Miami-Ohio’s Tournament Journey Begins

When I finally saw the news, I just sighed, “Whew!” Miami-Ohio made the cut.

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee confirmed the RedHawks’ place as they secured a position in the 68-team lineup as the No. 11 seed—this was a sigh of relief for them, especially as the last team not to lose their undefeated streak due to the bubble scenario.

Miami-Ohio, one of the last AT-large selections, is set to go up against SMU in the First Four on Wednesday. The winner will earn a spot as the 11th seed in the Midwest Region, facing No. 6 Tennessee shortly after.

The university wrapped up its regular season with an impressive 31-0 record, but unfortunately, they hit a snag in the MAC Tournament, losing to UMass. Akron snagged the league’s automatic bid by winning that tournament, though the MAC did manage to grab an at-large bid for the first time since 1999.

Interestingly, among the five undefeated teams in the 21st century, only Miami-Ohio, along with St. Joseph’s in 2004, faced defeat in their conference tournaments. St. Joseph’s still managed to secure a No. 1 seed, though. But, you know, seeding these days is based more on numbers, and Miami-Ohio’s situation was a tight one.

Their non-conference schedule, for instance, was ranked at the bottom—361 out of 365—which certainly raised some eyebrows. In the MAC, which currently holds the 17th rank in the NCAA, they didn’t even have the best NET rating; that honor went to Akron.

The RedHawks’ undefeated run included zero high-caliber Quad 1 games and a notable 15 Quad 4 games, marking them as amongst the easier contests.

What did help Miami-Ohio, however, was the Wins Above Bubble metric, where they ranked 38th, putting them ahead of several other bubble contenders like Santa Clara and Missouri.

Interestingly, former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl has been quite vocal in critiquing Miami-Ohio’s report. It’s worth noting his perspective might be a bit biased; after all, his son, Stephen, is currently leading the Tigers with a 17-16 record—despite the fact that historically, no team has lost 16 games and still had a record above .500.

In the end, while the selection committee might have considered a Miami-Ohio vs. Auburn matchup for the First Four, they opted to value the 31-game winning streak over a mediocre team from the SEC. After all, one could argue that the committee acted foolishly last year by favoring a lesser-performing SEC team over a deserving mid-major.