It won't show up at the very top of the rankings at the moment, but Miami (OH) basketball is having one of the best seasons of anyone in the country. The RedHawks are the last remaining undefeated team in the nation and are surging toward the NCAA Tournament, dominating the MAC night in and night out.
That incredible winning streak continued on Tuesday night with gritty 74-64 road victory over Eastern Michigan, moving Miami (OH) to 28-0 this season. Travis Steele's squad is now just three games away from completing a perfect 31-0 regular season heading into the conference tournament.
It was a team effort for Miami on Tuesday night, as the RedHawks had four players score in double figures. Brant Byers led the way with 16 points, while Peter Suder added a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double. Miami was able to get a win even as one of its biggest strengths, the 3-point shot, abandoned it in a 5-for-28 cold spell.
A lot of the talk around Miami so far this season has been about its NCAA Tournament resume, which is still a little shaky even with an unblemished resume. The RedHawks have only played one game against teams in Quad 1 or Quad 2, which could leave them vulnerable if they're not able to win the MAC tournament.
For the moment, ClutchPoints' latest Bracketology has Miami as a No. 11 seed and would have it in the field, by a slim margin, even without the automatic bid. However, a loss to a team that isn't going to make the NCAA Tournament could be enough to slide them down and out of the field.
The advanced metrics don't love Miami either, as it is outside the top 80 in KenPom and just inside the top 50 in the NET rankings, so it has a bubbly resume if you take away the automatic bid. However, many college basketball fans will argue that a team with such a clean record should be in the field no matter what, regardless of the strength of schedule.
Regardless of what the next couple of weeks hold, it is incredibly impressive what Steele has been able to do with this team, and now the chase for perfection is still alive.
