Winners of eight straight, Miami RedHawks seem poised for potential spot in March Madness

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Most people know about Southwest Ohio’s traditional successful college basketball programs, Cincinnati, Dayton and Xavier, all of which have occupied a spot in the AP Top 25 at one point this season. Despite that, the area team having the best 2024-25 might reside in Oxford.

Miami University men’s basketball has had one winning season in its last 15. The RedHawks haven’t participated in March Madness since 2007. Through its history, Miami has recorded nearly 1,500 all-time wins, the program roamed by players like five-time NBA Champion Ron Harper, former NBA All-Star Wally Szczerbiak and Basketball Hall of Famer Wayne Embry. An historic program had fallen on hard times.

This season, in the team’s third year with former Xavier coach Travis Steele at the helm, the RedHawks fortunes appear to have shifted. The team is 14-4, 6-0 in Mid-American Conference (MAC) play and the winner of eight-straight games for the first time since the 1996-97 season.

Travis Steele (left) took over as the head basketball coach at Miami University about a week after he was let go by Xavier in 2022.

All that is despite the fact that Miami doesn’t have one senior on its roster. Fenwick alum Dan Luers is the team’s lone graduate student, but he’s seen the floor in less than half of Miami’s games.

Steele’s first two seasons with the RedHawks weren’t fantastic, but his teams showed promise. In 2022-23, the RedHawks started 2-11 in the MAC, then stormed back to win four of their last five regular season games and secure a spot in the conference tournament, where it lost to top-ranked Toledo 91-75 in the first round. Last season, Miami improved to 9-9 in MAC play but again lost in the first round of the conference tournament.

In 2024-25, it appears the RedHawks have turned a corner, though the toughest stretch of their schedule is staring them down.

Kam Craft (4), a transfer from Xavier, has scored 20 or more points four times for the RedHawks this season.

A big part of the RedHawks’ success has been…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/winners-eight-straight-miami-redhawks-210213880.html

Author : The Enquirer

Publish date : 2025-01-22 21:02:00

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