Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
By Drew Lerner on

The Miami (Ohio) RedHawks are in the NCAA Tournament, but barely.

The undefeated MAC regular-season champions fell in the quarterfinals of their conference tournament, dropping them to a pitiful 31-1 record on the year. That one loss will send the RedHawks down the road to Dayton, OH, annual site of the First Four play-in games. The RedHawks were (essentially) the final team selected for the field-of-68. Had one more bid-stealer prevailed in their conference tournament, the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks would’ve been taking their talents to the National Invitation Tournament.

Alas, the RedHawks will play the SMU Mustangs out of the ACC for a chance to play Tennessee in the First Round.

Some in the media were skeptical as to whether or not Miami (Ohio) deserves to be in the field, despite their pristine record this season. Perhaps the most high-profile case was that of CBS and TNT analyst Bruce Pearl, though the former Auburn head coach retreated from his initial point after widespread criticism.

SMU head coach Andy Enfield would have none of the RedHawks erasure occurring in the media, however. At a press conference following the Mustangs’ selection into the First Four, Enfield called out the “one or two media people” who didn’t think Miami (Ohio) was deserving of a bid.

“When you say polarizing, maybe to one or two media people that speak out against them,” Enfield began. “I think they deserve to be in the tournament; they went 31-0. Some people just need to be quiet on-air sometimes. I think Miami (Ohio) is deserving to be there, they’re an outstanding team, they share the basketball, they shoot threes, and they go 31-0 in the regular season? It’s incredible. So I have all the respect in the world. I coached at Florida Gulf Coast my first head job, and you go 31-0 at that level of college basketball, you deserve to be there. We’re certainly not going to take them lightly because they’re not in a power conference, but they’re an outstanding basketball team.”

Enfield’s comments would sum up the perspective of most college basketball fans. If a team wins 31 games and loses zero during the regular season, that team should be in the tournament. Period, end of story. The fact that Miami (Ohio) was so close to actually missing the tournament is ludicrous. At some point, wins and losses have to mean something; otherwise what are we playing the games for?

Is it true that the RedHawks don’t stack up from an analytics standpoint? Yes. Did they open as 7.5 point underdogs to SMU? Yes. But their inclusion is about one thing: rewarding teams for winning games. And that’s a good thing.

About Drew Lerner

Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.

View all posts by Drew Lerner