Miami (Ohio) is exactly where it should be.
In the NCAA Tournament.
Because who doesn’t want to watch the RedHawks?
Well, maybe a few teams of which was an incredibly soft bubble this season. Maybe they will stand on a (tiny) pedestal and begin comparing metrics.
But Miami is in as an 11 seed and set to play SMU in a play-in game Wednesday from Dayton, Ohio, close enough to the RedHawks’ campus that there will be a definite home-court advantage.
And a 31-0 regular season wasn’t overlooked.
I get it. I understand why some folks are steadfast against Miami making the field. Its strength of schedule is rated 269th. It played no Quad 1 games and just three in Quad 2. Fifteen wins are of the Quad 4 variety.
Not much to speak of when you’re comparing blind resumes.
But it’s also true that Cinderella teams are quietly exiting stage right from this event.
Those midmajors whose memorable regular seasons were blown up in conference tournaments clipped in at a higher rate this season.
As a basketball fan, I want to see Miami over an 11th SEC team.
I want to see if the true magic of March still exists in a time when Power Four schools and NIL checks are making it tougher and tougher for midmajors to claim at-large berths.
On the seed line, Miami was the last at-large team.
But its place was decided before then.
“Miami (Ohio) was not the last team selected into the field,” tournament committee chairman Keith Gill said. “They came before (other play-in teams) North Carolina State and Texas and SMU. But when we looked at (metrics) and quality of wins, those other (play-in) teams went above them.”
No matter. The RedHawks are in.
And we’ll be watching come Wednesday.
Some other things to think about as the Madness tips off this week …
M is for more teams than usual from the WCC. The annual suspects of Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s are joined by Santa Clara as a 10 seed in the Midwest Region. The last time it went to the NCAAs was 30 years ago, when a guy named Steve Nash was the point guard. The Broncos feature the best offense in the WCC.
A is for Atlantic-10 tournament champion VCU. Had the Rams not won the league event, they would have been left out of the field. Instead, they get a third trip in four seasons.
R is for repeat winner in Florida? The defending national champion certainly has the talent to again cut down nets at the Final Four despite having lost its backcourt from that title team. The Gators shoot nearly 60 percent from the field and have an NBA lottery pick in Thomas Haugh.
C is for freshman Cameron Boozer from Duke, odds-on favorite to win national Player of the Year. The Blue Devils as the No. 1 overall seed have arguably the toughest draw from which to advance to the Final Four from those on the top line. Even more will be expected from Boozer now that Duke is dealing with injuries to Caleb Foster (broken foot, out) and Patrick Ngongba (foot, questionable).
H is for the Hogs of Arkansas. A sneaky Final Four pick for many will likely come out of the West Region with John Calipari’s fourth-seeded and SEC tournament championship team. Know this: There will be few, if any, games Arkansas plays in the draw where it doesn’t have the best player (Darius Acuff Jr.).
M is for Milan Momcilovic. Don’t challenge this guy in a 3-point shooting contest. He averages 17 points per game and makes 50 percent of his attempts from deep for a No. 2 seed in Iowa State. Former UNLV coach T.J. Otzelberger definitely has a team capable of making a Final Four run.
A is for a look at five potential first-round upsets to consider: High Point over Wisconsin; Santa Clara over Kentucky; Akron over Texas Tech; Utah State over Villanova; and South Florida over Louisville.
D is for the depth and defense of Michigan State. You won’t find many projected NBA stars on this roster, but you will find five players averaging double figures in scoring. It’s one of the nation’s toughest teams on the boards and has one of the country’s best point guards in Jeremy Fears Jr.
N is for no more multibids for the Mountain West. Utah State as the regular-season and tournament champion is a 9 seed in the West region. But no other teams — specifically bubble squads San Diego State and New Mexico — made the field. This, a league that sent six teams dancing just two years ago. In eight previous seasons, the conference had multiple berths, including at least four in each of the past five years.
E is for easy decisions regarding the No. 1 seeds, For a while now, Duke, Arizona, Michigan and Florida have sat along the top lines of most bracketologists. You can safely describe the four as potentially dominant figures among the 68 teams despite Michigan and Florida losing in their conference tournaments.
S is for San Diego, where Viejas Arena will host not only Arizona but also a potential 4-5 matchup in the second round between Kansas and St. John’s out of the East Region. It would be a battle of Hall of Fame coaches Bill Self and Rick Pitino.
S is for say it already. Who makes the Final Four and wins it all?
Final Four: Arizona, Houston, Michigan and Connecticut.
National champion: Arizona.
Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.
