PHILADELPHIA — The national media told you that Miami was controversial. The national media told you that Miami was something to plant your flag and pick a side on. And even though many of the voices were on the right side, defending the RedHawks as an NCAA Tournament team, to even acknowledge a debate is letting the detractors win.
This shouldn’t have been a story about whether Miami “belonged.” It’s a story about people, community and everything that makes college sports fun.
Just because it doesn’t happen in the SEC or another power conference doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter.
Less than 48 hours after the greatest day of the 21st century for Miami University basketball, the RedHawks’ season came to a close. Miami received a standing ovation from its travelling support at Xfinity Mobile Arena – which showed up in huge numbers – as the clock ticked down on a 78-56 loss to No. 6 seed Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The RedHawks finished the season a remarkable 32-2, grabbing the country’s attention with each game, and never once disappointing.
“We’re everything that’s right about college athletics, in my opinion,” head coach Travis Steele said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our group.”
There are a lot of different storylines around Miami’s season that are worth discussing at some point. The scheduling challenges that good mid-major programs face being one of them, but the main one is that this was a college basketball team that was unlike any other in history. Miami represents the power of retaining talent and building culture in today’s era of mid-major basketball.
And it represents the power of community. That no matter how many people want you to think something doesn’t matter, it does.
“When I first got here, we didn’t have a ton of fans at our games,” Luke Skaljac said. “And then after winter break, every one of our games was sold out at home and away. That was special to be able to play in that type of environment. Every single game was awesome. It just created a lot of buzz around mid-major basketball, and it’s really cool to see.”
They may not have gone on a Cinderella run in the NCAA Tournament, but the RedHawks’ season revived a community with a rich basketball history. Steele mentioned that Miami legends Ron Harper, Wally Szczerbiak, Wayne Embry and Ira Newble all came back to RedHawk games, helping bridge the generational gap.
In Dayton on Wednesday night, Miami essentially aired a two-hour advertisement for its University on national television by showing up in large numbers in the crowd, creating an electric atmosphere, and the players putting on a dominant performance on the floor. Many of those fans who showed up in Dayton showed up in Philadelphia, and the Vols noticed it.
“It was cool to see how [Miami’s] fan base is, they travel too,” Ja’Kobi Gillespie said, right after he and JP Estrella called Tennessee fans the best in the country.
Gillespie played his first two seasons at Belmont, an elite mid-major program that has won at least 19 games in 21 consecutive seasons. So even on the side of the high-major power these days, he has an understanding of what mid-major basketball can mean to a community.
And this is a story about that Miami community. The season gave its alumni base, students and fans a reason to proudly wear their RedHawk gear with a pep in their step.
And it’s a story about a group of basketball players who had everybody’s attention.
Inside the locker room was one of the most connected groups in the country. Every single opponent that Miami visited in the MAC treated this game like their Super Bowl. A chance to knock off an undefeated team doesn’t come around very often, but the RedHawks stuck together and grew closer through it.
“I have so much fun playing with these guys,” Peter Suder said. “And I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
That’s the distillation, though. When did we, as the general sports society, decide that that – especially if it leads to winning – wasn’t enough? If it’s not, then why does anybody do this in the first place? Sports are fun. Sports are beautiful. Miami embodies every bit of that.
An undefeated regular-season doesn’t come around very often. In fact, it’s happened just 25 times in the history of college basketball, only on nine occasions by mid-majors. Instead of celebrating the team’s accomplishments and this unforgettable RedHawks team, the national media spent it deliberating on if it even mattered.
Miami wasn’t necessarily fun because they were undefeated. Yes, that’s certainly what caught the attention of the national media, and it’s why we’re discussing this team now. But they were entertaining because of their energy, their playstyle, and the enjoyment these players got out of being on the court together.
That only comes with chemistry, culture and talent retention. The undefeated season and the way it sparked life into Miami’s dormant basketball community once again were just a byproduct of that.
Those are forgotten ideals in today’s era of the transfer portal and NIL, but it’s something we can’t afford to lose in college basketball because stories like Miami’s are what make the sport everything we love.
It’s what makes college basketball different from every other sport. Every. Team. Matters.
“This rebuild, they saw it from the ground up,” Steele said. “Our one senior, Eli [Yofan] who’s a walk-on, he’s seen us go from [12 wins] year one to 31-0 in the regular-season this year. Proud that [this group] was able to experience all that. But I think the thing that gets lost is that the journey, the day-to-day, is even better. It’s not the result, but the way we do things that makes me more proud.”