Miami RedHawks selected to First Four in 2026 NCAA tournament

OXFORD, Ohio — The Miami RedHawks are going dancing.

After a historic season, Miami was selected to the 2026 NCAA Tournament as one of many groups to face off in the First Four.

Miami was selected because the No. 11 seed to face SMU at UD Arena in Dayton on Wednesday as a part of the First Four. If Miami beats SMU, they’re going to play No. 6 Tennessee on Friday in Philadelphia.

Head coach Travis Steele mentioned they’re excited to get on the market and play. Steele mentioned he did not know rather a lot about SMU’s group, however they plan to repair that Sunday night time.

“This is what you work for your entire life. … It’s a surreal moment for our guys. We put a lot into this,” Steele mentioned.

The RedHawks have appeared in the NCAA Tournament 17 instances, with the latest look in 2007. During 2007’s tournament, No. 3 Oregon beat the then-No. 14 Miami 58-56 in the Round of 64. Oregon went on to fall in the Elite 8.

“I told each one of our guys when we recruited them, our goal was to advance in the NCAA tournament and get to the second weekend,” Steele mentioned Sunday. “That’s the expectation, that’s the standard that we need to set here, you know. Getting into it, you gotta have a seat at the table, right — which, now we have a seat at the table.”

Miami ended its record-shattering season with a 31-1 document (31-0 common season) — one of the best document in faculty historical past. They have been additionally the primary Division I group since Gonzaga in 2020-21 — and solely the fifth group this century — to enter their convention tournament undefeated. The RedHawks went on to fall to UMass 87-83 in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

There was numerous hypothesis about whether or not the RedHawks would make March Madness after falling in the MAC Tournament. The RedHawks’ power of schedule ranked 344th out of 365 Division I groups, in accordance to the NCAA Evaluation Tool.

The final group to undergo the common season unbeaten and never make the NCAA Tournament was Alcorn State in 1978-79. That was as a result of the Southwest Athletic Conference was in a transition interval to Division I and didn’t have an automated bid.

While Miami did make the tournament this 12 months, different Tri-State groups, together with the UC Bearcats and Xavier Musketeers, didn’t make it.

The Musketeers ended their season with a 15-18 document and tenth in the Big East. Xavier’s season ended on Thursday when UConn defeated the Musketeers 93-68 in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament.

The Bearcats ended their season with an 18-15 document and ninth total in the Big 12. UC ended their season by falling to the UCF Knights 66-65 in extra time in the second spherical of the Big 12 Tournament. After the loss, UC promptly fired coach Wes Miller, who had been with the Bearcats for 5 seasons. During Miller’s tenure, UC had been to the NIT twice.