We really needed more proof, huh? Well, now we have it.
Miami (Ohio) belongs.
Not just in the First Four, but in the 64-team bracket most of us consider to be the real tournament.
The selection committee put Miami on the doorstep. Good enough. The RedHawks moved SMU out of the way and busted down the door en route to the first round.
In winning a First Four game, 89-79, with blistering shooting, Miami served more proof – seriously, why did anyone think we needed more proof? – that the best midmajor teams belong in the NCAA Tournament, even if they don’t win their conference tournament.
Miami poured in the points and buried one 3-pointer after another, one night after Texas and N.C. State piled up bricks. As Miami’s fans reveled in the stands after the latest deep bomb, it occurred to me that this was the most entertaining the First Four has ever been in 15 years of its existence in Dayton, Ohio.
Bruce Pearl pretends he 'expected' this performance from Miami (Ohio)
And all Bruce Pearl could do was chuckle like a cartoon character at halftime, with a silly grin on his face, after Miami drilled 10 first-half 3-pointers.
“This is kind of what we expected to see,” Pearl said.
Sure you did, Bruce.
Some of us might have expected this, but you didn’t. At least, Pearl acted as if he didn’t think much of Miami as he shilled for Auburn, which employs Pearl and his son.
Using his TNT-provided stage as a pulpit for propaganda, Pearl repeatedly trashed Miami leading up to the Tournament, shamelessly feigning that an Auburn team (coached by Pearl’s son, I’m sure that’s a coincidence) that barely finished above .500 would make a worthy tournament pick, while pretending Miami might finish last in the Big East.
That was a bigger load of bull even than anything Pearl’s ever told the NCAA.
Pearl couldn’t possibly have believed half the hogwash he served. He’s a lot of things, but he’s no idiot.
Still, Pearl’s relentless scrutiny of Miami kicked a hornet’s nest. More loons came out of the woodwork to question whether a 31-1 team deserved a bid, or whether it should go to a 12th-place team from a Power conference amid a woefully weak bubble.
Well, now Miami’s 32-1, after lighting up a Power Four opponent that couldn’t duck them.
Miami (Ohio) continues legacy of midmajor upsets in March Madness
And, we shouldn’t be surprised. We’ve seen this repeatedly, and not just from Miami. The best midmajors belong – of course they do. They don’t always prevail, but they win often enough in these games that nobody could have possibly believed Pearl’s nonsense that a Division I team with 30-plus victories would finish last in a Big East that’s not very good.
Miami answered all the naysayers, so emphatically that there’s really only one question left: How far can it go?
Consider No. 6 Tennessee on upset alert.
Who can forget VCU, in 2011, going from First Four to Final Four?
Wally Szczerbiak, anyone? The RedHawks of Wally World reached the Sweet 16 in 1999 as a 10-seed.
Or, how about Manhattan? The Jaspers were the last-team-in to what was then a 64-team bracket in 1995. Fran Fraschilla’s team, seeded No. 13, toppled Oklahoma.
“The tournament selection committee (is) not as dumb as people think,” Fraschillatold reporters afterward, adding that “it is nice to show people we deserve to be here and can play with anyone.”
The best midmajors keep proving that, too, even as their credentials are questioned.
Power Four teams hesitate to play teams like Miami in the regular season, and the little guy’s strength of schedule suffers, even as wins pile up. But, there’s no ducking the Miamis of the world in March, at least so long as the selection committee keeps recognizing that winning nearly all of your games warrants a bid, no matter what the bobbleheads say.
The late Billy Packer just about lost it on Selection Sunday in 2006 when George Mason slipped in as an at-large 11-seed. After George Mason rattled off four straight wins to reach the Final Four, in one of the greatest Cinderella stories ever, Patriots fans chanted Packer’s name.
And in the second half of this game, a pro-Miami crowd going bananas in the stands chanted, “Let’s go RedHawks! Let’s go RedHawks!”
I can think of another thing to chant.
Shut up, Bruce.
Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Miami Ohio March Madness win makes Bruce Pearl look silly
