Untie this knot: Four teams tied for first place in the Eastern Division, posting identical 10-6 records.

The voters in the Lacrosse-Network.com Experts Poll broke the tie by following the National Lacrosse League's seeding of the four teams, placing Buffalo first overall, followed by Minnesota.

The Bandits received six first-place votes and earned 93 of a possible 96 points, considerably outpolling the Swarm. Last week's number-one team drew 81 points.

Philadelphia and New York, the other two teams in the Eastern Division deadlock, fill out the top four, with the Wings edging the Titans, 78-74. Each team earned one first-place vote.

San Jose placed fifth, with 70 points, well ahead of sixth-place Colorado (54 points) in the wake of last weekend's division title-deciding showdown (Stealth 11, Mammoth 6).

Not surprisingly, the Eastern Division polled well in the final regular-season rankings. Rochester finished just two points behind Colorado, while Toronto and Chicago each outpolled Portland, which did qualify for the playoffs.

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 (win-loss record through Sunday is in parentheses):

WEEK SIXTEEN                                    Pts  Prv
 1. Buffalo Bandits (10-6)                       93    2
    From 3-4 in Feb. to home floor advantage
 2. Minnesota Swarm (10-6)                       81    1
    Fumbled away #1 overall seed
 3. Philadelphia Wings (10-6)                    78    3
    First playoff berth since 2002
 4. New York Titans (10-6)                       74    4
    The playoff foe no one wants to meet
 5. San Jose Stealth (9-7)                       70    6
    Hasn't won consecutive games in two months
 6. Colorado Mammoth (9-7)                       54    5
    4-7 since early February
 7. Rochester Knighthawks (8-8)                  52    7
    No playoffs? First time ever
 8. Calgary Roughnecks (7-9)                     38    8
    Only NY has longer winning streak (3 gms)
 9. Toronto Rock (7-9)                           31    9
    Farewell to Veltman was a whimper
10. Chicago Shamrox (6-10)                       23   11
    Can build on well-played split with MIN
11. Portland LumberJax (6-10)                    22   10
    Good omen: 2-1 vs. San Jose in '08
12. Edmonton Rush (4-12)                          8   12
    Averaged fewer than 9 goals/gm... Yikes!

NOTE: The next Lacrosse-Network.com Experts Poll will appear following the NLL Championship Game.