The West Islip Lions, who are in pursuit of their fourth state title in the last five years are No. 1 in the Under Armour/Inside Lacrosse Preseason High School Power Rankings.

St. Anthony’s checks in at No. 4. Six other teams  from the Hudson Valley/LongIsland/Connecticut region are in the Top 25, including John Jay at No. 20.

You can check out the complete rankings by clicking here.

For a look at the regional rankings, click here.

Be sure to weigh in with your comments. Does West Islip deserve to be No. 1 nationally? Are you surprised John Jay, which fell in the Section 1 finals to Somers last year, is included? Let’s hear what you think.

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33 Responses to “West Islip is No. 1 in preseason national rankings”

  1. wtf says:

    john jay no. 20 how does that make any sense at all

  2. Iceman says:

    This poll is supposed to predict the 2010 season right? If so, I would include L/P and Yorktown in the preseason Poll before John Jay.

    I’m also surprised that Niskayuna or Carthage aren’t listed.

    Just my opinion.

  3. Just Sayin says:

    They look at it like JJ has 2 players committed to Hop and Somers lost JoJo. Thats what I’m guessing but I dont agree at all eitherrrrr.

  4. wtf says:

    well if thats the case then somers has 4 D1 lacrosse players about 3 other potential D3 athletes and a D1 football player I’m not saying they should be in the top 25 but how is jj in there i dont understand that

  5. slacrosse says:

    I’ve always felt the national ratings are bogus and the best you can do are regional ratings compiled by coaches on the ground!!! What does Inside Lacrosse know? Where are they getting their info from? Local coaches??

    National. There is no way this can be done with any REALISM unless teams from all over the country play one another, multiple times. I dont think teams from Ca, Fla, Tex, Col should be in the top 20. Why? Simple. The week to week comp they play is NO WHERE NEAR that in MD, NY, Phil,etc. Yes lacrosse is greatly improving out west and ind kids “out there” are D1 caliber which is great but “teams” are a different case.

  6. Pre season Number 20 says:

    We are there because of reputation and history. May not be accurate, but all this Somers talk is unwarranted too. JoJo was huge. The best player to ever come out of Somers and its true he is not there anymore. John Jay is a program that has done very well recently and who’s nucleus was sophomores last year. We were younger than any other program in the state. We scored a lot of goals, played some of the best teams tough (Some), and now they have a hall of famer as their coach.

    Not saying that Somers or Town can’t beat them- they can. Just don’t think Somers has that much more coming back than Jay and certainly Somers has not been the program that Jay has been in the past five years. Somers has the opportunity to change that this season.

    Good Luck to all teams

  7. truth says:

    The truth is these rankings are not correct, there are obviously teams better than some of the teams on the list. With that being said, on paper, it is logical to put John Jay in the top 25. Wether they are actually that good, we will find out. But they have 4 D1 players, 3 DIII players already committed. On top of that they also have at least 7 or 8 juniors who will either play D1 or DIII. So on paper this team looks to be a top 25 team, but they could be 3rd in the Section behind Somers and Town, we don’t know yet we will find out soon enough.

  8. slacrosse says:

    Pre season Number 20 and truth

    Both your points back up my issue that these ratings are bogus.

    “Pre season”: Reputation and history dont put you in the top 20. It can only be based upon “what can you do this year?” . And even there you cant compare teams that dont play one another and/or dont play common opponents.

    “truth”: Dont care how many D1-D3’s Jay has. You dont make the top 20 by “looking like” a top 20 team because you have a few D1’s and 3’s and “may have” more.

    You can only PLAY your way into the national top 20 getting there by playing (winning or at least coming very close) “elite” teams during the season. And at the end of the season if you dont get to at least the finals of NY State, you dont belong.

    What I think most people will agree on (ok, except Townies) is that right now Jay and Somers are in a very close race to be considered the two best teams in Section 1 and yes among the top teams in the region.

    Let the games begin and speak for themselves!!!

  9. Iceman says:

    Slacrosse,

    I agree with your statements. I would also caution players and parents to realize that most of the rankings published by Inside Lacrosse are meant to provide recognition for players or programs that are receiving alot of “hype” at any given time.

    All I’m saying is that IL covers teams and players that people talk about. They also want to throw a bone to emerging programs and players to show their national fanbase that they recognize their support.

    I also think that it is extremely difficult for any organization to compile an accurate list of player rankings the way that IL ranks top players by position nationally. There are too many great players out there that go unnoticed. Anyway, I should save this debate for another thread.

    So enjoy all the headlines and rankings, they give us all something to analyze; but take it with a grain of salt.

  10. Top 20 says:

    A preseason top 20 is just that. A preseason guess. Once you play a game, its not preseason anymore so you can’t earn your way on to it by any other means than what you have done in the past, plus, whatever talent you have coming back. You don’t account for games that have not happened yet.

    In college football it is the same way. The top programs are projected to be in a certain place because of what has been a tendency.

    Can you bank on them? No. Do they count for anything ? No.

    In the past five years, has JJ been a better program than Somers? Absolutely. Does Jay have a very talented nucleus returning? Yes.

    I would stop short of saying that the rankings are “bogus”. It is known by those who follow sports that preseason rankings are just that. All those listed are subject to being removed depending upon the games. This is true of all sports.

    West Islip is number one however and a shout out to Garden City for representing too. That GC game with Yorktown has more historical background than most are aware of

  11. slacrosse says:

    Top 20

    Yes my use of “bogus” was too negative. Everyone luvs rankings, someone is gonna do them, and you want to be listed.

