CLEVELAND (AP) — Travis Steele went 31 games and 363 days before addressing a losing locker room.
Now, the Miami (Ohio) coach and his squad must wait an excruciating three days before finding out if they've made the NCAA Tournament.
The 20th-ranked RedHawks became the last men’s Division I program to fall from the unbeaten ranks on Thursday as UMass rallied in the second half for an 87-83 victory in the Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
“It was a little bit of shell shock. We hate to lose, and our guys put a lot into it. So does UMass,” Steele said. “Not a lot was said. I think sometimes you’ve got to get the emotion out of you first before directing your team. So we’ll do that when we get back to the hotel.”
Miami was the fifth team this century to go undefeated in the regular season and the first since Gonzaga in 2020-21. The RedHawks join Saint Joseph’s — which lost to Xavier in the 2004 Atlantic 10 quarterfinals — as teams whose unbeaten run ended in their conference tournament.
That Saint Joe's team didn’t have to worry about its March Madness fate. Led by Jameer Nelson and Delonte West, the Hawks were the top-ranked team in the country at the end of the regular season and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Miami’s road is more precarious. Its strength of schedule ranks 344th out of 365 Division I teams, according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool.
The RedHawks faced no Tier 1 teams and were 2-0 against Tier 2 squads.
“Undefeated means something, and so my hope is that they would make it,” said Grant Hill, who will call the NCAA Tournament and the Final Four for CBS and TNT Sports. “They’ve got a chip on their shoulder. I think to see them get into the tournament, they want to prove themselves against some of the bigger teams.”
The last time the MAC got two bids was 1999. Miami got the at-large bid that year after losing to Kent State in the tournament final and advanced to the Sweet 16.
UMass coach Frank Martin — who led South Carolina to the Final Four in 2017 — echoed many in saying that Miami deserves a tournament bid.
“It’d be an embarrassment. A complete embarrassment if this league doesn’t get two teams in,” Martin said.
Steele, who was still reeling from the loss, wasn’t in the mood to hear about the MAC possibly having two teams in the field.
“I couldn’t care less about the MAC getting multi bids, just to be quite frank. I know the MAC probably wanted that,” he said. “It’s more about just putting ourselves in the best position, which I think we’ve done. Our guys have earned the right, in my opinion, to play the NCAA Tournament.
“I’m not letting anybody take (over) my mind. I’m not going to waste one second. When you’ve been fired before (at Xavier), you don’t care anymore. You don’t care what people think. You don’t have to be politically correct all that stuff, guys. I’m just telling you, I’m going to live life the way I live it unapologetically.”
Miami senior Peter Suder, the MAC Player of the Year, said his team’s resume speaks for itself.
“I think we proved during the regular season that we earned a spot, but I can just control what I can control,” he said. “We’re going to still get better every day and stay consistent with what we do. So we’re going to learn from this and face the next challenge in whatever’s in front of us.”
The last team to go through the regular season unbeaten and not make the NCAA Tournament was Alcorn State in 1978-79. That was because the Southwest Athletic Conference was in a transition period to Division I and did not have an automatic bid.
Even after Thursday’s loss, many bracketologists still have the RedHawks in the field. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Miami supplanting Auburn, while Fox Sports’ Mike DeCourcy also has them in.
Neither project the RedHawks going to Dayton for the First Four.
“It’s a legendary accomplishment and one game today doesn’t change that in my mind,” Miami athletic director David Sayler said. “I believe the committee will get it, and certainly anyone who played the game and knows what the grind of a season is like, going undefeated in league play, they get it as well.”
The win over Miami was UMass’ first in the MAC Tournament. The Minutemen are in their first season in the conference after 43 years in the Atlantic 10.
Eian Elmer’s 3-pointer gave Miami a 69-58 advantage with 8:33 remaining, but the Minutemen rallied and tied it at 71-all with 5:33 remaining.
The key to UMass’ victory was controlling the boards. The Minutemen outrebounded the RedHawks 41-24 and had 23 second-chance points off 17 offensive boards.
Martin said he was more nervous coming into Thursday’s game than at any point during his 20 years as a head coach. He hopes UMass can match Xavier’s run. After beating Saint Joseph’s, the Musketeers went on to win the tournament.
Martin was emotional reflecting on the game, and said after a long pause, “I feel bad for Miami, but I’m happy for our guys.”
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
