In this thread, we'll be going through the local teams that are still sitting on the NCAA Tournament bubble, and present each team's chances of actually making the tournament. All stats from ESPN's InsideRPI (insider only). And now, the Maryland Terrapins.
Resume
RPI Rank: 93
Record: 19-13
Conference Record:7-9
Strength Of Schedule: 78
Record Against RPI Top 50: 2-9
Quality Wins (against RPI Top 50): Penn St., Florida St.
Bad Losses (against RPI 100+): Virginia
In Or Out: Realistically, the Terps don't have a chance to make the tournament as an at-large this year. Their record, conference record and rpi just don't have the look of a tournament team. Their biggest problem is that they were unable to get wins against better teams. Penn St. and Florida St. are both pretty good wins, but they would have needed to get a W against Duke, North Carolina or one of the teams they played out of conference to make their record and rpi look even better.
On the flip side, they didn't have any really bad losses either. They pretty much played every game exactly as it was expected. That's not a great quality when you aren't much better than mediocre. If they beat Duke tonight, then I suppose we might be able to re-open this conversation. But realistically, they will probably have to beat Duke and get another win in the tournament to make that possible. Or, they could just make it easier on all of us and win the conference tournament.