Everybody desires to root for a Cinderella story. Faculty basketball thrives at creating these underdog tales. A bunch of children enjoying at impartial websites in a single-elimination event actually places the “insanity” into March Insanity.
Up to now this season, the highest of the nation is deeper than ever, with each group within the top-10 solely having one or fewer losses. Attributable to how top-heavy the game at the moment is, many are looking for their subsequent St. Peter’s to latch onto. And plenty of are discovering that within the Miami Redhawks.
The Redhawks are at the moment 19-0 and boast among the best offenses within the nation, scoring 88.2 factors per sport, rating 14th within the nation. Head coach Travis Steele additionally suits the Cinderella story archetype this group is creating.
Steele was the top coach of Xavier for 4 seasons, throughout which he underwhelmed, by no means making the event and compiling a 70-50 document. Steele has discovered new life in Oxford and has created some of the high-powered offenses on the mid-major stage.
Sadly, I’ve to play the function of the evil stepmother on this Cinderella story as a result of Miami has no enterprise being wherever close to the highest 25.
Why Miami (OH) should not be ranked
Miami is at the moment twenty ninth within the AP ballot, and after one other undefeated week, they may rise when the brand new rankings drop this week. The Redhawks have performed completely no person this season. I do know the outdated adage is “you’ll be able to solely beat the groups in your schedule”, however the groups on their schedule are hardly division one caliber.
They’ve performed one of many best schedules out their at the moment ranked 350th out of 365 within the nation. Of their non-conference slate, they performed one group that’s at the moment above .500.
Travis Steele has argued that no energy convention groups have been keen to play Miami throughout non-conference play, however solely two different groups within the MAC are above three hundredth when it comes to power of schedule. The remainder of the convention was capable of finding aggressive video games on the schedule, in order that shouldn’t be an excuse for Miami.
Then, when you think about how simple their schedule has been, they haven’t actually dominated it. They’re 94th within the nation in KenPom web score, two spots beneath Steele’s former group in Xavier, which has 4 losses of 20+ on their resume.
This isn’t some group dominating their simple schedule; they’re barely scraping by the groups in entrance of them.
Within the MAC, they aren’t even the highest-rated group in response to KenPom; they’re properly beneath Akron when it comes to web score. Nonetheless, they did beat Akron 76-73 at dwelling, of their solely regular-season matchup in opposition to the group many nonetheless consider is the perfect within the convention.
It’s nonetheless enjoyable watching a group like Miami preserve this win streak alive, however this group even sniffing a rating subsequent to their identify is an entire fugazi.
Any group to return out of the MAC this yr will nonetheless have to win in Cleveland when March rolls round.
