Duke and Maryland in basketball has a special intensity thanks to the now-traditional Terrapin hatred of Duke. That's grounded though in the insecure notion that Duke is always better and must be beaten (and the corollary notions that they don't deserve to win and usually do because they get help. You know the routine).
Not the case always in lacrosse, where Maryland has been one of the powerhouse programs for a very long time and Duke is still relatively new. Lacrosse really took root as an East Coast sport, with real strongholds in Maryland, D.C., and the Northeast, with Johns Hopkins as the Duke of the sport, if you will, and Maryland right behind them.
So when they meet in the lacrosse semifinals, Duke represents not the long-time national power but rather something of a newcomer (although not as much as before). It's a bit of a reversal, in other words, but Maryland's disdain will be a constant, perhaps even more so now that Duke is crowding them in this sport as well, not to mention that the Final Four is in Baltimore.
When David Cutcliffe gets football on a winning path, playing in College Park will be another nightmare.
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