This year was a ton of fun. It’d be wonderful to get a NIT bid, but if this is it I want to say the team and staff put a really nice brand of basketball on the floor, and I appreciate it.
It’s fun to be a Miami basketball fan again, and that’s what I’ve wanted more than anything over the last 15 years.
I agree that was an amazing season. Most joy I’ve had watching Miami in a long time. As someone that watched all year long that last possession stings like hell. I wish Suder had the ball, but understand giving to ipsaro as he 98% of thr time get the foul call.
Hope they can keep the band together. Might take more NIL.
Nice to hear Steele call out how we only had 5 free throws today
If this team mostly stays together, with a year more experience and growth, along with our new additions, it doesn’t take a huge leap of faith to see one of the best seasons in miami history.
There are plenty of reasons for enthusiasm. Step one is keeping the roster together. Then I wouldn’t mind seeing a more challenging OOC schedule, even if it means a less gaudy record. I think scheduling a couple of top opponents could be a lure/challenge for this group, and they’ve dug the program out of the hole enough that we shouldn’t see two D3 games any more.
It’s harder to schedule power conference teams since they went to 20 game schedules, and Miami now looks like a dangerous opponent. But I’d love to see an effort to get one or two top games.
Yeah I fear if we have anywhere near the same roster next year no mid level power 5/high mid major is going to want to play us OOC. We’d be a quad 2 game at best given where we will likely be in the ranking composites, and teams would (rightfully) think it’s a no upside game. I hope I’m wrong though.
I think the thing that makes this loss that much harder is being very nervous about who’s going to be the in portal in a few weeks…
After sleeping it off, my view is it was the right call, just didn’t work. A 2 for 1 sounds good, but what if we miss and Akron would miss, then get the rebound, which is likely. I think sit on it and drive with Evan, make it or get fouled. Akron is going to defend the shooters.
Gotta give Akron credit for good defense, I would have liked to se more than 1 guy back though?
How we only got to shoot 5 free throws while Akron, a somewhat more physical team, got to shoot 16 is beyond me…and, therein, lies the key to what ended up other than it should have in my book…even my wife said the foul shooting differential was unbelievable. .
Our offense the last 8+ minutes was horrid. The excellent ball movement from the first half turned into isolation hero ball with NBA 3’s or contested difficult shots. We barely drove hence the 5 FT’s. Complete collapse.
This was my favorite Miami Team of my lifetime for a multitude of reasons. It was a true joy to watch them grow, gel, and play so well all year with different guys stepping up game to game.
I’ll never be able to explain what happened in the last 8 or so minutes last night……beyond gutting.
They handed out “25 years in Cleveland” MAC tournament towels to fans last night. Since the tournament moved to Cleveland, Akron or Kent has won 12 of the 25 times. From 1980 to 1999 they won 1 time.
I thought our crowd was solid last night. And I thought Cleveland did a great job of hosting. But it is a de facto road game for us. That place was humming when Akron made its runs.
I’m not a ‘blame the ref’ guy. But when you’re playing on the road, an even whistle is tougher to get.
All that being said - I love this team. Really hope they stay together. Sky is the limit.
Life in a one bid league is brutal and unfair.
It’s the nature of college basketball. Only one team in the country finishes the season with a win in a tournament they actually wanted to play in.
Probably the most fun 52.9 hours I’ve had as a Miami fan. At no point during any of the 3 games did I think we were going to lose. Craft hit some huge shots and Ipsaro was a warrior. But Suder was the best player in Cleveland this weekend. About 5 minutes into the App State game, Suder become my favorite Miami player ever and that hasn’t changed.
As junkie pointed out, our lack of offense the last 8 minutes is what cost us the game. That was not the first time it happened this year either, but I hope Steele learns from it. Steele seems to be committed to Miami long term and I think we are a sleeping giant with him leading us.
Future is bright, great season, fun brand of basketball, blah blah blah. This one is going to sting for a while and there is no guarantee on next year’s roster. Suder is going to get offered a bag, but hopefully we can at least make him a competitive offer. Now is the time to donate to the Red Brick Legacy!
