Bracketology, Just Because: Maryland and New Mexico Edition

"Have YOU seen our win against UNC?! They are No. 1!... If you mention that American game again I'LL KILL YOU!"

In the edict for those of us on the Intertubes that use words to describe college basketball in informed (hopefully) and entertaining (rarely) ways, the right to create a bracket is indelible. It's right there with making fun of Dick Vitale and finding Erin Andrews attractive in the "Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness" portion of our Constitution. And even though you can go basically anywhere else to get one of these bad boys (including here, here, here and here), I'm going to post my projected bracket every Tuesday and Friday until Selection Sunday anyway, with each including a extra special bonus*: a profile of a Bubble team or two.
*bonus may not be extra or special

Since it's basically impossible to post an entire bracket in a Blogger post without burning the retinas of readers, you can check it out in beautiful yet annoying spreadsheet form by clicking the link below. (Conference champs, the yellow cells, based on current league standings).

Bracketology, March 4

Last Four In: UMass (62), Maryland (63), Western Kentucky (64), Kentucky (65)
First Four Out: New Mexico (66), Houston (67), Syracuse (68), Virginia Tech (69)

Bubble Profiles
Previously:
February 26, Rhode Island and UAB
February 29, St. Joe's and Kentucky

IN: Maryland
Record: 18-12 (8-7, ACC), 5-3 road, 1-6 vs. Top 50, 7-10 vs. Top 100
RPI: 64
Key Wins: at North Carolina, Wake Forest (2).
Key Losses: UCLA, Missouri, VCU, Ohio (home), American (home), Virginia Tech (2), Miami, Clemson (home).

Never has a Bubble team clung so tightly to a single victory as the Terps are Kung-fu death gripping onto that victory at No. 1 UNC. As you can see, they have beaten no one else of significance and earned seven of their eight conference wins by beating the bottom half of the league. On paper and even on the court, the Terps look like a team good enough to be in the NCAAs, but the resume is about as suspect as anyone's. Playing 17 games against top 100 RPI teams will get you some SOS points, but again, that ONE win against UNC represents the only over an actual tournament team. Basically, Maryland is in right now because it's MARYLAND and the sight of them beating the Heels in Chapel Hill is one that conjures up memories of past Terp teams that didn't, you know, suck.

How To Stay/Get In: Well, they are in right now because of how bad some of the other Bubble teams are and there's no reason why the Terps can't continue to beat bad teams until they face an actual good one, lose, and then watch as other teams choke them into one of the last at-large bids. Right now they must win at Virginia Sunday and then will be set up for a probable elimination game against Virginia Tech, which has swept the Terps so far this year, in the ACC quarters (they could also match up with Miami, which also beat them, in a similar situation, although the Canes are probably in pretty safely). The question is, if they get to the ACC semis by simply beating another equally mediocre team and then inevitably lose to Duke/UNC, will 20 wins, ten in the ACC but NONE over any tournament teams besides the Heels, will that one win boost them into the NCAAs? It's likely going to be a situation where the Terps' fate is determined by other teams' failures, which means the entire Maryland regular season will have been reduced basically to the day of January 19.

OUT: New Mexico
Record: 22-7 (9-5, Mountain West), 7-5 road, 1-4 vs. Top 50, 2-5 vs. Top 100
RPI: 53
Key Wins: Texas Tech, New Mexico State,
Key Losses: Mississippi, BYU (2), UNLV, TCU

I'm only writing about the Lobos because I know nothing about them and by looking at their resume have absolutely no idea how this team could be considered an NCAA Tournament team. I have them as the first team out basically due to ignorance. So I wanted to examine them further and see if I could divine something, anything, that would warrant NCAA consideration. Come along for the ride, won't you? First, I was SHOCKED to find Texas Tech, the Lobos only "significant" win, in the RPI Top 50. That alone should be reason to throw out the RPI this season. Second, the Lobos are basically another team that beat every bad team they played and lost to every good team they played. They are 0-3 against the top two, BYU and UNLV, in the Mountain West and given their extremely easy schedule, those games are the only shot the Lobos have had at beating a Tournament team. As you can see, 20 of their wins are against teams with an RPI of more than 100 and eight of those are against teams beyond 200. OK, so upon further review, they suck more than I had previously believed.

How To Stay/Get In: Now that I know a little bit more about New Mexico, it would be a complete fraud and perfectly wonderful indicator of how bad the Bubble is if it gets in. That being said, the Lobos somehow have a massive game tonight when they host UNLV and if they win, they will, in defiance of God, be penciled in to the tourney field by most Bracketologists. Well not this one. New Mexico will have to beat UNLV and then defeat either BYU or the Rebels en route to the Mountain West final (which is in Vegas) to gain consideration from me. I just don't see how you can reward this team for not beating anyone of significance over teams like Kentucky, Syracuse and Dayton, which have wins over Top 10 teams. Plus, I don't see how the Lobos have a better resume than lower mid-majors like Stephen F. Austin or Siena or even Robert Morris, which have also simply beat the teams they should and lost to the others (actually SFA has won at Oklahoma, Siena won at Stanford and Robert Morris has beaten BC). Yes the Mountain West is better than those teams' conferences, but that doesn't mean those within it play a considerably better schedule. Don't expect New Mexico to be in Friday's field, no matter what happens.