While the blue bloods of college basketball occasionally flirt with unbeaten records near March, it’s rarely a true mid-major pulling that off when conference tournaments tip off.
For mid-major and No. 19 Miami of Ohio, that’s the story as the RedHawks improved to 30–0 on Tuesday with a 74–72 win over Toledo. The Redhawks look to add to that when visiting the Ohio Bobcats on Friday in the regular season finale.
“It’s a crazy feeling,” RedHawks senior guard Peter Suder told The Epoch Times. “I knew we had a special group in the summer, but I didn’t know we had this special of a group either.”
Suder transferred to Miami from Bellarmine University in Kentucky last season when the team went 25–9 but fell to Akron, 76–74, in the Mid-American Conference championship game and missed the NCAA tournament. This time, the RedHawks are historically hotter as the 15th team in NCAA history to go 30–0.
“Our culture and our connectivity kind of just carried over, and it clicked,” Suder said. “It feels like you’re playing with your friends off the court too. We have a genuine love for each other, we care for each other, and I think it really shows on the court, and that’s why we’re so unselfish and connected.”
The Gonzaga Bulldogs were the last to do it in 2020–2021. Other teams to accomplish the feat in the past 35 years include Kentucky in 2014–2015, Wichita State in 2013–2014, and UNLV in 1990–1991.
It happened multiple times in the 1970s with Indiana State in 1978–1979, Indiana in the unbeaten 1975–1976 campaign, Rutgers in 1975–1976, and UCLA twice between 1971 and 1973. The Bruins also did it twice in the 1960s, between 1963 and 1967, and North Carolina made it once in 1956–1957.
“We’re going to get everyone’s best shot,” Suder said. “It’s going to be their Super Bowl to play us, especially being 30–0 going into March, but we’ve got a bunch of guys who are built for moments like that.”
Among the previous 14 teams to reach 30–0, all but one reached the Final Four, and six won the national championship or at least made the title game. Only Wichita State didn’t make the Final Four, losing in the Round of 32.
“There’s no pressure at all because we know what we’re going to do, and we’re going to keep doing it until we get to that point where we feel like we’ve proved everyone wrong,” RedHawks freshman guard Justin Kirby told The Epoch Times.
That said, some college basketball experts won’t pick Miami for the NCAA tournament if the RedHawks get knocked off in the MAC tournament. Mid-major leagues such as the MAC often only have the conference tournament champion in the Big Dance.
Former longtime Auburn head coach and current college basketball analyst Bruce Pearl has been the most vocal of all regarding the matter. Pearl said Miami isn’t one of the 68 “best” teams in the country, the number of teams in the NCAA tournament.
“Miami, Ohio’s going to have to win their tournament to qualify as a champion because as an at-large, they are not one of the best teams in the country,” Pearl said during a TNT broadcast on Feb. 28. “And that’s going to be a difficult choice for the committee to make.”
His comments elicited a response from Miami athletic director David Sayler on Monday. Sayler called Pearl “flat wrong” in a social media post about the RedHawks being a last-place team in the Big East if Miami played there.
“I think we’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing on the court,” Kirby said. “I think we can beat some [Power Five] teams out there. I personally believe a lot of teams don’t want to play us for good reason.”
In getting opponents’ best games, the RedHawks have won three overtime games and five one-score games this season. The RedHawks haven’t played anyone from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, or SEC, but last season’s squad played Michigan and Indiana, losing both games. Scheduling a Power Five team didn’t work for this season, even with the coaching connections RedHawks head coach Travis Steele has.
“It’s crazy, we couldn’t even get anyone to do us a favor,” Steele told The Epoch Times. “Part of it is [player] retention. We won 25 games last year, so we had a really good team, and now, all of a sudden nobody wants to play us.
“I get why they’re not. It stinks,” Steele added. “I told our guys that I wish we would have had an opportunity to play one of those teams in non-conference.”
Miami nonetheless can control its destiny next week by winning the MAC tournament, which tips off on March 12 in Cleveland. Without a MAC title, the NCAA selection committee would have to leave out a Miami team with 30 or more wins and one loss—not the norm on Selection Sunday for high-performing mid-major teams. Steele expects his team to get in and be a tough out.
“We’re a team that I think [power conference teams] really struggle with because we shoot the ball really well,” Steele said. “We space it out, shoot a ton of threes and take care of the ball.”
Steele also noted that Miami can match opponents’ size with multiple players at 6-foot-9 or taller. That includes forward Antwone Woolfolk, who is receiving NBA interest.
Woolfok averages 10.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. He shoots 69.2 percent from the field and 34.4 percent from three-point range.
Overall, the RedHawks shoot 39.2 percent from the arc. Suder has the best mark with 42.5 percent amid his team-best 14.8 points per game and 4.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.4 steals per night.
“We’re laser-focused on our everyday mission, and that’s getting better every single day and being our best at the end of March,” Suder said.
