Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That people are even talking about rankings of middle school lacrosse teams and gaming the system to get higher rankings is insane. Yet, here we are. Players and teams get a hell of a lot better losing tough games than they do winning blowouts. It is too bad the focus is on rankings and not on 13 year old players' development. And too bad that some clubs apparently foster this by sandbagging.

So you went from a bunch of bitter non-athlete parents crying about said middle school team's ranking with accusations of sandbagging sans evidence -- to concluding the club isn't doing any developing of players as said crybabies must be correct.

And then joining in with the crying parents. Congrats.

Not very chillax of you.

Anonymous wrote:That people are even talking about rankings of middle school lacrosse teams and gaming the system to get higher rankings is insane. Yet, here we are. Players and teams get a hell of a lot better losing tough games than they do winning blowouts. It is too bad the focus is on rankings and not on 13 year old players' development. And too bad that some clubs apparently foster this by sandbagging.

So you went from a bunch of bitter non-athlete parents crying about said middle school team's ranking with accusations of sandbagging sans evidence -- to concluding the club isn't doing any developing of players as said crybabies must be correct.

And then joining in with the crying parents. Congrats.

Anonymous wrote:That people are even talking about rankings of middle school lacrosse teams and gaming the system to get higher rankings is insane. Yet, here we are. Players and teams get a hell of a lot better losing tough games than they do winning blowouts. It is too bad the focus is on rankings and not on 13 year old players' development. And too bad that some clubs apparently foster this by sandbagging.

I suspect some of this is more about confidence-building than sandbagging.

That people are even talking about rankings of middle school lacrosse teams and gaming the system to get higher rankings is insane. Yet, here we are. Players and teams get a hell of a lot better losing tough games than they do winning blowouts. It is too bad the focus is on rankings and not on 13 year old players' development. And too bad that some clubs apparently foster this by sandbagging.

Mnd is still the best team. The gap between them and the other teams have narrowed. Should see a few more upsets this year.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a month, National Fall Lax Fest will be the first test of most of the area 2030 teams. Looks like everyone, except hero's, is participating. Some good match ups in the top bracket, including a M&D and MDU showdown.

Why is YJMA in such a low bracket for this?

From what I've noticed, they only sign up for the hardest brackets/tournaments half the time. The other half they like to chillax

It will be surprising to see them remain a top 20 team with that attitude.

Quite the opposite. Last year they only played easy teams all fall and started out ranked #9. Once they played harder teams they fell to #19. Beating a bunch of easy teams in blowouts is any easier way to move up in rankings than losing close games to good teams.

This is actually the opposite.

The issue is in fall, so few games have been played, the bad teams have not yet dropped so that blow out win is overrrated. Once teams get 25-30 games in, those bad teams ratings drop, as does the quality of that win in the Fall.

Always take fall rankings with a grain of salt because of this. Lots of non hot bed teams ranked way too high but haven't traveled yet to show it.

We’re both saying the same thing, in the fall you can juice your rankings by playing bad teams and beating them by 10. That doesn’t work all year but this strategy worked for them last year for initial rankings

i think the highest they ever got in last years ranking was #9. if you believed they were the ninth best team in the county i have a bridge to sell you

Exactly. They were ranked better than they should have been based on playing only bad teams and winning by 10. This is how you manipulate rankings to look very good in the fall only.

YJMA is a good team but they are not elite. They know this and that is why they sandbag some tournaments.

Whats more interesting to watch is which of the 4 elite teams is ready to level up and challenge M&D.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a month, National Fall Lax Fest will be the first test of most of the area 2030 teams. Looks like everyone, except hero's, is participating. Some good match ups in the top bracket, including a M&D and MDU showdown.

Why is YJMA in such a low bracket for this?

From what I've noticed, they only sign up for the hardest brackets/tournaments half the time. The other half they like to chillax

It will be surprising to see them remain a top 20 team with that attitude.

Quite the opposite. Last year they only played easy teams all fall and started out ranked #9. Once they played harder teams they fell to #19. Beating a bunch of easy teams in blowouts is any easier way to move up in rankings than losing close games to good teams.

This is actually the opposite.

The issue is in fall, so few games have been played, the bad teams have not yet dropped so that blow out win is overrrated. Once teams get 25-30 games in, those bad teams ratings drop, as does the quality of that win in the Fall.

Always take fall rankings with a grain of salt because of this. Lots of non hot bed teams ranked way too high but haven't traveled yet to show it.

We’re both saying the same thing, in the fall you can juice your rankings by playing bad teams and beating them by 10. That doesn’t work all year but this strategy worked for them last year for initial rankings

i think the highest they ever got in last years ranking was #9. if you believed they were the ninth best team in the county i have a bridge to sell you

Exactly. They were ranked better than they should have been based on playing only bad teams and winning by 10. This is how you manipulate rankings to look very good in the fall only.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a month, National Fall Lax Fest will be the first test of most of the area 2030 teams. Looks like everyone, except hero's, is participating. Some good match ups in the top bracket, including a M&D and MDU showdown.

Why is YJMA in such a low bracket for this?

From what I've noticed, they only sign up for the hardest brackets/tournaments half the time. The other half they like to chillax

It will be surprising to see them remain a top 20 team with that attitude.

Quite the opposite. Last year they only played easy teams all fall and started out ranked #9. Once they played harder teams they fell to #19. Beating a bunch of easy teams in blowouts is any easier way to move up in rankings than losing close games to good teams.

This is actually the opposite.

The issue is in fall, so few games have been played, the bad teams have not yet dropped so that blow out win is overrrated. Once teams get 25-30 games in, those bad teams ratings drop, as does the quality of that win in the Fall.

Always take fall rankings with a grain of salt because of this. Lots of non hot bed teams ranked way too high but haven't traveled yet to show it.

