Miami (OH) lost. Now what?
The RedHawks were the only team in men’s Division-I college basketball to go undefeated in the regular season and entered the MAC Tournament at 31-0. However, they lost 87-83 to No. 8-seed UMass in the quarterfinals, which puts their NCAA Tournament hopes in the hands of the selection committee.
We asked you, the fans, what should happen to Miami if they don’t cut down the nets in Cleveland, and 89% said it should get an at-large bid.
You’re not alone.
“It’d be an embarrassment,
a complete embarrassment if this league doesn’t get two teams in,” UMass head coach Frank Martin said after the Minutemen’s quarterfinal win over the RedHawks. “This league’s too good. I’ve coached in Conference USA, Big East. Name the league, I’ve been in it. The top two teams in this league are as good as anyone in some of those leagues that I just mentioned. It’d be a complete embarrassment if that doesn’t happen.”
The MAC is rated as the 14th-best conference, which is in the top half of the 31 Division-I conference.
Miami is currently listed as an 11-seed in Joe Lunardi’s bracket and is among the last four byes as a team that is just ahead of the First Four.
Travis Steele’s team will be the only team in the nation with fewer than two losses on Selection Sunday.
The RedHawks are 54th in the NET, 87th in BartTorvik and 93rd in KenPom. Each of those rankings sits behind teams on the wrong side of the bubble.
“I’m not letting anyone take my mind,” Steele said following the MAC Tournament loss. “I’m not going to waste one second. When you’ve been fired before, you don’t care anymore. You don’t care what people think. You don’t have to be politically correct. … I’m going to live life the way I live it unapologetically.”
Miami is the eighth team to enter its conference tournament undefeated since seeding began in 1979. It is the second to get upset in its conference tournament, joining Saint Joseph’s in 2004. The Hawks, who fell in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals, garnered a No. 1 seed.
“It would send a poor message for Tournament inclusion in this year to have Miami (OH) at 31-1 outside of the Field of 68, in favor of teams with a loss count that is what? Ten more, 12 more, 13 more, even more than that when we’re looking at the situation of Auburn,” CBS Sports’ Chip Patterson said on CBS Sports HQ.
Simply put, the NCAA Tournament is a TV show that lives on storylines. Miami has been one of, if not the biggest and best, stories in the country the last month. The RedHawks need to be in. And let’s have them avoid Dayton, please. 31-1 deserves to go right into the Round of 64.
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