As the rest of the league gets shuffled every week, one team stands alone in the weekly Lacrosse-Network.com Experts Poll.

Our seven experts seem to like the Buffalo Bandits.

They like 'em a lot, in fact, unanimously agreeing for the third straight week (and the fifth time this season) that the Bandits are the best team in the National Lacrosse League.

Buffalo, coming off a solid 14-12 home win over the Colorado Mammoth (the Western Division co-leader at the time), holds a nine-point lead over second-place Calgary, which gained two points (to 68) after holding off Arizona this past weekend, 14-12.

After that, it's a long way back to third place, shared this week by the Rochester Knighthawks and Toronto Rock, at 56 points each. The Knighthawks moved up a spot after edging Minnesota, while the Rock jumped two spots after its third straight stunning home-floor rally against Philadelphia (down 14-8, the Rock won in overtime, 15-14).

As it happens, Toronto visits Rochester this Saturday, with the winner guaranteeing itself a playoff berth (the loser is almost certain to qualify, too, though).

Portland also leaped ahead a couple spots, moving from seventh to fifth (50 points), a move which had less to do with a 9-6 win at San Jose than it did with the Wings' horrendous crash in Toronto. That cost Philadelphia three spots, dropping the Wings to 45 points.

Minnesota also paid for losing, falling from fifth to seventh (34 points).

The rest of the rankings stayed unchanged from last week, with Colorado leading Arizona for eighth place (30-25 this time around) and San Jose and Edmonton again bringing up the rear.

Our panel of seven experts includes a wide range of top lacrosse minds, including Outsider's Guide writers, players, and coaches. Scoring is on an 11-10-9-etc. basis, so that the maximum score a team can earn is 77 points and the minimum is seven points.

The complete rankings from this week's Experts Poll, with comments (win-loss record through Sunday is in parentheses):

WEEK FIFTEEN                                    Pts  Prv
 1. Buffalo Bandits (10-4)                       77    1
    Solid victory clinches East title
 2. Calgary Roughnecks (9-5)                     68    2
    Fave to clinch West; Two wins does it
 3. Rochester Knighthawks (8-7)                  56    4
    Not ready to shed bridesmaid label
    Toronto Rock (8-7)                           56    6
    Not ready to shed fresh question marks
 5. Portland LumberJax (9-5)                     50    7
    Making huge strides in 'first' year
 6. Philadelphia Wings (7-7)                     45    3
    Didn't they learn last year at ACC?
 7. Minnesota Swarm (8-7)                        34    5
    Are they good enough to clinch?
 8. Colorado Mammoth (8-6)                       30    8
    One more chance to forge an identity
 9. Arizona Sting (6-8)                          25    9
    Two games vs. SJ for last playoff spot...
10. San Jose Stealth (5-9)                       14   10
    ...but unlike ARZ, Stealth must win twice
11. Edmonton Rush (1-14)                          7   11
    2007 can't come soon enough