Both Maryland lacrosse teams are top-2 in first RPI rankings of season

With the postseason quickly approaching in spring sports, it’s time to get acclimated to an old friend: the Ratings Percentage Index, or RPI.

While this statistic’s significance has lessened in college basketball due to new ways to measure how good a team is, it’s still incredibly important in other sports. One of these sports is lacrosse, and both Maryland teams should feel great about where they stand right now.

The women’s team took the top spot in the first rankings released by the NCAA on Monday, while the men came in at No. 2 behind Albany.

Both Cathy Reese and John Tillman’s teams play and win against incredibly tough schedules, which is exactly what the RPI rewards. The women’s team is currently 13-1 with three wins against the RPI top 10 and seven against the RPI top 20, while the men’s team is 9-1 with two wins against the RPI top 10 and six wins against the RPI top 20.

Both teams are basically a lock for the NCAA Tournament at this point, and they also have a chance to be the top seed in their respective brackets. The men’s team has a clearer path, as winning out or losing in the Big Ten Tournament Championship would give the Terps a good chance to be the top overall seed for the third straight year. Although Albany has wins over Maryland, Syracuse and Cornell, the Terps have more opportunities to pick up resume-building wins than the Great Danes.

For the women’s team, the path isn’t as clear. Both Boston College and Stony Brook remain undefeated, and BC could potentially go undefeated and roll through the ACC, which may be too much for the selection committee to ignore. (Stony Brook, meanwhile, is No. 8 and could drop further due to playing in the America East.) The Terps are in great position, but might not be in complete control of their own destiny regarding tournament seeding.

In other news

Both teams continue to win awards from the Big Ten, as attack Logan Wisnauskas won Freshman of the Week on the men’s side and goalie Megan Taylor won Defensive Player of the Week for the women.

The women’s team had a scare last night at Princeton before rallying to win, 11-10. Megan Whittle tied the school’s all-time mark for career goals in the win, and here’s the Baltimore Sun on the senior closing in on her idol and current co-record holder, Jen Adams.

Also from the Sun, here’s Don Markus on linebacker Jalen Brooks competing in a contest with other students where he gets to travel around Europe.

The baseball team finally won a midweek game, besting James Madison in 12 innings.

The Diamondback released its annual salary guide Monday. Here’s how Maryland’s coaches stack up.

In national news, Kansas and NC State are now caught up in the FBI’s investigation into corruption in college basketball.