The Colorado Mammoth reaped the rewards of being National Lacrosse League champion, rocketing from sixth to first in the season-ending Lacrosse-Network.com Experts Poll.

It was the first Experts Poll since the end of the regular season.

With 75 points on five first-place votes, Colorado displaced the Buffalo Bandits, who finished the regular season with four consecutive unanimous first-place selections.

Blame it on real life, in which Colorado displaced the Bandits from the NLL Champion's Cup in a 16-9 rout last Saturday.

The experts were not obligated to put Colorado at the top of their rankings (such as in college football's coaches poll), and two of the seven voters stuck with Buffalo, putting the Bandits just four points back of Colorado, at 71.

Portland, which flamed out of the playoffs in the first round after impressively winning the Western Division title in its first season, remained in third place, drawing 59 points.

Rochester, which roared past Toronto in the first round before becoming roadkill the next week in Buffalo, dropped two spots to fourth, finishing with 55 points, four ahead of Calgary -- which was Colorado's first postseason victim, in overtime.

Arizona finished sixth (43 points), up from a regular season-ending ninth place ranking, after upsetting Portland and nearly taking out Colorado in the West Final.

Toronto went the other direction after its fourth-quarter collapse in Rochester, falling from fourth to seventh (36 points).

Philadelphia remained in eighth, with 27 points, finishing just ahead of backsliding Minnesota (24 points, down two spots to ninth).

San Jose and Edmonton, as they have for the ten previous polls, finished in the final two spots.

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 (final win-loss record, including playoffs, is in parentheses):

FINAL                                           Pts  Prv
 1. Colorado Mammoth (13-6)                      75    6
    Beat Buffalo by not retaliating...
 2. Buffalo Bandits (13-6)                       71    1
    ...so Bandits should have stopped hacking
 3. Portland LumberJax (11-6)                    59    3
    ARZ loss aside, a very good debut season
 4. Rochester Knighthawks (10-8)                 55    2
    Some things never change
 5. Calgary Roughnecks (9-8)                     51    5
    Could have beat COL if game was at home?
 6. Arizona Sting (9-9)                          43    9
    Cinderella almost stopped Mammoth's run
 7. Toronto Rock (8-9)                           36    4
    Is there an overhaul in the near future?
 8. Philadelphia Wings (8-8)                     27    8
    Another draft with lots of high picks
 9. Minnesota Swarm (8-9)                        24    7
    Put a first-round scare in Bandits
10. San Jose Stealth (5-11)                      14   10
    Never too soon to think about offense
11. Edmonton Rush (1-15)                          7   11
    Day re-ups; Now sign some scorers!