On the heels of their first league championship since 1996, the Buffalo Bandits have been selected as the top team in the season-ending Lacrosse-Network.com Experts Poll.

In a sign of how dominant the Eastern Division has been this season, the top four spots are again held entirely by teams playing on or east of the Mississippi River.

Buffalo finished with a perfect score of 96 points, drawing all eight first-place votes, after rolling past Philadelphia and New York in the division playoffs and edging upstart Portland for the Champion's Cup.

New York placed second on 84 points, capping off a remarkable rise for a team that was ranked ninth as recently as mid-March. Compared with the final regular-season poll, the Titans switched places with Minnesota; the Swarm was just two points short of tying third-place Philadelphia, 75-73.

San Jose was the top-ranked Western Division team, earning 59 points. Portland drew 54 points, finishing a relatively impressive sixth despite its run to the championship game (compared with its eleventh-place ranking when the playoffs began).

Our panel of eight experts includes a wide range of top lacrosse minds, including Outsider's Guide writers, players, and coaches. Scoring is on an 12-11-10-etc. basis, so that the maximum score a team can earn is 96 points and the minimum is eight 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. Buffalo Bandits (13-6)                       96    1
    Class of the league since early April
 2. New York Titans (11-7)                       84    4
    A big step forward in '08
 3. Philadelphia Wings (10-7)                    75    3
    Dynasty in the making?
 4. Minnesota Swarm (10-7)                       73    2
    Young team - they'll be back 
 5. San Jose Stealth (9-8)                       59    5
    Early favorite to win West in 2009
 6. Portland LumberJax (8-11)                    54   11
    Impressive run... now what?
 7. Colorado Mammoth (9-8)                       46    6
    Another case of premature elimination
    Rochester Knighthawks (8-8)                  46    7
    Sale keeps K'Hawks on safe ground
 9. Calgary Roughnecks (8-10)                    39    8
    Talented but aging
10. Toronto Rock (7-9)                           25    9
    Still a contender, in spite of itself
11. Chicago Shamrox (6-10)                       15   10
    Still waiting to see a plan
12. Edmonton Rush (4-12)                         13   12
    Hamley moving Rush in right direction