2026 NCAA Tournament

[ZippyRulz]

It's March 2 and that means bracketology projections are coming out:

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2026/02/28/march-madness-bracket-predictions-bubble-seeds-ncaa-tournament/88848521007/ (Miami as 11 seed)

 

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basketball/news/march-madness-bracket-predictions-2026-ncaa-tournament/278bf37a68ad4dd190d1dc50 (Miami as 10 seed)

 

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2026-march-madness-men-field-predictions (Miami as 11 seed)

 

Miami as a bubble team: 

 

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/47809690/bubble-watch-mens-ncaa-tournament-march-madness-bracket-predictions-2026#MidMajor

 

Work to do (6)

Miami (Ohio) RedHawks (MAC)

Updated: Feb. 28, 8:06 a.m.

The MAC hasn't received multiple bids since 1998-99 -- fittingly, the same year Wally Szczerbiak led Miami (Ohio) to the Sweet 16 after knocking off Washington and Utah in the first two rounds. Could history repeat? Miami survived a real scare against Western Michigan on Friday night, rallying from down eight in the second half to prevail on Trey Perry's game winner and remain the sole remaining unbeaten team in Division I. The forecast models don't quite know how to handle the RedHawks, though they rank inside the top 40 on résumé, the committee has never excluded an eligible team with fewer than four losses in a non-pandemic season, and Miami (Ohio) made the field as an at-large team during a recent NCAA-run mock selection exercise. It is true that the RedHawks are a mid-80s team in the predictive ratings (Akron actually still ranks higher in the MAC) and had just the 321st-hardest schedule in the nation. But wins are wins! They are now only two away from an undefeated regular season, which the major forecast models give around a 60% chance to happen.

 

https://www.thechampaignroom.com/illinois-fighting-illini-basketball-news/52142/tcr-bracketology-10-0-illini-enter-march-searching-for-answers-fighting-illini-ncaa-big-ten

 

On bubble watch, Miami (Ohio) needed a buzzer beater against a bad Western Michigan team to maintain their undefeated season this year. If they slip up in the MAC tournament, a very real possibility as John Groce’s Akron team is a very good mid-major again, it will bring up one of the more interesting bubble cases we have ever seen. No team with fewer than three losses has been left out of the tournament since it went to 64 teams. However, Miami has only beaten one top 100 opponent all year (Akron), has the 347th best Strength of Schedule and has predictive metrics in the seventies and eighties. Personally, I will put them in the bracket, most likely in the first four in Dayton, but I have no idea how the committee will handle it. Here is hoping that if they make the bracket as either an at-large or an automatic qualifier, that they do the world a favor and take out a team like North Carolina.

 

AI worked very hard to find a bracket with Akron:

 

https://www.dratings.com/predictor/bracketology/#:~:text=Table_title: Bracketology – 2026 NCAA Tournament Seeding,| Team: Akron | Conf: MAC* |

 

Edited 15 hours ago by ZippyRulz

[NWAkron]

I think Miami has a message board you can use.

[ZippyRulz]

10 hours ago, NWAkron said:

I think Miami has a message board you can use.

 

We're not used to this, are we. Think of it as bulletin board material..

 

[kreed5120]

15 minutes ago, ZippyRulz said:

 

We're not used to this, are we. Think of it as bulletin board material..

 

 

Sure we are. Last season was the only year this senior class has had the #1 seed in the MAC tournament. I imagine in many of those years few had us slotted into the field a week before the tournament.

[ZippyRulz]

Miami has not been the tournament top seed since 2004-2005.

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by ZippyRulz

[kreed5120]

Not sure why it would matter for us when the last time Miami was the 1 seed. I'm more pointing out that our team is used to going to Cleveland without being the favorite and still winning.

 

Although I'm not sure Miami is much of a favorite. If Akron and Miami do meet in the finals I think it would pretty much be a pickem game.

[zippy5]

Akron would be favored on a neutral court at the moment

[Zips1991]

5 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

Akron would be favored on a neutral court at the moment

Yeah, I think Akron would be favored by 3-5 points on a neutral court right now.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Keep this in mind.

 

A fully healthy Miami OH team with essentially this exact same team plus Kam Craft, Reece Potter, and Mekhi Cooper shot 49% from the field and 50% from 3P in last year's MAC title game. They were up 18 at one point in that game. They lost by 2 to a far inferior squad offensively, especially compared to this year's Akron team. 

 

Miami OH doesn't have Craft, Potter, and Cooper this year; Ipsaro is out for the season. 

 

Good luck to the Redhawks should both teams make it to Saturday night in Cleveland.

[MDZip]

1 minute ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Keep this in mind.

 

A fully healthy Miami OH team with essentially this exact same team plus Kam Craft, Reece Potter, and Mekhi Cooper shot 49% from the field and 50% from 3P in last year's MAC title game. They were up 18 at one point in that game. They lost by 2 to a far inferior squad offensively, especially compared to this year's Akron team. 

 

Miami OH doesn't have Craft, Potter, and Cooper this year; Ipsaro is out for the season. 

 

Good luck to the Redhawks should both teams make it to Saturday night in Cleveland.

And we didn't have a couple of guys named Mahaffey playing. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

3 minutes ago, MDZip said:

And we didn't have a couple of guys named Mahaffey playing. 

 

A fluke 3 point win in that ancient craphole called Millett with a 20 FT advantage while Akron shot a season low(?) 25% from 3P is the only reason anyone is still talking about Miami OH as the last undefeated team. 

 

Just take it one game at a time and get me to March 14th. 

Edited 12 minutes ago by Let'sGoZips94