Undefeated in the regular season, Miami (Ohio) is now the ultimate March underdog

Over the last half-century, only a few handful Division 1 basketball teams have finished the regular season undefeated.

Over the last half-century, only a few handful Division 1 basketball teams have finished the regular season undefeated. The list includes some of the most memorable teams in the history of the sport — Larry Bird’s 1979 Indiana State team, the 1991 Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV and John Calipari’s 2015 Kentucky team full of future NBA stars.

This year, they were joined by ... Miami (Ohio), a midsized public school in Oxford, tucked in the southwest corner of the state. The RedHawks play in the Mid-American Conference, with schools such as Bowling Green and Ball State. Their roster is not stocked with high-profile recruits or players with NBA upside.

But Miami finished the regular season a perfect 31-0, jumped into the Top 25 rankings and became the talk of college basketball — until it stumbled Thursday in the MAC Tournament. The RedHawks lost to UMass, a middling team with a 17-16 record, blowing their chance at a guaranteed spot in the NCAA Tournament.

On Sunday, the RedHawks had to watch the March Madness Selection Sunday show, like everyone else, to learn their fate. They ended up making the tournament as a No. 11 seed, but there was a catch. They have to play SMU on Wednesday night in one of the “First Four” games, to determine which of the two made the full field.

In other words, despite Miami’s historic regular season, it had been one of the last teams picked and had squeaked into the tournament. Such is the plight of the mid-major school in today’s college basketball landscape.