CLEVELAND, Ohio — The hottest team in all of men’s college basketball is coming to Cleveland this week to fulfill its destiny.
The No. 20 Miami RedHawks just capped off an undefeated 31-0 regular season. Now, they look to win the men’s Mid-American Conference Tournament, which will take place at Rocket Arena Thursday through Saturday.
Last year, Miami’s season ended in heartbreak with a loss in the MAC Tournament championship. This time around, they take the stage as the country’s most talked-about team for a number of reasons.
For one, Miami is the country’s only undefeated men’s team.
They became the 21st team in men’s Division I hoops history, and the first MAC team, to have an undefeated regular season.
The RedHawks can really score, ranking second nationwide in points (90.9) while holding the top spot in field goal percentage (52.6%).
Despite the dominance, Miami’s legitimacy has been questioned, because their schedule is not dotted with big-name opponents. And there’s debate over whether they should make the NCAA Tournament field if they don’t win the MAC Tournament title and the league’s automatic bid.
All eyes are on the RedHawks this week.
“I told our guys, listen, it’s good to have recognition,” Miami coach Travis Steele said. “But at the same time, we all didn’t come here just to be ranked. We came here for bigger goals than that and actually get to the NCAA Tournament.”
Here’s the story of how they’ve done it, why Speedos are showing up at their games, and what this week means for their legacy.
Miami forward Eian Elmer.APSuperstitions
An undefeated season usually comes with superstitions, and some of the players have their own to live by before each game.
Though the RedHawks wear red, Steele wears blue T-shirts underneath his quarter-zip.
It’s his lucky shirt, and he wears it every game at the request of his 3-year-old daughter.
“She loves my shirts that I wear underneath my quarter zip,” Steele told ESPN. “I’ve got a Skyline Chili shirt and I’ve got an Ultimate Warrior T-shirt. She likes that.”
Senior guard Peter Suder wears the same game socks every game, though he makes sure they’re washed.
Redshirt sophomore forward Brant Byers eats candy before games, particularly Jolly Ranchers or Life Savers.
Junior forward Eian Elmer wears the James Harden Volume 9 Adidas shoes and started the season with eight pairs, but he gets rid of a pair if he has a bad game in them. Elmer is down to six pairs.
“I had two bad games in them,” Elmer said. “It was time to give them up.”
Miami forward Brant Byers.APBuckets
It’s a thing of beauty when you watch the RedHawks set up their halfcourt offense.
All five players space out behind the arc and display pristine ball movement, crisp screens and cuts, pick-and-pops, and they won’t stop moving until they get the right shot.
Their offense compares best to European basketball — a fundamentally sound style of play that can tire out an opposing defense without trying.
“Our offense is super fun to play with and we got great guys, a great arsenal of a bunch of offensive weapons for that,” Suder said in January.
It’s led to 90.9 points per game, the second-most in the country, trailing only Alabama (92.1), while ranking first in field goal percentage (52.6%).
The 3-ball is also in the arsenal for the RedHawks. They rank 25th in 3-pointers made per game (10.4) and ninth in 3-point percentage (39.3%).
Suder leads the team in points (14.8), but six of the RedHawks average double digits. Even with the loss of junior guard Evan Ipsaro 12 games into this season due to an ACL tear, Miami found the next man without missing a beat.
“You look at our numbers; we’ve had seven guys this year score 20 (points) or more in a game,” Steele said. “You don’t really know who to take away from us. And I think that’s what makes us hard to guard.”
Miami guard Peter Suder.APBring on the Speedos
The Miami RedHawks swimming and diving team stuck out in its own unique way.
They could be seen behind the hoop during home games in their team swim gear, including Speedos.
When an opposing player prepared for a free throw, the swimming and diving team set out to distract them by waving their T-shirts in the air or crowd-surfing one of their swimmers.
“Well, the swim team was shocking to say the least,” Steele told ESPN. “When I saw them the first time in their Speedos down there, their swim gear, but just the whole overall community has just been incredible.”
Fans have caught wind of it and sent Steele Speedos in the mail.
“I’ve had a couple sent to me in the mail,” Steele told Caleb Noe of WCPO. “One of them had stitched into it, an ‘M’ for Miami.”
It got to the point where Steele sat down with Rece Davis on ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’, and Davis asked Steele if he’d wear a Speedo on Selection Sunday if Miami stayed undefeated and won the MAC tournament.
What a turn of events.
Steele agreed.
“Done!” Steele said. “It’s done. Yes.”
Close wins
Every team is out to knock off Miami, yet the RedHawks have prevailed each time.
Eight of Miami’s outings during the regular season were one-possession wins, or in other words, won by three points or less.
There was the 105-102 overtime win over Buffalo, where Elmer’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer extended the game and Suder hit the game-winner in overtime.
Then there was the 110-108 season finale win over their rival, the Ohio Bobcats, where Suder made two clutch free throws to grab the lead.
Miami guard Trey Perry, center rear, puts up the game-winning shot against Western Michigan in a February game.AP
One of the RedHawks’ most impressive wins was a 69-67 outing over Western Michigan.
