Mar 13, 2026, 08:32 PM ET
CLEVELAND — Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon A. Steinbrecher is hoping the success of Miami (Ohio) this season pays off Sunday and in the future.
Steinbrecher is confident that his conference will get two teams into the NCAA tournament for the first time in 27 years, despite the RedHawks losing to UMass 87-83 in the MAC tournament quarterfinals on Thursday after going 31-0 in the regular season.
“I believe Miami’s in the tournament,” Steinbrecher said Friday before the start of the conference semifinals. “I had communication with the committee chair and committee liaisons yesterday and just passed along some information. They’re not going to tell me for sure, but I just feel that they’re in. They’ve done the things they need to do to get into the tournament. I think history has shown that until we’re shown otherwise.”
The MAC has received multiple bids five times since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The last time was in 1999 when Kent State won the conference tournament to earn its first NCAA trip while Miami got in with an at-large berth after winning the regular-season title.
Miami made the committee look good by making it to the Sweet 16.
The RedHawks were the fifth team this century to go through the regular season undefeated but were the second to get tripped up in their conference tournament.
Miami’s detractors have pointed out its low strength of schedule — 344th out of 365 Division I teams, according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool — as a reason it should not be in the field of 68 teams. Steinbrecher and many of his mid-major brethren point out, though, that Tier 1 teams do not want to schedule Tier 2 and 3 schools.
The RedHawks faced no Tier 1 teams and were 2-0 against Tier 2 squads.
“We’ve allowed metrics to become the story as opposed to wins and losses. Well, the metrics don’t work real well when you have different schools who go out of their way not to schedule, and that’s what’s occurring,” Steinbrecher said. “We have a number of schools that have trouble getting quality games, so people aren’t willing to play them.
“For those schools that are traditionally Tier 1, what the metrics are driving them to do is continue to play other Tier 1s or play Tier 4s and then beat the daylights out of them. That’s their secret sauce. Anywhere in that Tier 2 or Tier 3, they’re shying away from it.”
The last team to go through the regular season unbeaten and not make the NCAA tournament was Alcorn State in 1978-79. That was because the Southwest Athletic Conference was in a transition period to Division I and did not have an automatic bid. The tournament field then also had only 40 teams.
Second-seeded Akron (28-5) will face fourth-seeded Toledo (19-14) in Saturday night’s championship game. The Zips — who had one conference loss in the regular season — are trying to become the first school to win three straight MAC tournaments since it started in 1980.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
