Tulsa Talons Nab Number One Ranking in Annual Preseason Coaches Poll for af2
Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 03:33PM MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – CHICAGO – By securing 394 of a possible 448 points, the defending ArenaCup Champion Tulsa Talons have earned the No. 1 ranking in the preseason Coaches Poll, the arenafootball2 (af2) league office announced today. Tulsa’s total included 18 first-place votes.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Tulsa’s opponent in last year’s ArenaCup, earned the No. 2 preseason position with 341 points. The defending American Conference Champions’ total included six first-place votes. There was a two-team tie for the No. 3 ranking overall between Bossier-Shreveport and Florida. The BattleWings and reigning South Division Champion Firecats each accumulated 290 points. Other teams receiving first place votes included the Spokane Shock (3, No. 5 overall), Green Bay Blizzard (1, No. 7 overall) and Mahoning Valley Thunder (1).
Each week during the season af2 coaches will vote for the Top 16 teams in the league by ranking them one through 16 on a ballot. Teams ranked first receive 16 points with the point value decreasing by one for each place below first, meaning a team ranked 16th would receive one point. Total points will determine the Top 16 list. In the event of a tie in total points, the team with the greater number of first-place votes will be ranked higher. The af2 Coaches Poll will be announced every Wednesday during the regular season. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team and the poll results have no bearing on postseason qualification.
ADVERTISEMENT The complete Top 16 is listed below. The number in parentheses indicates the number of first place votes the team received.
PRESEASON TOP 16
RANKTEAMPTS
1Tulsa 394 (18)
2W-B/Scranton341 (6)
3Bossier-Shreveport290
3Florida 290
5Spokane 257 (3)
6Arkansas 244
7Green Bay 234 (1)
8Rio Grande Valley 224
9Central Valley 191
10South Georgia 183
11Manchester 173
12Peoria 165
13Louisville 145
14Iowa 127
15Austin 92
16Quad City 86
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