It depends what you want out of it but for me a top 20 program is a combination of both good academics + good lax but that’s not everyone’s priority. Mind you that any kid who goes to any school and gets and education is good in my book. But my (just an opinion) top 20 dual threat academics + lax (with academics > lax in terms of weight)
1) Duke 2) yale 3) notre dame 4) hopkins 5) penn 6) cornell 7) virginia 8) Princeton 9) Michigan 10) gtown 11) UNC 12) Maryland 13) Harvard 14) Brown 15) Army 16) Navy 17) Rutgers 18) BU 19) Penn state 20 Syracuse
Honorable mention academic mention to Dartmouth and Colgate - terrible lax
Honorable lax mention to Denver
Just Outside the top 20: Richmond, lehigh, Ohio state, nova, Air Force
Lax is just one of those sports where the best lax schools are also the best academic schools. Not really the case in college football, basketball, hockey or baseball.
Solid list, I'd put Princeton top 5. They're ranked the number 1 university in the US and they have been stocking up on blue chip recruits. Don't be surprised if you see them do extremely well in the next several years (multiple final four appearances and possibly NCAA title games). Their 2023 freshman class is especially talented with about 5 players that could start as freshman