Aside from the silliness of some arguments here, there is a pretty interesting discussion around the talent level of the NESCAC vs. the bottom half of D1 programs. If you think about a quadrant with the X axis being academic reputation and the Y axis being lacrosse success, the upper right square is really just filled with the ACC, most of the Ivies, a couple of Big 10 schools and a smattering of others like Georgetown and Army. Once you get past that group, a recruit and his family start facing some really tough decisions – a zone where the NESCAC competes very well. Most of the discussion on this page has been about the absolute bottom of the barrel of D1, but if you look at the 40 teams above the VMIs, UMass Lowells and NJITs, it is logical to assume that the NESCAC can out-recruit many of these schools in general, and probably most of those schools for the prep/private kids from the DC to Boston corridor.
So if you are a strong player from Salisbury, Georgetown Prep, Lawrenceville, Andover or the ISL – but outside the upper right quadrant in terms of lacrosse skill – are you taking Marist or Williams? MSM or Bowdoin? Manhattan or Amherst? The gray area is when you are considering Colgate/Hobart/Lafayette vs. Tufts/Williams/Amherst. Even at the lower end of NESCAC academically (Trinity #39 US News and Conn College #46), those are preferred choices over most of the list below. I mean, door #1 is to play in the best D3 league in the country where you already know half the guys on every roster and can maybe compete for a national championship. Door #2 is to attend a D1 school you never would have chosen except for lacrosse, forgo junior fall abroad, work 90% as hard as an ACC or Big 10 guy, and probably miss the NCAA playoffs every year.
As a side note, the 10-month delay in NESCAC commitments is probably the only thing holding these teams back from competing at a top 40 of D1 level. There is a tremendous amount of peer pressure to get the Instagram commitment post as soon as possible. If on Sept 1 of your junior year you could flex on your Tufts commitment to match the guys on your club team who are posting a Bucknell offer, that would really level the playing field.
Long way of saying that the NESCAC is currently in the conversation with every good student who is not a top 30 program caliber player. At the same time, the pool of talent has never been deeper across the U.S. and Canada, so the #200 player in North America today is much more skilled than the #200 player 20 years ago.
This ranking below is from the final 2023 RPI from the NCAA website.
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/lacrosse- ... crosse-rpi
30 Saint Joseph's Atlantic 10 10-5
31 UMass Atlantic 10 8-6
32 Brown Ivy League 6-8
33 Harvard Ivy League 5-7
34 Bellarmine ASUN 11-6
35 High Point Atlantic 10 9-8
36 UMBC America East 8-5
37 UAlbany America East 6-10
38 Marquette Big East 6-8
39 Marist MAAC 10-8
40 Binghamton America East 9-5
41 Towson CAA 6-9
42 Drexel CAA 8-6
43 Stony Brook CAA 9-7
44 Navy Patriot 8-8
45 Manhattan MAAC 10-5
46 Providence Big East 6-9
47 Merrimack America East 7-7
48 Dartmouth Ivy League 6-6
49 Lafayette Patriot 6-10
50 Mount St. Mary's MAAC 8-8
51 Robert Morris ASUN 8-8
52 Hobart Atlantic 10 5-8
53 Siena MAAC 9-7
54 Cleveland St. ASUN 6-7
55 Mercer ASUN 6-10
56 Quinnipiac MAAC 7-7
57 Fairfield CAA 5-9
58 Hofstra CAA 5-9
59 Monmouth CAA 5-9
60 Sacred Heart MAAC 5-10
61 St. John's Big East 0-14
62 Bucknell Patriot 3-10
63 Colgate Patriot 2-9
64 NJIT America East 3-10
65 VMI MAAC 6-9
66 Detroit Mercy ASUN 2-11
67 St. Bonaventure Atlantic 10 1-13
68 LIU MAAC 5-9
69 Lindenwood ASUN 2-10
70 Wagner MAAC 3-11
71 Canisius MAAC 2-13
72 Queens ASUN 2-12
73 Holy Cross Patriot 1-13
74 UMass Lowell America East 0-13
75 Hampton CAA 0-12
Does he tie your shoes as well?