    Still have my issues as stated above. The biggest sore point I think with me is having teams (over the last few yrs) from Ca, Fla, Tex, Oh, on the list when the WEEK to WEEK competition they play is NO WHERE NEAR for example what a Gilman, West Islip, West Genny, Jay, etc. face. Strength of schedule is enormously important when ranking teams.

  12. Top 20 says:

    Agreed. Politics is apparent in Lacrosse ranking perhaps more than any other sport. Florida and Texas have not proven much. California and Colorado’s wins exist but not on the consistent basis that would warrant the national attention they receive.

  13. jay laxin says:

    yea jay… people are finally opening there eyes, if ur a hater wait until the games start thats all im gonna say.

  14. slacrosse says:

    Top 20

    Look at Towns sched! Aside from playing elite Section 1 teams like Jay, Somers, etc, they also play Ward Melville, Garden City, Chaminade, Darien, St. Anth!!

    Brutal sched but a well deserved “A+” for “strength of sched”.

    Yeah makes sense that they’re not a pre-season top 20 team BUT with this sched. they’ve absolutely put themselves in a position to deserve to go high in the top 20 *IF* they were to end up with mostly wins (inc some wins over the non Section 1 elite teams) + getting to the finals of NY State (Class A).

    On the other hand even if two top “out there” teams like St. Ignatius (Ca) or Cherry Creek (Co) go UNDFEATED I wouldn’t rank them top 20.

  15. Bigeasy says:

    Looks like Town plays 5 teams in top 20 and Darien and Ridgefield could be by seasons end. Any other Teams on LI have a schedule like this? I know GC plays a real tough one as does Set.

  16. Husker21 says:

    Iceman nailed it.

  17. slacrosse says:

    Bigeasy,

    Interesting. West Islip only plays 2 out of Section games with Chaminade being the big one. The other is Ridgefield NJ, a strong NJ team.

    But, hey WI is WI. They play some strong Section games, and did I say it–WI is WI. You come to them.

  18. slacrosse says:

    Sorry. Big omission. Add to my West Islip comment. They also play Ward Melville!

  19. Lax Novice says:

    I wouldn’t expect either Darien or Ridgefield to make any national Top 20 this spring, unless we’re talking residential real estate. Checking through the schedules, I see both teams with 11-1 records in the FCIAC and either 13-3 or 12-4 for the full regular season. They don’t play each other in the league this year, and Ridgefield doesn’t have New Canaan either. I think Wilton could be the thorn in the side of both of these teams, playing at home. I have Darien splitting their 4 out of state games, losing road trip games to Niskayuna NY and Conestoga PA (in the Checking for Cancer event at Haverford) which are new opponents for them, and taking both Manhasset at West Point and Yorktown at Charlie Murphy Field. (The road team has won the last two games in that series.) Ridgefield I see similarly, losing to Lawrenceville NJ away and Somers at home, (because it’s their 2nd game), and beating John Jay (because it’s their 2nd to last game) while taking it on the chin at Yorktown. If Ridgefield can beat Wilton at Wilton on May 13th, they’ll run the table and be undefeated in the league. Those would be good regular seasons by any measure for those two schools.

    If Yorktown gets a split, that’s a good result as well.

  20. nope says:

    jj has not proven anything at all yet… not winning a section in 2009… they dont deserve 20. these rankings are bogus

  21. Old Rugger says:

    Ice man and slacrosse, totally agree “Brother Rice” good team but a No1 a few years ago I did not think so, but good increase in readership in the midwest for IL. Only reason JJ in the top 20 is their kids go to tons of camps and play tons of summer tournaments (Prime Time) so their names get out there. Many of them are pretty good too, just not sure what is real and what is hype. Playing a physical Somers team will help clear up my confusion.

  22. Old Rugger says:

    slacrosse, iceman totally agree. A few years ago Brother Rice was IL’s No1. Readership in the midwest went up. The JJ kids go to a lots of camps and play a ton of summer (Prime Time) and fall ball. Many are very good, but they get their names out there and are seen. Is there some hype absolutley, are they good yes. Top 20 doubtful. But that is why they play the games instead of us bloggers talking trash. Lets see how the JJ kids do when they play a physical Somers team. If they do well then I’ll jump on that bandwagon.

  23. slacrosse says:

    Old Rugger,

    Agree plus to get into the top 20 Jay will have to do more then beat somers (no doubt a top win) but will have to beat most of the teams they play + some out of Section ELITE teams. Inotherwords you really need to EARN your way there. I have picked Somers just above Jay on a pre-season basis anyway.

    Not picking on Jay. This standard of “eliteness” to make top 20 applies to Somers or anyone else.

  24. BlueWhite says:

    Anything on Greenwich’s coaching position?

  25. Joe Lombardi says:

    No decision yet, BlueWave. It will obviously have to come very soon. Stay tuned.

  26. Cardinals says:

    Scott Bulkley ( Darien Asst ) is the New head coach at Greenwich!!

  27. CT Lax says:

    Who will be Darien’s top assistant now?

  28. slacrosse says:

    Sounds like a great move for Greenwich.

  29. The Cardinal says:

    It’s now official. Scott Bulkely is the new head coach of the Greenwich Cardinals. Welcome aboard Coach Bulkely! Darien’s loss is Greenwich’s gain!!!

  30. slacrosse says:

    The Cardinal

    How’s Greenwich gonna be this season?

  31. Lions Den says:

    Should be a fun season. Looking forward to West Islip-JJ scrimmage March 20 at 9 am at WI.

  32. Jaybird says:

    Thanks, Lions Den. We’re looking forward to the scrimmage as well. It will be a great test for our guys.

  33. fan man says:

    Does anyone know about that kid Frank Dusco over at Yorktown? Never heard of him before?

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