The Broncos led for 74% of the game. Suder fouled out with just over seven minutes left. Elmer shot poorly and Byers couldn’t find a rhythm.
Despite this, the RedHawks leaned on freshman guard Trey Perry, who made his first career start in place of then-injured sophomore guard Luke Skaljac. Perry and junior forward Almar Atlason combined for 30 points. Perry put the cherry on top with the game-winning layup.
Finding ways to win tight games is an important ability to hold in March.
Miami head coach Travis Steele.APTrashed DJ equipment
You can’t forget about Steele’s viral moment going into halftime in the Feb. 27 matchup with Western Michigan.
Steele received a technical foul after giving the officials a piece of his mind, angrily walked out, then pushed over a DJ’s speakers.
Steele was fined $2,500 by the Mid-American Conference for violating the league’s sportsmanship policy and had to reimburse Western Michigan’s arena DJ Charles Welch for damage to his equipment.
“We had a little verbal confrontation up under the tunnel,” Welch told ESPN. “He didn’t initially go into the locker room. He was still yelling and shouting. I was like, ‘Yo, what’s your problem?’.”
After the win, Steele spoke on the moment where his emotions got the best of him.
“Listen, I don’t even know how I got that technical,” Steele said. “I’m still trying to figure that one out. That really upset me. And I can’t do that. I can’t get technical fouls.
“Again, the margin for error is so small, and I’ve got to be better.”
Questioned
The biggest debate in all of college basketball is whether the RedHawks should make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team if they fail to win the MAC Tournament.
It has become a question of how legitimacy should be measured.
The debate of Miami’s legitimacy rose when former Auburn coach and now TV analyst Bruce Pearl stated his doubts of Miami.
“If we’re selecting the 68 best teams, then Miami is going to have to win their tournament to qualify as a champion. Because as an at-large, they are not one of the best teams in the country,” Pearl said.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith gave his opinion of the RedHawks during last Thursday’s edition of “First Take.”
“There is no reason on God’s green earth why a team that goes 30-0 in the regular season — only the fourth team in the last 45 years to do so— can’t make a field of 1 of 68,“ Smith said.
Even Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard, a nine-time NBA All-Star and NBA 75th Anniversary Team selectee, took to X with his thoughts.
“Can somebody explain to me how Miami OH should/would not get an (at-large) bid? I’m confused…,” Lillard said on X.
‘Weak’ schedule
Because Miami is doing what it’s doing as a mid-major school, its mid-major status has fueled doubt among outsiders.
There are two factors people use to level Miami to their competition.
One way is through strength of schedule. It’s a way for people to see who Miami has played, and if that it’d indicate they’d match up with teams from power conferences.
One resource for measuring that is KenPom.com. It’s a popular website filled with data and analytics used to measure teams in college basketball.
Miami ranks 274th in strength of schedule.
That indicates Miami’s regular-season schedule was weak — by those metrics, Akron is the best team they’ve faced.
Steele has spoken about the struggles of constructing a good schedule. In short: There are no big-name opponents on the RedHawks’ schedule because no big-name opponents would play them.
“Scheduling was hard, especially with our retention. I knew we were in trouble in June. I was uneasy,” Steele told “Field of 68“. “We kept trying. We waited until October to finalize. Nothing fell our way.
“We have a long list of teams that said no or wouldn’t hit us back”
In the eyes of the doubters, unless Miami is playing the heavyweights of college basketball, its undefeated record holds no weight.
Miami head coach Travis Steele.John Kuntz, cleveland.com‘Unfinished business’
Redemption may be the most important factor newcomers to the Miami RedHawks story don’t yet know about.
Miami has not experienced a loss since March 15 — the same day they blew an 18-point lead to Akron and lost the MAC Tournament championship.
The game was in the palm of their hands and they couldn’t capitalize.
That feeling has not left them. Steele has revisited that game multiple times, noting that, as he puts it, the RedHawks “led for 39 minutes and 56 seconds.”
“When you’re in a locker room, it’s very fragile after an emotional ending like that. Because you pour your heart and soul into it,” Steele said. “Our guys, they give everything. And they’re rock stars both on and off the court, so it was hard.”
This season has been about getting back to that point. By any means necessary.
If anything, that game created a monster. Because the RedHawks have shown how good they are, but there’s a likelihood an undefeated regular season isn’t their peak.
They’ve managed to run through the conference in a manner that’s caught the country by surprise.
“When I met with them individually, they all kind of said to me, ‘Listen, we’re going to go over and beyond to make sure that this doesn’t happen next year’. And they’ve done it,” Steele said.
Miami fans earlier this season against Bowling Green.APLegacy
The men’s MAC Tournament starts Thursday at Rocket Arena.
Miami will return to a site where it last left in heartbreak.
All eyes are on them. Fans, doubters, and everyone in between will tune in, rooting for the RedHawks’ success, or downfall.
With factors lining up against the RedHawks, their best way into the NCAA Tournament is through an automatic bid, meaning they’ll have to win the MAC Tournament championship — and they’d enter March Madness at 34-0.
If that were to happen, this weekend’s Selection Sunday could be one for the ages.