FanPost

A look at Maryland's BPI

This may not mean much at this point considering Maryland pretty much has no chance at getting an at large bid, but Maryland's BPI is surprisingly good. Maryland has a BPI rank of 48 and a BPI of 74.6. The most shocking thing I found is that the BPI actually projects Maryland to make it in the tournament as the last at large and projects us to be a 12 seed(would have to play an opening round game. This is up to date, it includes the Clemson game. So how can this be. Well I'm not quite sure, but here are the big reasons I could think of.

1. Maryland strength of schedule ranks number 1.

Maryland's raw rating ranks 140, but the number 1 SOS turns that 140th rank into 48. According to the BPI, Maryland has played 11 teams in the top 50, only being able to win one of those games against number 43 ranked Florida State. After the Virginia game, Maryland's will have played its 12th game against a team in the BPI top 50. I understand that this season has been disappointing having 14 losses, but they have played the toughest schedule in the country, so it is sort of understandable.

2. BPI uses point margin.

One of the big differences between BPI and RPI. The one thing that keeps riving Maryland fans nuts is that they put themselves in position to win, but just can't. Maryland has lost a lot of close games this year. Losing close games means nothing in the wins and loss column or in terms of Maryland's RPI, but it does help Maryland in their BPI. For every game their is a game BPI, based on site, margin, pace, and opponent strength. The 2 point loss to Duke actually had a game BPI of 88 and the 2 point loss to Syracuse had a game BPI of 83.5. Seven of Maryland's losses had game BPI's of 70 or higher(UCONN*, GW, Pitt, @UVA, @DUKE, CUSE, and @CLEM).

3. BPI uses game wight, which recognizes if a team had all their top players.

This helps Maryland, because Seth Allen was hurt for the first 12 games of the season. Maryland's BPI without Seth was 72.6, but with Seth was 75.8. The 72.6 is weighted less, because Seth was hurt helping Maryland's BPI. RPI doesn't consider top players missing.

I just found this surprising, and maybe, Maryland isn't as bad as we all think they are.

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