The power conferences tend to hog the spotlight during championship week, whether it’s top-ranked Duke trying to win another ACC Tournament title, second-ranked Arizona trying to win its first in the Big 12, or all those other schools trying to spring an upset.
One of the most intriguing tournaments, though, just might be the Mid-American Conference.
No. 20 Miami (Ohio) brings a 31-0 record into Cleveland, Ohio, after becoming only the third school to run the table in the league, and the first to do so since the RedHawks — then known as the Redskins — pulled off the feat nearly seven decades ago. The tournament’s top seed plays No. 8 seed UMass in the opening game Thursday at Rocket Arena.
The RedHawks might just need to win it. And keep winning.
Because while fans have come to love the gritty, win-at-all costs RedHawks, and AP Top 25 voters have had them solidly in their poll for weeks, the advanced metrics are far more skeptical. The NET rankings used by the NCAA to help seed its 68-team field had them at No. 55 on Sunday night, while KenPom’s ranking had them at No. 91 as this week began.
The reason is simple: Their strength of schedule is 274th out of 365 teams in Division I basketball. It includes NAIA schools Indiana University East and Milligan, and Mercyhurst, which just moved up to Division I a couple of years ago. In fact, the RedHawks’ biggest wins have come against Akron and Kent State, fellow MAC schools that need a tourney title to make the NCAA field.
RedHawks coach Travis Steele is right to bristle at the naysayers, though. Miami has merely played the schedule that was put in front of it. And much of that was made years ago, before anyone knew just how good the RedHawks could be.
“I knew it was going to be a complete rebuild,” said Steele, who is finishing up his fourth season after a four-year stint at Xavier. “But we wanted to build it the slow, steady way, to where we could get a foundation to where it’s more sustainable.”
The first couple of years were lean, but Miami went 25-9 last season, when it lost by two to Akron in the MAC title game.
In other words, the RedHawks are no one-hit wonder.
“Where we are in college athletics, a lot of things are year to year,” Steele said. “Like, you can put together one really good team and you can be awful the next year. We won 25 games last year. We won 31 this year. But our goal is not to win 31 games. Our goal is to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. That’s where anything can happen.”
So long as the RedHawks get there, first.
ACC Tournament
The Blue Devils could be without Patrick Ngongba II and Caleb Foster because of injuries when the No. 1 seed begins the ACC tourney on Thursday. Virginia is seeded second and earned a double-bye, as did No. 3 seed Miami and No. 4 seed North Carolina.
Big 12 Tournament
Defending champion Houston is seeded second behind Arizona in the Big 12 tourney, while No. 3 seed Kansas and No. 4 seed Texas Tech also earned byes into Thursday’s quarterfinals. Seventh-ranked Iowa State is seeded fifth and will open Wednesday.
Big East Tournament
The hottest team in the nation might be St. John’s, which has won 16 of its last 17 and swiped the No. 1 seed in the Big East away from UConn. They both will play quarterfinals on Friday along with No. 3 seed Villanova and fourth-seeded Seton Hall.
Big Ten Tournament
Michigan is seeded first in the Big Ten and will play its quarterfinal Friday. Second-seeded Nebraska, third-seeded Michigan State and No. 4 seed Illinois also got two free passes, while Iowa is among the likely NCAA tourney teams that must play Wednesday.
SEC Tournament
Defending national champion Florida has the No. 1 seed in its conference tournament. It will play its quarterfinal Friday along with No. 2 seed Alabama, third-seeded Arkansas and No. 4 seed Vanderbilt.
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