The No. 22 ranked Miami (OH) Redhawks (26-0) have enjoyed the best regular season in MAC history, and they're not done yet.
It's a historic turnaround for a program that has had just one winning season since 2009 and hasn't seen the NCAA Tournament in 19 years, per NCAA.com.
The last time Miami was ranked prior to this season was in 1999 - a team led by Wally Szczerbiak that made the Sweet 16. The future NBA All-Star carried the team, averaging 24.2 points per game, while the next leading scorer averaged 13.0 - the only two players to average double-digits on the team.
This version of the Redhawks is vastly different. In his fourth year at Miami, head coach Travis Steele has built a deep, talented team that has "true love for each other," in his words.
Even after losing starting point guard Evan Ipsaro for the season a couple months ago, Miami keeps finding players to step up. Luke Skaljac has seamlessly replaced Ipsaro, averaging a team high 4.8 assists per game.
Not counting Ipsaro, nearly six players are averaging double-digits, and each player complements each other well.
Peter Suder is a do-it-all guard, able to make shots from all three levels and playmake, Brant Byers has been an outstanding pick-and-pop big man, Eian Elmer and Almar Atlason are deadeye shooters, Skaljac is a swiss-army knife that can drive-and-kick at will and Antwone Woolkfolk gives them some physicality down low and on the boards.
It's a perfectly built team that moves the ball and can shoot the lights out on any given night or score inside consistently if the shots aren't falling.
The team has had the best start in MAC history and are in the midst of the longest win streak in conference history, yet they remain hungry.
Miami lost by two in the MAC Championship game last year to Akron and they've been seeking out revenge all of this year.
What are the odds for Miami (OH) to finish the regular season undefeated?
Yes | +175 |
No | -230 |
Miami (OH) is +175 to finish the regular season undefeated. Here's a look at the rest of their schedule to close the season:
Date | Away Team | Home Team |
Feb. 20 | Bowling Green | Miami (OH) |
Feb. 24 | Miami (OH) | Eastern Michigan |
Feb. 27 | Miami (OH) | Western Michigan |
Mar. 3 | Toledo | Miami (OH) |
Mar. 6 | Miami (OH) | Ohio |
The Redhawks have five more games left to become the first undefeated regular season team since Gonzaga did it in 2020-21.
They would be the first MAC team in history to finish a regular season undefeated. They only need one more win to surpass current MAC foe UMass who started 26-0 in 1995-96 as part of the A-10.
Similarly to that UMass team, Miami is the first team to start 26-0 with 10 of those wins coming by single digits since UMass - a season where they made it to the Final Four under John Calipari, per OptaSTATS.
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All odds written in this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.
