Turn in the hotel room keys!
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Very strange: Our 8 seed vs 1 seed was the closest of all the quarterfinal games. Buffalo down by 30 late vs Akron.
Not going to suggest we’d have won but if Ryan doesn’t get hurt and we get more bench production, this game is pretty close. Next year things are gonna improve. Big time.
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We played the best team and played them better than any other of the quarterfinals. The other 3 games were name the score blowouts. While there is a huge difference between the top and bottom of the MAC. I kind of feel that we are ending the season as the 5th or 6th best team in the MAC. We looked better than Ball State today but maybe they just had a bad day. Now we still do have a long way to go to compete with the top 4 teams, but on our best game of the season we beat Ohio. I don’t think we are going to be fighting for 8th place next year.
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Truth!
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Miami’s incoming boatload of very legitimate Div 1 talent will accelerate the move to the Top 3 in the MAC next year…and Miami will still land 1-2 more very capable players through the portal. Much better days are ahead…much, much better.
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It will be challenging at guard, in experience…but when playing smart and shooting well we were solid…in Steele’s first make-shift year (and can be moving forward). Need some rebounders, too.
Toledo is better, but if you watch this game…it was about making shots that were there…Milner/Maddox killed us…we turned it over four or five tines that hurt bad…and Mo, especially Kamari and Lewis all missed wide open shots that Toledo players made.
Could of, or should of been about a 38 to 42 half time score…then maybe 2nd half could have been more impactful, meaningful…probably still lose.
That said hard to accept losing 20 times…20, three this year, to a conference foe…amazing how Miami athletics have trended last decade, plus (apologies, the end of this March again is just a realization of ignoring this fact for last 5 plus years).
A coaching change and a whole season later, it’s easy to forget why we were picked to finish last in the MAC. We lost 4 of our top 5 scorers. Only 29% of our scoring and 27% of our minutes returned. Our only player who could create offense on their own transferred to the A10 and proceeded to lead the A10 in 3pt percentage, was 17th in win share percentage, and 19th in defensive rebounds (we could’ve used that rebounding from the guard spot). Brown went pro. And Ayah, who really was the heart and soul of the team, graduated.
It’s just about impossible to replace all of them in a single offseason, so to only drop a single seed during a rebuild year is really impressive. I think the freshmen coming in will really take this program to the next level. The team that finished the year was definitely not the team that started the year. Defense improved, players developed, and roles started to be obviously defined. I haven’t been this excited for a basketball season in a long time.
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Well said.
Exactly…I mean the way we were playing at end with a make shift crew was admirable…encouraging.
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If Mabry doesn’t get injured yesterday he likely puts up some points. I’m gonna say double digits. Then it’s a ten point game. Our bench played admirable but we need our own true 6th man next year. The guy who gives us double digit points and high rebounds every night. I think it’s gotta be real hard to beat us then.
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For sure…take away three terrible turnovers, add Mabrey or Kamari hits two shots…10 or under game.
12 point game with 10 to go…should have been 6 point game, Safford had a wide open trey look and missed…is what it is…
Toledo is very skilled.
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Ditto. It took most of the year, but Steele turned this into a cohesive team with an identity, especially on defense. Quite an impressive coaching achievement. I can’t wait for next season!
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