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About-Face: Terps Will Host NIT Game
Maryland standout Nik Caner- Medley is unsure to play in an NIT second-round game on Saturday.
(By Katherine Frey -- The Washington Post)
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This offseason, Williams said he will research components of the Rating Percentage Index, the often misunderstood mathematical measurement that the committee uses to help determine tournament berths. He also will consider whether it would be beneficial to adjust his schedule in an attempt to raise his team's RPI.
"All I want to know going into next year is what we need to do schedule-wise or whatever," he said. "That's what my job is going to be, coming up very soon."
In some instances, the committee seemed to rely heavily on computer rankings, particularly with the Valley schools. In recent weeks, Williams has been at the forefront of a debate on whether the Valley has outsmarted the RPI by the way its teams have scheduled.
But in other instances, the committee seemed to rely less on statistical analysis. Air Force and Utah State both unexpectedly received at-large bids even though both schools had worse RPIs than Maryland.
Williams noted that the 10-member committee included a high number of representatives from mid-major conferences, but added that he did not know how that affected the process.
"What's made the NCAA tournament is the six major conferences," Williams said. "They have lined up most of the schools in the sweet 16 every year. All of the sudden there has been a big push to include more schools from more conferences."
Williams was also baffled how the ACC received fewer bids than the SEC, which had six teams make the field. The ACC was ranked third among all conferences, according to CollegeRPI.com, one spot ahead of the SEC.
Between 1980 and 2005, only six ACC schools that finished .500 or better in the conference did not make the NCAA tournament. This year, two schools -- Florida State and Maryland -- finished .500 or better in the ACC and did not make it.
"And it's with more teams [12] in the league this year," Williams said. "In the expansion sale, that was kind of the sell they made to the basketball coaches -- 'Well, you'll get more teams in the basketball tournament.' I guess that's not necessarily true."
Maryland's shortcomings, however, had less to do with its RPI of 48 and more to do with a bland tournament profile. While the Terps did not have what would be considered a bad loss, they only had two victories against top 50 competition -- Boston College and Arkansas -- and none since leading scorer Chris McCray was ruled academically ineligible Jan. 23.
They won six of 14 games without McCray, which included three against the ACC's 11th-place team, Georgia Tech. They also won only two road games this season. Only one school among the RPI's top 100 -- Louisville -- won fewer road games.
