Why Miami (OH) Is Not the Cinderella Everyone Wants Them to Be

Everyone wants to root for a Cinderella story. College basketball thrives at creating these underdog stories. A bunch of kids playing at neutral sites in a single-elimination tournament really puts the “madness” into March Madness.

So far this season, the top of the country is deeper than ever, with every team in the top-10 only having one or fewer losses. Due to how top-heavy the sport currently is, many are trying to find their next St. Peter’s to latch onto. And many are finding that in the Miami Redhawks.

The Redhawks are currently 19-0 and boast one of the best offenses in the country, scoring 88.2 points per game, ranking 14th in the nation. Head coach Travis Steele also fits the Cinderella story archetype this team is creating.

Steele was the head coach of Xavier for four seasons, during which he underwhelmed, never making the tournament and compiling a 70-50 record. Steele has found new life in Oxford and has created one of the most high-powered offenses at the mid-major level.

Unfortunately, I have to play the role of the evil stepmother in this Cinderella story because Miami has no business being anywhere near the top 25.

Why Miami (OH) shouldn’t be ranked

Miami is currently 29th in the AP poll, and after another undefeated week, they might rise when the new rankings drop this week. The Redhawks have played absolutely nobody this season. I know the old adage is “you can only beat the teams on your schedule”, but the teams on their schedule are hardly division one caliber.

They’ve played one of the easiest schedules out their currently ranked 350th out of 365 in the country. In their non-conference slate, they played one team that is currently above .500.

Travis Steele has argued that no power conference teams were willing to play Miami during non-conference play, but only two other teams in the MAC are above 300th in terms of strength of schedule. The rest of the conference was able to find competitive games on the schedule, so that shouldn’t be an excuse for Miami.

Then, when you consider how easy their schedule has been, they haven’t really dominated it. They’re 94th in the country in KenPom net rating, two spots below Steele’s former team in Xavier, which has four losses of 20+ on their resume.

This isn’t some team dominating their easy schedule; they’re barely scraping by the teams in front of them.

In the MAC, they aren’t even the highest-rated team according to KenPom; they’re well below Akron in terms of net rating. However, they did beat Akron 76-73 at home, in their only regular-season matchup against the team many still believe is the best in the conference.

It’s still fun watching a team like Miami keep this win streak alive, but this team even sniffing a ranking next to their name is a complete fugazi.

Any team to come out of the MAC this year will still need to win in Cleveland when March rolls around.