Back in the days before Maryland jumped to the Big Ten seven years ago, the Terrapins and the Duke Blue Devils had quite an annual rivalry in college basketball. 

The outcome of those Atlantic Coast Conference showdowns typically had national championship implications. 

Even with the conference-driven divorce, the same dynamic has been unfolding between the same two schools on the men’s lacrosse field over the past decade-plus.

Saturday afternoon in East Hartford, Conn., when second-seeded Duke and third-seeded Maryland collide in the lacrosse Final Four, it will mark the fourth meeting at that stage between the schools since 2010. 

Maryland held the upper hand in 2011 (7-4 win) and 2012 (16-10), while the Blue Devils prevailed in 2018 (13-8). In 2011 and 2018, the outcome meant the end of the losing rival’s reign as the sport’s national champion. 

Under 16th-year coach John Danowski, the Blue Devils won it all in 2010, 2011 and 2014. Maryland, with John Tillman at the helm since 2011, claimed the crown in 2017, ending a 42-year title drought for the program, which also won NCAA titles in 1973 and 1975 

Saturday’s winner gets a berth in Monday’s final against the winner of UNC and Virginia in the other semifinal, but the Terps’ 14-0 record and the shared success of these two longtime rivals — four combined national titles since 2010 — makes the second half of today’s doubleheader particularly compelling. 

In the first two decades of the NCAA lacrosse tournament, which started in 1971, 10 champions managed to run the table. The first of those was Maryland in 1973. 

Over the past 30 years, however, just three teams have made it to the mountaintop unscathed: 1997 Princeton (15-0), 2005 Johns Hopkins (16-0) and 2006 Virginia (17-0). 

If Maryland is able to complete the gargantuan task — and the other three semifinalists each have at least two losses this year — perspective will have a lot to do with it. 

“Enjoying the moment, I think, is really important,” Tillman said. “We spend a lot of time together, so the guys have a lot of fun together. That’s what makes the journey so great.

“We love our players so much and we know the sacrifices they’ve made. To see them happy and joyous … you’re just so thankful for it.”

So, this latest high-profile meeting, which features a head-to-head matchup between Tewaaraton Award finalists Michael Sowers of Duke and Jared Bernardt of Maryland, is about more than legacies and trophies. 

It’s also about interpersonal relationships and shared achievement and the sort of unbreakable bonds that last a lifetime. 

“I try to remind the guys of that all the time,” Tillman said “You’re on the train, and the train is moving a million miles an hour and when that last game is over, it’s over.”