{"id":598819,"date":"2026-02-12T12:39:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/598819\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T12:39:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:39:34","slug":"college-hoops-last-undefeated-team-has-cinderella-vibes-but-isnt-a-march-madness-lock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/598819\/","title":{"rendered":"College hoops\u2019 last undefeated team has Cinderella vibes, but isn\u2019t a March Madness lock"},"content":{"rendered":"

OXFORD, Ohio \u2014 The Miami RedHawks men\u2019s basketball players emerged from their home locker room for pregame warmups on a recent Tuesday evening. Standard operating procedure. Except this time, 5,000 rowdy students were in place 90 minutes before tipoff, ready to cheer them on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be honest, I was \u2026 floored,\u201d said Travis Steele, in his fourth season as head coach at Miami. \u201cComing from where we were, when we had nobody at our games \u2014 I had just never seen that here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being undefeated has a way of changing things. At 24-0, Miami is the last remaining undefeated team in Division I men\u2019s college hoops. Attendance has climbed to record levels at the 9,200-seat Millett Hall, a relic from the 1960s, surging for that Tuesday night tilt against UMass on Jan. 27. It was the team\u2019s first home game since crashing the Top 25 this season, and the first since students returned from winter break, drawing a record 5,800 of them \u2014 more than a third of the student body. This is the Miami in southwest Ohio, by the way \u2014 not South Beach \u2014 hence the fleet of dump trucks brought in to haul away a foot-high blanket of snow from the arena parking lots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t just plow it off to the side,\u201d said athletic director David Sayler, motioning that direction out his office window, \u201cbecause we knew what we were dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RedHawks, who drew a Millett-record 10,640 fans a few days later for a win over Northern Illinois, have become the surprise story of this season, a magical run by a confusingly named Mid-American Conference school about an hour north of Cincinnati. It\u2019s rocketed the program from utter irrelevance to mid-major darling, and has all the makings of those double-digit-seed Cinderellas that fairy dust their way to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. As long as Miami can make the field.<\/p>\n

Running parallel to this feel-good narrative is a growing debate about the team\u2019s NCAA Tournament resume, and where a school like Miami, outside the power conferences, fits into a sport that increasingly favors big-money programs. There were zero Cinderellas in last year\u2019s March Madness<\/a>, a disappointment that might be trending toward a new normal. Much of that is due to resource disparities, and a metrics-steeped selection process that can make it harder for mid-major teams to earn at-large bids. Despite an unblemished record through mid-February and the best start in program and league history, Miami might have to win the MAC tournament and secure the automatic berth just to hear its name called on Selection Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Miami RedHawks guard Peter Suder lays on the floor after hitting a 3-point basket and getting fouled as the RedHawks climbed to 24-0. (Albert Cesare\/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Not that anyone on the team seems too worried about it. These No. 23 RedHawks are ranked for the first time since 1999 and have revived a forgotten program \u2014\u00a0one looking to go 25-0 on Friday, at home against the rival Ohio Bobcats. The 9 p.m. ET tip will air on ESPN proper, and the school is prepared to set another new attendance record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought I\u2019d see a Top 25 ranking next to our name,\u201d said junior guard Eian Elmer, tugging on a sweat-drenched practice jersey. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve never had fans here 90 minutes before a game. The amount of support we\u2019re getting, it\u2019s surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The campus is tucked away in the rolling hills of the Miami Valley, named for the indigenous Miami people. Founded in 1809, it\u2019s one of the oldest public universities in the United States, with an enrollment of roughly 17,000 and red-brick Georgian Revival architecture that\u2019s fit for a postcard.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a century older than the more prominent University of Miami down in Coral Gables, Fla., which is why Miami University bristles at being dubbed \u201cMiami (Ohio)\u201d and its other variations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate when people say \u2018Miami of Ohio,\u2019\u201d said Elmer, in his third season with the RedHawks. \u201cThat \u2018of\u2019 just makes me angry. But things are definitely shifting. We have a national spotlight now.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a rich history of athletics at Miami, nicknamed the Cradle of Coaches for producing the likes of Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, John Harbaugh and Sean McVay, all of whom came through as college football players or young coaches. The football program also has four MAC championships since 2003, the first led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.<\/p>\n

