Point Panthers, Cornell Big Red, Navy Midshipmen, UMass Minutemen, Lehigh Mountain Hawks, Ohio State Buckeyes, Marquette Golden Eagles, Air Force Falcons, Bryant Bulldogs, Virginia Cavaliers, Penn Quakers

Cascade/Maverik Media Poll

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

Biggest Movers:

Harvard -7

Johns Hopkins +6

Exiting the Poll:

Virginia, Ohio State

Syracuse Opponents in the Poll:

Albany (10), Johns Hopkins (8), Duke (11), Notre Dame (2), UNC (17)

Rank	School	Last Week
1	Denver Pioneers	2
2	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	1
3	Syracuse Orange	3
4	Yale Bull Dogs	4
5	Brown Bears	5
6	Maryland Terrapins	11
7	Villanova Wildcats	12
8	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays	14
9	Towson Tigers	6
10	Albany Great Danes	15
11	Duke Blue Devils	9
12	Hofstra Pride	13
13	Loyola Greyhounds	8
14	Harvard Crimson	7
15	Stony Brook Seawolves	20
16	Boston University	18
17	North Carolina Tar Heels	10
18	Richmond Spiders	N/R
19	Rutgers Scarlett Knights	16
20	Penn State Nittany Lions	N/R

Also Receiving Votes: Army Black Knights, Ohio State Buckeyes, UMass Minutemen, High Point Panthers, Marquette Golden Eagles, Cornell Big Red, Navy Midshipmen, Air Force Falcons, Virginia Cavaliers, Lehigh Mountain Hawks, Bucknell Bison, Bryant Bulldogs

Nike/Lacrosse Magazine Poll

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

Biggest Movers:

Harvard -11

Brown +5

Exiting the Poll:

Ohio State, Rutgers, Virginia

Syracuse Opponents in the Poll:

Albany (13), Johns Hopkins (11), Duke (9), Notre Dame (2), UNC (14)

Rank	School	Last Week
1	Denver Pioneers	2
2	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	1
3	Syracuse Orange	3
4	Yale Bull Dogs	4
5	Brown Bears	9
6	Maryland Terrapins	13
7	Villanova Wildcats	15
8	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays	11
9	Duke Blue Devils	8
10	Towson Tigers	5
11	Loyola Greyhounds	11
12	Hofstra Pride	12
13	Albany Great Danes	16
14	North Carolina Tar Heels	10
15	Boston University Terriers	17
16	Stony Brook Seawolves	N/R
17	Harvard Crimson	6
18	Richmond Spiders	N/R
19	High Point Panthers	18
20	Penn State Nittany Lions	N/R

Also Considered (listed alphabetically): Army Black Knights, Cornell Big Red, Lehigh Mountain Hawks, Marquette Golden Eagles, Mount St. Mary's, Navy Midshipmen, Ohio State Buckeyes, Penn Quakers, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, UMass Minutemen, Virginia Cavaliers