Make that 31 and “Phew!” for Miami-Ohio.
The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee stamped the RedHawks as legitimate and rescued the last team in the country to lose its undefeated record from the bubble with inclusion in the 68-team bracket as a No. 11 seed.
However, they will have to go to Dayton and play SMU in the First Four for the right to face No. 6 Tennessee in the Midwest region.
Miami-Ohio finished the regular season with a 31-0 record but choked in its first game of the MAC Tournament, losing to UMass. Akron stole the league’s automatic bid by winning the tournament, but the MAC was able to secure an at-large bid for the first time since 1999.
Of the five teams to go undefeated during the regular season in the 21st century, only Miami-Ohio and St. Joseph’s (2004) lost in its conference tournament. St. Joseph’s still received a No. 1 seed.
But seeding is much more metrics-based nowadays and the numbers made this a close call.
The Redhawks’ non-conference strength of schedule ranked No. 361 (out of 365). Within the MAC – the NCAA’s 17th-ranked conference, for what it’s worth – they didn’t even have the best NET rating (Akron).
The 31-0 start included zero Quad 1 (most-difficult) games and 15 Quad 4 (easiest) games.
The one metric favoring Miami-Ohio was Wins Above Bubble, where it ranked No. 38 – ahead of fellow bubble teams like Santa Clara, Missouri, VCU and Missouri.
Former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl has been one of the biggest critics of Miami-Ohio’s résumé, though his opinion was clouded by DNA. Pearl’s son, Steven, replaced his father and led the Tigers to a 17-16 mark – no team has ever gotten in with 16 losses or a record one game above .500.
The Selection Committee could’ve had fun with a Miami-Ohio/Auburn matchup in the First Four but instead favored the 31-game winning streak over a mediocre team in the powerhouse SEC.
One year ago, the committee handed out bids to SEC-bottom-feeders instead of worthy mid-majors and looked foolish.