Basketball has less to lean on. Chicago Bulls legend Ron Harper and All-American Wally Szczerbiak once ruled the Millett hardwood, but the men\u2019s team hasn\u2019t made the NCAA Tournament since 2007, and hasn\u2019t advanced since that Top 25 season in 1999, when Szczerbiak led them to the Sweet 16 as a 10-seed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a long time coming,\u201d said Szczerbiak, whose daughter is a sophomore at Miami. The former NBA veteran is a college basketball analyst for CBS Sports, providing him a pulpit as the RedHawks\u2019 foremost televangelist.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving this opportunity to talk about Miami on a national stage when I\u2019m in studio, it\u2019s a lot of fun,\u201d he said. \u201cThe culture that coach Steele has brought to that locker room and the program, it\u2019s been awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

“UNDEFEATED STILL!”<\/p>\n

Nobody is more fired up for the Miami RedHawks than the legend himself: Wally Szczerbiak \ud83d\udd25@wallyball<\/a> | @MiamiOH_BBall<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/h1TXh979XZ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 CBS Sports College Basketball \ud83c\udfc0 (@CBSSportsCBB) January 31, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a steady rebuild under Steele, who went from 12 wins in Year 1 to a program-record 25 last season, despite an average home attendance just north of 2,600. Miami was seconds away from an NCAA Tournament bid last March, too, blowing an 18-point lead in the conference championship loss to Akron. This year\u2019s roster returned six of the top nine scorers from that group, a coup for a successful mid-major in the transfer portal era. Not to mention one with an NIL budget that, at best, covers a fraction of what power conference schools dole out.<\/p>\n

Steele emphasizes high school recruiting, especially regionally, and prioritizes skilled shooting and positional versatility. The program built from within with players like Elmer, who went from a first-year rotation piece to scoring 30 on UMass. Then Steele supplements it with transfers like Peter Suder, a second-year senior from Bellarmine who averages 14.2 points per game and dropped 37 on Buffalo.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re two of seven RedHawks currently averaging double figures in scoring, all of whom shoot better than 35 percent from 3-point range and 46 percent from the field. It\u2019s why Miami is tops in men\u2019s college basketball in points per game (92.7), field goal percentage (53.7) and effective field goal percentage (62.6).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of shooting, which makes us dangerous,\u201d said Steele. \u201cYou have to pick your poison, but we\u2019re still going to go get 90 (points). And if we shoot well, we\u2019ll hit 100.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miami has won three games in overtime and another four in regulation by 5 points or fewer, including a double buzzer-beater against Buffalo and an OT win over Kent State in which the RedHawks were down 4 in the final minute of regulation. Even after losing starting guard Evan Ipsaro for the season to a knee injury on Dec. 20, the team hasn\u2019t missed a beat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no panic, no fear,\u201d said assistant coach Jonathan Holmes. \u201cWe have a lot of guys who are comfortable with the ball in their hands when the game is on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

SUDER SAYS GOODNIGHT\ud83d\udd25@petersuder1<\/a> calls ballgame at Millett\u203c\ufe0f@MiamiOH_BBall<\/a> | #MACtion<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/GPHDozrPS1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 MACtion (@MACSports) January 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

