It was the wrong messenger sending a terrible message.
On Saturday, TNT college basketball analyst Bruce Pearl said Miami of Ohio — the only undefeated team left in Division I — had to win its conference tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament, otherwise the best 68 teams wouldn’t be going dancing.
Let’s put Pearl aside for a moment. The RedHawks have won every game they have played. They have done so with a bull’s-eye on their backs in the MAC as the team in the league everyone wants to take down. That’s not easy. Dismissing that success would be sending an awful message to mid-major programs that, no matter how well you perform, it is irrelevant. Why should these teams even try to win anything but their conference tournament if that is the case?
Look, Miami hasn’t played anyone. Of its 27 games, 16 are Quad 4. It has played just one Quad 2 contest and not one Quad 1. Its strength of schedule ranks 350th in the country based on NET rankings.
