Michigan and Northwestern are the 2 top academic schools in the Big10. The Big 10 as a conference as a whole is only behind the Ivies. Amazing big schools flush with cash!
Rutgers is a clear top 10 program going forward for a long time.
Rutgers has been doing well but "clear Top 10 program" going forward might be a bit of a stretch. There are some really great schools that have had women's lacrosse for some time and they have really never been able to be competitive on a consistent basis. Although Hopkins is only in the Big 10 for Lacrosse it's another great academic school affiliated with The B1G... Add USC to the mix as well. Could ND & possibly Stanford Join The Big 10 in the future?
Until there are more kids playing the sport it is unlikely that we will see much of a change in the traditional Top 10-20, there is simply not enough talent out there.
LMAO. Writes that as IL ranks Rutgers 8th in early rankings
Interesting topic regarding the Top 10 landscape. Looking at 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 (left 2020 & 2021 out due to the Covid mess)..
20 Programs have finished the season ranked in the Top 20, it's a pretty elite group and Rutgers should be very proud.
Below illustrates how many times each program finished the year for the 6 seasons listed.
6 - Maryland 6 - North Carolina 5 - Boston College 5 - Syracuse 5 - Princeton 4 - Florida 4 - Northwestern 4 - Stony Brook 3 - Penn State 3 - Loyola 2 - Virginia 2 - Notre Dame 2 - Navy 2 - USC 1 - JMU 1 - Penn 1 - Stanford 1 - Denver 1 - Towson 1 - Rutgers
Good luck to Rutgers but to state that they will consistently be a Top 10 Program for a long time to come might be wishful thinking as we can all see based on the reality of just how difficult it is to finish the season ranked in the Top 10.