All of it has pushed Miami\u2019s dream season to the forefront, along with its deficiencies, most of which are schedule-based. The RedHawks\u2019 strength of schedule is roughly 350 out of 365 Division I teams. They\u2019ve played three non-DI opponents, with 13 Quad 4 victories and zero Quad 1 games, all metrics that cramp their NCAA Tournament resume. The zero losses help \u2014\u00a0Miami is 50th in the NET, 25th in strength of record and 34th in wins above the bubble \u2014 but with only Quad 3 and 4 matchups the rest of the way, dropping one or two could sink any at-large hopes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the cost of playing (and beating) weaker competition, particularly in the nonconference, which, according to Steele, is the cost of success at the mid-major level.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll play anybody anywhere, but it takes two to tango,\u201d he said this week. In recent seasons, Miami played Michigan, Indiana, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Indiana State and Vermont, among others. Steele said the team went after similar opponents this offseason, trying for months to schedule high-major buy games and mid-major home-and-homes with any school that would answer their calls. Knowing how the RedHawks performed last season and who was returning, other schools didn\u2019t want to take the risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hated it for our guys,\u201d said Steele. \u201cI wanted them to have those opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, the flipside of Miami\u2019s no losses is no room for error. The MAC hasn\u2019t been a multibid NCAA Tournament league since Szczerbiak and company in 1999. Would a scenario of, say, 32-3 with another close loss in the conference title game be enough for these RedHawks to go dancing?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t worry about that,\u201d said Steele. \u201cWe focus on the controllables.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steele likes to be in control. He wasn\u2019t four years ago, when he was fired after four seasons as head coach at Xavier, just down the road in Cincinnati. A longtime assistant and ace recruiter for the Musketeers, Steele was promoted in 2018 after Chris Mack left for Louisville, then pushed out when the school wanted to bring back Sean Miller. Steele failed to make the NCAA Tournament, the first Xavier coach since the 1970s to suffer that distinction.<\/p>\n

He and his family went to Florida for a couple of days to escape, but he found himself hanging on every moment of Xavier\u2019s continuing run in the NIT. He knew he had to keep coaching.<\/p>\n

This was about the same time that Sayler called, first just to check in, but again later to gauge Steele\u2019s interest in Miami\u2019s opening.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody told me not to take this job,\u201d Steele said with a chuckle. \u201cNo one had won here in a long time. But I saw the positives.\u201d<\/p>\n

His family didn\u2019t have to move. His wife, Amanda, is a Cincinnati lifer. Their kids \u2014 two of them at the time, now three \u2014 didn\u2019t have to change schools. It\u2019s a recruiting footprint Steele knows well, at a strong academic school with a charming campus.<\/p>\n

But the biggest positive was that Sayler was willing to give him full control over the program. Steele equated it to building a house versus buying one.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Xavier, I regretted that I never got to build it exactly the way I wanted,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s on me, that\u2019s not on anybody else. But here, I knew exactly what I wanted the house to feel like, look like, smell like, from Day 1. Because I knew it would work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steele wanted to play a five-out offense that valued high basketball IQ. He refused to get distracted by length, size and athleticism when recruiting if the player couldn\u2019t shoot or handle the ball. He wanted players from winning high schools and college programs. He wanted to give his freshmen a chance to play and to foster the type of relationships that made guys want to come back each year \u2014 even if there was more money to be had somewhere else.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe never promised playing time, but he promised me that if I came here, I couldn\u2019t fail,\u201d said Elmer, who had one other scholarship offer out of high school. \u201cThat\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Practices are loose and full of trash talk, but with players still diving after loose balls. Steele has a student assistant who tracks and tabulates everything, from made baskets to good screens to helping a teammate off the floor, awarding a weekly black-and-gold practice jersey to the player with the most points. A garish \u201cEGB\u201d chain after each game goes to the player who displays the most Energy Generating Behavior.<\/p>\n

Steele built the house he wanted, and his players bought in. Now the fans have too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been the best part,\u201d said Szczerbiak. \u201cYou can definitely see it again at these games: Miami knows how to party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like it\u2019s 1999. Maybe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel zero pressure. Because we love the journey,\u201d said Steele. \u201cWe\u2019re undefeated. And it\u2019s February. That\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n