Regarding the article recently published in the Times Union over the
discrepancies between TCHCR and other polls.  I don't doubt that the
computer ranking may have some bugs that need to be worked out but
it does at least give fans a different perspective to view rankings.
 
As for the ECAC's generally low ranking due to its low winning percentage
out of conference, I think that certainly should be taken into account
because it does show a weakness to the other conferences (before any flames
come, take it easy because I go to Cornell but am just willing to admit
we have areas the conference needs to improve upon).  Definitely Maine
dropping down so many spaces indicates a problem since wins against weak
teams should not cause a team to drop that much.  Perhaps too much emphasis
is being put on schedule strength or it is not being computed properly.
 
There will always be discrepancies between computer rankings and real
coaches or sportswriters polls.  For example look at how much the
New York Times football computer rankings have often differed very
significantly from every major poll in the country.  Certainly computer
rankings are not perfect but at least they give us fans something to
argue about........
 
Mark Zaleski
Dept. of Materials Science
Cornell University
(and Lynah Faithful since 1984)