Miami (Ohio) is no longer undefeated, and now begins the hot debate of whether they will make the NCAA Tournament.
The RedHawks suffered their first loss of the season, losing to Massachusetts, 87-83, in the opening round of the MAC tournament Thursday, March 12.
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The top seed in the conference looked like they were cruising toward a victory when it took an 11-point lead with eight minutes left in the game, but the Minutemen got hot. They went on a 13-2 run to tie the score with five minutes to go and it was back-and-forth the rest of the way.
UMass took a three-point lead with less than three minutes left and Miami (Ohio) was able to tie it in the final minute. The Minutemen’s Daniel Hankins-Sanford hit the go ahead bucket with 29 seconds left and the RedHawks weren’t able to tie it.
With the loss, there are no more undefeated teams left in the country.
Now, the rest of the week will be spent debating if Miami (31-1) should be in March Madness. While it was the only undefeated team in the country, it didn’t have a strong resume as it ranked near the bottom of several strength of schedule metrics.
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The RedHawks didn’t have a Quad 1 win and just a 2-0 Quad 2 mark, while the majority of its games were Quad 4 opportunities.
What didn’t help was the loss to Massachusetts was a Quad 4 loss, a mark teams cannot afford just days before Selection Sunday.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Miami Ohio loses in MAC tournament first round, RedHawks now on March Madness bubble
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