This article appears as part of the “Myth Busters” package in the September/October edition of US Lacrosse Magazine. Don’t get the mag? Join US Lacrosse today to start your subscription.

Atlantic Coast Conference diehards may insist that Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Virginia are the most formidable lacrosse-playing universities in the country. Throw in rising powers Boston College, Louisville and Virginia Tech on the women’s side, and they may have a point.

But the Big Ten eclipsed the ACC in 2017.

Not only did ACC turncoat Maryland sweep the NCAA men’s and women’s lacrosse championships, but the ACC also was shut out of the men’s final four for the first time since 2004. Instead, two Big Ten teams — Maryland and Ohio State — made it to Memorial Day.

When the Big Ten added lacrosse in 2015, football-rich athletic departments redoubled their investment in the sport. Michigan is building a lacrosse-only facility. Penn State’s lacrosse stadium is in the middle of an $8.5 million renovation. Ohio State is developing a $40 million lacrosse complex.

Recruits are flocking to the Big Ten, which also boasts blueblood Johns Hopkins as an affiliate member and resurgent Rutgers on the men’s side and seven-time NCAA champion Northwestern on the women’s side.

Best conference in lacrosse?

It’s more year-to-year than ACC every year. Seems like a ripe time to initiate an annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge.