Just over 40 miles away from its home arena in Oxford, Miami (OH) got its 2026 NCAA Tournament journey started in the First Four against SMU. The RedHawks had plenty of support at University of Dayton Arena – including the swim team, decked out in Speedos.

The swim team members arrived at the game ready to distract SMU players during free throws. They got their chance in the second half when Corey Washington stepped to the line, which allowed them to run down the aisle and get behind the basket.

Then, the arena erupted after Washington missed his first attempt. Andy Enfield could only look on as the crowd got loud and lit a spark under the RedHawks. In fact, from that point on, Miami (OH) proceeded to open up a 13-1 run to re-gain control of the First Four matchup.

Miami (OH) became one of the stories of college basketball this season with an undefeated 31-0 record heading into the MAC Tournament. However, the RedHawks fell to UMass in the quarterfinals, meaning they had to wait for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

On Selection Sunday, there was plenty of intrigue around this year’s bubble with multiple teams in play for the last few spots. Became of Miami (OH)’s loss, a bid-stealer – Akron – came out of the MAC and an at-large spot was taken off the board.

The RedHawks wound up as one of the last teams in the field. Missouri, Texas and SMU also made the cut, which spelled bad news for Auburn and Oklahoma. The Tigers and Sooners were both among the first four teams out of the March Madness bracket.

However, despite what some thought after the bracket reveal, Miami (OH) was not the last team in the NCAA Tournament, selection committee chairman Keith Gill said on the show. SMU – the RedHawks’ opponent in Dayton – was the No. 68 overall seed and, therefore, the last team in the field.

“Miami of Ohio was not the last team selected into the field,” Gill said. “They came in before NC State, Texas and SMU, and when we did our scrubbing process, those teams scrubbed above them relative to the predictive metrics and also the difference in the quality of the wins. So they scrubbed up above them.”