The Miami RedHawks completed an undefeated regular season with a thrilling victory over rivals Ohio University on the road in Athens in a #MACtion game for the ages.
Miami won the game 102-100 in overtime, becoming the first team since Gonzaga in 2021 to finish the regular season unbeaten at 31-0. The RedHawks have been the best story of the college basketball season so far this year, even though analysts like Bruce Pearl improbably argue that they should be left out of the NCAA Tournament unless they fail to win the MAC conference tournament.
Miami has had a number of close calls throughout their campaign, but it didn’t get much closer than their victory on Friday night in a very hostile environment. Peter Suder hit the go-ahead free throws with 12 seconds left in overtime. And when Jackson Paveletzke missed a three-pointer at the buzzer for the win, the RedHawks bench erupted in joy.
And then they went straight for the Bobcats student section to exchange pleasantries with the raucous Athens crowd, including expletives and waving them goodbye. Fans threw objects on the floor and at least one Ohio player had to be escorted to the locker room.
Given the intensity and emotion involved with an undefeated season on the line in a rivalry game and it’s understandable that things got a little heated. But CBS Sports college basketball analyst Seth Davis wasn’t a fan of what he saw. He wondered why the Miami team chose to taunt the Ohio student section before celebrating with each other.
“I know lots of people love this stuff, and we can agree to disagree. They did this before celebrating with each other or shaking the other team’s hands. If this is the primary goal of winning, I think you’re cheating yourself. Best way to treat obnoxious fans (and people!) is to ignore them. That’s what bothers them them the most. Better to win with class IMHO,” Davis wrote on social media.
Sure, nobody would want things to get really ugly between players and opposing fans. But isn’t this kind of emotion what makes college sports so special? Because of how much it really means to everyone involved? The Miami team probably heard every insult possible from those Ohio students and survived overtime on the road to complete the most incredible season in program history in a heated rivalry game? The only thing that could have made it sweeter for those Miami players would be if Bruce Pearl was in attendance as well.
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