From perfection to sweating on Selection Sunday.
Miami (Ohio)’s perfect season ended with a shocking 87-83 loss to eighth-seeded UMass in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals Thursday.
The Redhawks blew an 11-point lead with 8:33 remaining, allowing a 29-14 run to close the game.
Miami (Ohio) is now 31-1, yet there will be consternation while it spends the next 72 hours waiting to learn its NCAA Tournament fate.
ESPN projected the Redhawks to be a No. 11 seed entering the day, which offered some wiggle room.
While it may seem strange to think that a 31-1 team may be on the bubble, the MAC does not provide many quality wins and Miami (Ohio) did not play a tough non-conference schedule.
The Redhawks rank 54th in the NET and 93rd in KenPom’s metrics.
There are those who argue that major-conference teams, despite having double-digit losses, should receive a bid over a team that did not face stiff competition en route to a 31-0 start.
Leading that charge is former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, who has vouched for the Tigers — now coached by his son, Stephen.
“If we’re selecting the 68 best teams, then Miami is going to have to win their tournament to qualify as a champion,” Pearl said recently.
“Because, as an at-large, they are not one of the best teams in the country.”
This led to to Miami (Ohio) athletic director David Sayler firing back at Pearl.
“@coachbrucepearl u are flat out wrong about @MiamiOH_BBall when u say we would finish last in the Big East,” Sayler wrote on X. “The disrespect is awful and u should not be near a TV studio covering this sport when u show your true colors! Even slipped in a “we” when talking about Auburn, nice work!”
Miami would have helped its standing had it not choked away this quarterfinal.
The Redhawks led, 69-58, with 8:33 remaining before their defense took the rest of the game off.
The Minutemen rallied to tie the game at 71 roughly three minutes later, and Daniel Hankins-Sanford’s layup with 29 seconds remaining gave UMass an 83-81 edge it didn’t relinquish.
