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PHILADELPHIA, PA — If there is one thing about March Madness that is consistent on a yearly basis, it is the rallying love from men’s college basketball fans for the mid-major programs that are included in the 68-team field.
The Miami (Ohio) RedHawks, VCU Rams and High Point Panthers are examples of that this season. All three programs recorded upsets over Power 5 Conference programs in their first respective games of the Men’s NCAA Tournament, with the RedHawks’ win coming in the First Four against SMU.
But it isn’t necessarily love from the high-level programs when it comes to non-conference scheduling. It’s something that fourth-year Miami (Ohio) head coach Travis Steele said needs to change from an analytical standpoint.
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“A lot of it’s analytically driven. There needs to be adjustments made,” Steele said after Miami (Ohio) fell to 6-seed Tennessee on Friday at Xfinity Mobile Arena in the first round of the Midwest Region. “… I don’t know when’s the last time that they made an adjustment to it or if they have. But fans want to see those games. Our fans do. Their fans do. They want to see brands. It stinks.”
RedHawks senior guard Peter Suder agrees with his coach on why high-major programs won’t schedule mid-majors.
“I wouldn’t say they’re afraid. It’s a numbers thing, an analytical thing,” said Suder, who scored a team-high 27 points on Friday against the Volunteers. “We would like to play them. It’s a great opportunity for the mid-majors to go out there and prove they’re just as good. It’s more of an analytical thing.
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Steele and Studer’s comments come less than 24 hours after High Point coach Flynn Clayman spoke on the matter after his team knocked off 5-seed Wisconsin in Portland on Thursday. Clayman’s emotion in his postgame interview came a few days after Miami (Ohio)’s metrics were once questioned ahead of Selection Sunday because the RedHawks did not have a single Quad 1 win until their First Four win over SMU.
“It looks pretty obvious to me that high-majors need to play mid-majors during the season,” Clayman said. “Because they said we ain’t played nobody? We played somebody now.”
The conversation of Miami (Ohio)’s resume and metrics started well before Selection Sunday for the RedHawks, who are now No. 91 on KenPom and No. 86 on Bart Torvik, two analytical websites, after Friday’s win. The RedHawks entered the day as a Quad 2 game for Tennessee, with their No. 64 ranking in the NCAA’s NET system.
It’s not like the RedHawks — or other mid-major programs — haven’t tried. They tried to schedule Pitt, Kansas, Brigham Young and Ohio State among others as part of their non-conference schedule, according to FOIA requests submitted by Extra Point’s Matt Brown.
“Most of the scheduling’s done on the phone, and it’s frustrating,” Steele said.
Steele said he knew back in June of last year that his team would be “in trouble” with its non-conference schedule.
“We didn’t finish our schedule until mid-October. We played two weeks later, which is ridiculous, especially in today’s college landscape,” Steele said. “It sounds crazy to me, but again, I get why they don’t want to play because you want to stay away from Quad 2 or Quad 3 games. It does nothing for you.
“It’s almost like a lose-lose situation.”
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Travis Steele says fans ‘want to see’ high-majors play mid-majors
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