A look at the RedHawks...
MAC member since: 1947, just after the league's founding
MAC titles, regular season (outright or divisional): 18, but last in 2005
MAC tournament (began in 1980) titles: 4, last 2007
NCAA Tournament appearances: 17 (6-19)
Last bid: 2007
Deepest run: Sweet Sixteen in 1999, when they notched First and Second Round upsets, led by Wally Szczerbiak
Current coach: Travis Steele (4th season). No relation to our assistant Brian Steele.
Steele rose up the ranks, got a job on Sean Miller's Xavier staff in 2008, and worked his way up to Associate HC under Chris Mack. When Mack left for Louisville in '18, Steele got the lead job at X. He lasted four years, but X missed the Big Dance in all four, and that wasn't good enough. Miami scooped him up, and the RedHawks went from a 15-year run of also ran to a second-place MAC finish last season.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_Steele
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/co ... ele-1.html
As head coach, Steele hasn't faced Frank or UMass before.
Miami was one of the MAC teams that UMMBB faced in the 2010s while we flirted with MAC Football. UM won both meetings.
https://umasshoops.com/wiki/doku.php?id ... t_miami_oh
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... mi-oh/men/
Oddities...
Weeb Ewbank was their coach for one season (1938-39). Ewbank went on to win a Super Bowl as coach of the Joe Namath-led Jets in 1969, and his name is in the Jets Ring of Honor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeb_Ewbank
After Ewbank, Miami was coached by Rip Van Winkle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_Van_Winkle_(coach)
This season: Miami has yet to stumble, now 20-0 (17-0 vs D-I) / 8-0 in league. As that record may suggest, they had a weak OOC schedule. Bracketologists.com rates it as 364, and they track 365 teams. The three non-D-I games has something to do with that. Their best non-conf win was at Wright State (NET 131).
In the MAC, Miami has two Quad 2 wins: 93-83 at Bowling Green, and a 76-73 home squeaker over possible Cleveland finalist Akron (NET 53).
Miami has survived with 3 OT wins:
90-87 at UNC Asheville (NET 231)
105-102 against Buffalo on the 17th
107-101 at Kent State last week
They're not steamrolling over everyone.
Miami is 1st in D-I in PPG scoring, but that's aided by those 3 OT games and 3 low-tier games. In two of those near-exhibitions, they put up 129 and 135, so take that PPG number with a grain of salt.
Defensively, they're mid, giving up 74.7 per game (213th in D-I), but Sports-Reference's D Rating shows them as 65th nationally.
They're also mid on the glass. Bracketologists has them at 177th nationally, with 36.1 rpg, landing at 8th in the MAC.
Could be a good battle as UM's rebounding defense is 1st in the MAC (31.9) and Miami is 3rd (32.4).
Miami's firepower comes from their league-leading .540 FG%, and on the other end they're second best, allowing .426. (We're near mid in both of those categories.)
From 3, Miami again leads the league, at .412, and again they're 2nd on opposing % at .319. (We're still first in 3 defense at .292.)
Miami makes 11.4 threes per game.
They're also good from the line, at .773 (2nd-best in MAC.) We, unsurprisingly, are still the worst.
Miami's starting 5 over their last 8 games:
- Brant Byers (6-8 195 So F), 15.3 ppg (12th in MAC), 4.3 rpg, 0.5 apg. Last year's MAC ROY. Dude is shooting .519 overall and .436 from 3, and he attempts 5.5 threes per game.
- Peter Suder (6-5 210 Sr G), 14.1 (15th in MAC) / 4.4 / 4.2. He did his first two at Bellarmine in the A-Sun before moving to Oxford last season. Named to last season's MAC First Team and Tournament Team. He's shooting .576 from the field at .463 from 3.
Thankfully he only takes 2.8 threes per game.
- Eian Elmer (6-6 190 Jr F), 11.0 / 5.8 (14th in MAC) / 1.2. Was MAC All-Freshman in '24. Also a 3-pt threat at .398, nearly his career average. Don't foul him as he's .837 from the stripe this season.
- Luke Skaljac (6-2 180 So G), 9.0 / 3.4 / 4.7 (6th in MAC). Yep, can shoot the 3 (.394 this season).
- Antwone Woolfolk (6-9 250 Sr F), 10.2 / 5.3 (22nd in MAC) / 1.5. Did his first two at Rutgers where he was a teammate of Noah Fernandes in 23-24. He leads the MAC in 2pt % (according to Sports-Reference) at .690 and FG% overall at .642.
Off the bench key contributors:
- Almar Atlason (6-8 230 Jr F, Iceland native), 11.5 / 2.6 / 1.2. Played at Bradley (MVC) in his first two before moving a couple states east. Still gets the same amount of PT: about 19 per game. Another 3 point threat: .408 on 5 attempts per game.
- Evan Ipsaro (6-0 200 Jr G), 13.9 / 2.4 / 3.3 - but he's done for the year after a torn ACL in December.
Among the top 24 players in FG% in the MAC, there are 5 RedHawks (Woolfolk, Suder, Byers, Atlason, and Elmer).
And among the top 16 in 3FG%, there are also 5 RedHawks (Suder, Byers, Atlason, Elmer, and Skaljac).
Among the top 8 in FT%, there's Elmer and Atlason (.833).
Skaljac and Carbuccia are currently 1 and 2 in the league's A:TO leaderboard.
For us to have a chance, we have to defend like we have yet to this season. That'll be a tall order. Also gotta win the glass.
We've put up triple-digits ourselves on two occasions, but I don't think we survive a shootout in their place.
Matchup:
https://bracketologists.com/matchup/NDAxODE0NTQz
Almost all of Ohio is in the freezer. Oxford has an Extreme Cold Warning thru noon tomorrow, but not much chance of snow.
As good as they're doing, the game is not sold out.