We’re both saying the same thing, in the fall you can juice your rankings by playing bad teams and beating them by 10. That doesn’t work all year but this strategy worked for them last year for initial rankings

It's hard to juice ratings even in the fall because a team would still need to outperform the algorithm consistently or dramatically. The fall rankings are different than the summer rankings because 1) some good teams don't yet qualify for rankings because they don't have enough games played and 2) there are fewer games in the calculations, which gives outsized credit for outperforming or underperforming. Over the course of the year more teams and games are added to the calculations and everything falls into the line. By the end of the year it pretty much makes sense. Even during the summer you may hear people complain about easy schedules allowing some teams to have a high ranking, but the algorithm take all that into account. As said, it's just math.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a month, National Fall Lax Fest will be the first test of most of the area 2030 teams. Looks like everyone, except hero's, is participating. Some good match ups in the top bracket, including a M&D and MDU showdown.

Why is YJMA in such a low bracket for this?

From what I've noticed, they only sign up for the hardest brackets/tournaments half the time. The other half they like to chillax

It will be surprising to see them remain a top 20 team with that attitude.

Quite the opposite. Last year they only played easy teams all fall and started out ranked #9. Once they played harder teams they fell to #19. Beating a bunch of easy teams in blowouts is any easier way to move up in rankings than losing close games to good teams.

This is actually the opposite.

The issue is in fall, so few games have been played, the bad teams have not yet dropped so that blow out win is overrrated. Once teams get 25-30 games in, those bad teams ratings drop, as does the quality of that win in the Fall.

Always take fall rankings with a grain of salt because of this. Lots of non hot bed teams ranked way too high but haven't traveled yet to show it.

We’re both saying the same thing, in the fall you can juice your rankings by playing bad teams and beating them by 10. That doesn’t work all year but this strategy worked for them last year for initial rankings

i think the highest they ever got in last years ranking was #9. if you believed they were the ninth best team in the county i have a bridge to sell you

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a month, National Fall Lax Fest will be the first test of most of the area 2030 teams. Looks like everyone, except hero's, is participating. Some good match ups in the top bracket, including a M&D and MDU showdown.

Why is YJMA in such a low bracket for this?

From what I've noticed, they only sign up for the hardest brackets/tournaments half the time. The other half they like to chillax

It will be surprising to see them remain a top 20 team with that attitude.

Quite the opposite. Last year they only played easy teams all fall and started out ranked #9. Once they played harder teams they fell to #19. Beating a bunch of easy teams in blowouts is any easier way to move up in rankings than losing close games to good teams.

This is actually the opposite.

The issue is in fall, so few games have been played, the bad teams have not yet dropped so that blow out win is overrrated. Once teams get 25-30 games in, those bad teams ratings drop, as does the quality of that win in the Fall.

Always take fall rankings with a grain of salt because of this. Lots of non hot bed teams ranked way too high but haven't traveled yet to show it.

We’re both saying the same thing, in the fall you can juice your rankings by playing bad teams and beating them by 10. That doesn’t work all year but this strategy worked for them last year for initial rankings

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the rankings for all the years, you will see several teams that are ranked high that are barely over .500 or are under .500. It's because they play highly rated teams and play them close. You could lose all your games but if all those games were to really good teams, and the AGD is close, your team will still be ranked high.

Right, the wins or losses don't matter. If you lose to the #1 team ten times, as long as its by 1 goal, or close, you'll prob still be top-3.

As PP said, playing easy teams might work in the fall. Come summer time, teams with inflated rankings will get exposed.

If you look at the rankings for all the years, you will see several teams that are ranked high that are barely over .500 or are under .500. It's because they play highly rated teams and play them close. You could lose all your games but if all those games were to really good teams, and the AGD is close, your team will still be ranked high.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a month, National Fall Lax Fest will be the first test of most of the area 2030 teams. Looks like everyone, except hero's, is participating. Some good match ups in the top bracket, including a M&D and MDU showdown.

Why is YJMA in such a low bracket for this?

From what I've noticed, they only sign up for the hardest brackets/tournaments half the time. The other half they like to chillax

It will be surprising to see them remain a top 20 team with that attitude.

Quite the opposite. Last year they only played easy teams all fall and started out ranked #9. Once they played harder teams they fell to #19. Beating a bunch of easy teams in blowouts is any easier way to move up in rankings than losing close games to good teams.

It’s just math and this approach works. Theoretically, you’d only play teams you anticipate beating by 10 or less since the formula caps margin of victory by 10.

If you play a team rated "85" and you beat them 15-2, you can only get 95 pts for that, which isn't going to get you into the top-10.
In the fall, that 85 rated team might be rated at 90, because they just haven't played enough games to drop in rating, so that quality 100 pt victory in Nov turns into a 95 pt win by June.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a month, National Fall Lax Fest will be the first test of most of the area 2030 teams. Looks like everyone, except hero's, is participating. Some good match ups in the top bracket, including a M&D and MDU showdown.

Why is YJMA in such a low bracket for this?

From what I've noticed, they only sign up for the hardest brackets/tournaments half the time. The other half they like to chillax

It will be surprising to see them remain a top 20 team with that attitude.

Quite the opposite. Last year they only played easy teams all fall and started out ranked #9. Once they played harder teams they fell to #19. Beating a bunch of easy teams in blowouts is any easier way to move up in rankings than losing close games to good teams.

This is actually the opposite.

The issue is in fall, so few games have been played, the bad teams have not yet dropped so that blow out win is overrrated. Once teams get 25-30 games in, those bad teams ratings drop, as does the quality of that win in the Fall.

Always take fall rankings with a grain of salt because of this. Lots of non hot bed teams ranked way too high but haven't traveled yet to show it.