For the first time this college basketball season, the Miami (OH) RedHawks have suffered a loss, and it could not have come at a worse time.
Coming into Thursday, Travis Steele’s squad was sitting at a flawless 31-0 record, becoming the first team since Gonzaga in 2021 to accomplish this feat. However, in what was their first game of the MAC Tournament, they ended up losing 87-83 to the UMass Minutemen.
The RedHawks led by as many as 11 points, UMass was able to go on a late 13-2 run to tie the game, and then battled their way to victory.
While most would assume that a 31-1 record would be more than enough to get Miami into the NCAA Tournament as an at-large bid, they don’t have a lot of metrics working in their favor. They have zero Quad 1 wins and have posted just two Quad 2 wins against Wright State and Akron.
In fact, coming into Thursday’s quarterfinal game, ESPN’s bracketologist Joe Lunardi had the RedHawks as a No. 11 seed with the projection that they’d win the MAC Tournament.
Now that they are no longer a lock, teams like Auburn (17-15), SMU (20-13) and VCU (24-7) will all see their chances of making the NCAA Tournament increase dramatically. Along with Missouri (20-11), those three teams were on the bubble in Lunardi’s most recent projections.
With each of them ranking higher in the NET and having better resumes than the RedHawks, Miami’s fate comes down to how the selection committee feels about them on Sunday.
Certainly not a position they wanted to be in and one that can erase what had been a tremendous season up until this point.
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This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Mar 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Basketball section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.