I got over last night pretty quickly. It didn’t gut me like previous seasons. I think I’ve grown used to disappointment with the teams I cheer for. But some kids out on Miami’s Barstool site are comparing last night’s loss to losing the National Title in ice hockey. Talk about dramatists.
Coach Steele has to rally the guys and get them ready for a phone call to play somewhere. Other than the last 8:43 of the game, Miami is a fun team to watch and I think the TV folks would like for Miami to be part of a post season somewhere.
I was in the building in DC and last night. I’m not interested in ranking them but the feeling was similar.
I’ll be the first to admit college hoops is my true love so I’m sure a hockey die hard would feel differently but last night will definitely stick with me just like that game.
Exactly. Ranking them is pointless. It’s the same empty feeling.
How much NIL is it gonna take to keep Peter Suder in Oxford for another year?
I would somewhat disagree with the final 8:30 being “horrid” offense. Obviously the shots did not fall as we went 1-11 after Skaljac’s 3 to go up 70-61. The final 8 minutes we were getting the ball inside to Woolfolk a lot like so many on here beg for. We had our two top scorers shooting the vast majority of the shots (many of the shots were the same ones that everyone loved when they were going in over the past couple games) but Suder went 0-4 and Craft was 0-3…it happens. You want your best players taking the most shots in crunch time–they just didn’t fall. Woolfolk went 1-2, Elmer took and missed his only shot of the night and Ipsaro took the final shot. I would have liked to have seen Suder with the ball from the start on the final possession and live or die with him taking the shot or making the right pass to someone else like Craft, etc. Byers should have probably been in for that possession instead of Elmer who was completely non-existent on offense last night. It was a great game and great effort. Just came up short in the end. Likely third game in three nights maybe the legs of our top couple guys were not there in the final moments? But we went away from how we managed rotations and minutes all season in these three games. Rotation minutes were shorter for bench guys. Even 4-5 minutes less each game for some of the bench adds stressful minutes to the starters and it eventually adds up.
As for post-season I don’t see that happening. Steele has said he would not even consider anything other than NCAA or NIT. And NIT is doubtful invite. Even if it does, I find it hard to believe the players would want to go. Their goal has been NCAA or bust all season–that’s the standard according to team/coach. Their emotional tank has to be at empty and to turn around and play in a second-tier tourney in 2-3 days after returing to campus sometime today is asking a lot. Portal opens in 8 days–a lot of discussions and decisions need to be had this week between players and coaches. And its an expense on the program/school to play in these non NCAA tourney events acccording to people in the know at game last night. Most importantly, some of the guys on the team have some injuries (not long term or super serious) that will likely need medical attention that they gutted through at this point of the season to try and make NCAA tourney. Its been a nine month grind. Probably best to call it a season and recharge for the start of spring/summer lifting, workouts, roster building, etc.
As for OOC scheduling, the coaches have stated it is really difficult to find good OOC–top tier teams want nothing to do with Miami going forward–nothing for them to gain. And every program in the country plays at least 1 or 2 non D1 games–always has always will.
The NIL numbers that are out there if a kid has interest from a better conference/program are staggering even on the low end—well into six figures. The MAC and in particular Miami, doesn’t have the kind of NIL to compete at those levels. High end for Miami/MAC programs is likely $60-$90K range for top player like a Suder/Craft. Better program/conferences are offering $250k+ even for non-starters. Those become easy decisions in most cases. Guys like Craft or Woolfolk who came from bigger programs and have already been paid better money may not need or want to look for that again–but money talks in most cases. Some of our guys may be looking for more playing time or starting opportunities as opposed to “money”–who knows. I would be concerned more about Byers. Another year coming off the bench for him?? Highly doubtful. If all nine rotation guys come back I can’t imagine they would all be happy playing the same minutes again plus throw in the incoming five freshmen who are going to expect some time…where do the minutes come from? Math does not add up at this point.