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 to Cleveland after becoming only the third school to run the table in the conference and the first to do so since Miami pulled off the feat nearly seven decades ago. The tournament’s top seed plays No. 8 seed Massachusetts in the opening game Thursday at Rocket Arena.
The RedHawks might 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 that the NCAA uses to help seed its 68-team field had them at No. 53 through Monday, while KenPom’s ranking had them at No. 91 — 29 spots below fellow MAC school Akron.
The reason is simple: Miami’s strength of schedule is 274th out of 365 Division I teams. It includes NAIA schools Indiana University East and Milligan, plus Mercyhurst, which just moved up to Division I a couple of years ago. The RedHawks’ biggest wins have come against Akron and Kent State, conference rivals that need a tournament title this week 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 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
Duke could be without Patrick Ngongba II and Caleb Foster because of injuries when the top-seeded Blue Devils begin tournament play Thursday. Virginia is seeded second and earned a double bye, as did No. 3 seed Miami and No. 4 North Carolina.
Big 12 Tournament
Defending champion Houston is seeded second behind Arizona, while No. 3 seed Kansas and No. 4 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 17 and swiped the No. 1 seed in the Big East away from Connecticut. Both will play quarterfinals Friday along with No. 3 seed Villanova and No. 4 Seton Hall.
Big Ten Tournament
Michigan is seeded first and will play its quarterfinal Friday. No. 2 seed Nebraska, No. 3 Michigan State and No. 4 Illinois also got two free passes, while Iowa is among the likely NCAA Tournament teams that must play Wednesday.
Big Ten Tournament preview: Illinois men need a March mindset — and rebuilt Michigan looks to repeat
SEC Tournament
Defending national champion Florida has the No. 1 seed and will play its quarterfinal Friday along with No. 2 seed Alabama, No. 3 Arkansas and No. 4 Vanderbilt.
