SI:AM | College Basketball’s Most Surprising Undefeated Team

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I watched about three minutes of the Pro Bowl flag football game last night and I can’t believe the NFL won’t just cancel that farce. Who wants to watch NFL players give 20% effort in a meaningless game played inside a convention center?

In today’s SI:AM:
🏈 Breer’s latest Super Bowl notes
🏀 Mannix’s NBA trade deadline intel
🎙️ Interview with NCAA president

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MACtion, basketball style

Casual men’s college basketball fans might not be surprised to see Miami ranked in the AP poll with about a month left in the regular season. After all, the Hurricanes reached the Final Four in 2023. But it’s actually Miami (Ohio) that finds itself ranked among the best teams in the country. With a narrow victory over Buffalo on Tuesday night, the RedHawks improved to 23–0 on the season. The only other undefeated team in men’s college basketball this season is Arizona.

Buffalo (14–9, 4–7 in MAC play) came dangerously close to spoiling Miami’s unblemished record. After Miami’s 10–0 run early in the second half opened up an 11-point lead, the Bulls clawed back and evened the score at 64–64 with 5:43 left to play. The RedHawks seemed to have the game essentially wrapped up when Luke Skaljac hit a pull-up jumper from the free throw line to make it 72–66 with 1:35 remaining. But Miami proceeded to miss several clutch free throws in the final minute and allowed Buffalo to have one last attempt to win it at the buzzer. Ryan Sabol’s contested three-pointer as time expired was short, and Miami escaped with the victory.

The question now is whether Miami can continue its unbeaten run. Wins have not come easily for the RedHawks lately. Last Tuesday, they squeaked out an 86–84 win at home over UMass. Their two games before that (home against Buffalo and at Kent State) were both overtime victories. But at the same time, Miami has already won the most difficult game on its schedule—against defending MAC champion Akron. The RedHawks won that one, 76–73, on Jan. 3.

The big knock on Miami, as you begin to consider its chances of becoming a March Madness Cinderella, is its exceptionally soft schedule. The RedHawks rank 314th out of 365 Division I teams in strength of schedule, according to Sports Reference. KenPom puts their SOS even lower at 329th. The non-conference schedule was especially weak, featuring three games against non-Division I opponents. KenPom ranks it as the third-easiest out-of-conference schedule in the nation.

But there’s also a lot to like about how Miami plays. It ranks No. 1 in the nation with 92.8 points scored per game and fourth in offensive efficiency. Interestingly, though, the RedHawks’ high-flying offense isn’t powered by three-pointers. They pile up points by getting to the rim and knocking down easy shots. They rank No. 1 in the nation in both two-point field goal percentage (65.2%) and overall field goal percentage (53.6%). They can knock down plenty of threes when they choose to, too, ranking eighth in three-point percentage (39.7%), but launching lots of shots from beyond the arc simply isn’t part of their offensive strategy the way it usually is with high-scoring mid-major teams. Miami ranks 48th nationally in three-point attempt rate.

This is a deep team, too. Six players are averaging at least 10 points per game, although one of those, junior guard Evan Ipsaro, is out for the season after tearing his ACL in December. Skaljac slid into the starting lineup after Ipsaro’s injury and has excelled in the expanded role, averaging 13.4 points per game over his last 10 games.

The biggest obstacle standing between Miami and its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2007 is a potential MAC tournament rematch with Akron, which beat the RedHawks in the conference title game last season. Given how weak Miami’s schedule has been, an at-large bid seems unlikely if it can’t win the MAC auto-bid.

This is exactly the kind of story that makes college basketball great. A small school that had posted 15 straight losing seasons before last year suddenly has a chance to complete an undefeated regular season. How could you not be rooting for the RedHawks to pull it off?

The best of Sports Illustrated

Digital Cover 60 Greatest Super Bowl Moments — Damian Strohmeyer/Sports Illustrated; John Biever/Sports Illustrated; Neil Leifer/Sports Illustrated

Albert Breer explores how the head coach-general manager partnership works for the Seahawks. He also provides his latest notes from Super Bowl week.
A rematch is bringing up old memories for some Legion of Boom–era Seahawks who had finally put Super Bowl XLIX behind them, writes Greg Bishop.
From the helmet catch to Prince performing in the rain, Matt Verderame ranks the 60 greatest moments in Super Bowl history.
If Bill Belichick is not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, then something is wrong with the entire process. Michael Rosenberg is here to fix Canton’s mess.
As the NBA trade deadline approaches, Chris Mannix shares his latest intel.
Tigers ace Tarik Skubal and his agent, Scott Boras, could change the economics of the game with a historic arbitration hearing. Tom Verducci lays out Skubal’s case and how he can revolutionize MLB’s salary system.
NCAA president Charlie Baker tells Pat Forde it’s “a good question” whether the upcoming 2026 NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be the last ones featuring 68 teams.

The top five…

… things I saw last night:
5. A pair of thunderous dunks by LeBron James.
4. Robert Morales’s bicycle kick goal for Pumas UNAM in Concacaf Champions League action against San Diego FC.
3. Duke star Cameron Boozer’s vicious dunk all over a Boston College defender.
2. Hurricanes goalie Brandon Bussi’s diving save to preserve his team’s lead over the Senators in the final minute of the game. (Bussi had another great save in the first period.)
1. The final 30 seconds of the UNLV-Fresno State men’s basketball game. UNLV was leading by five with six seconds left and still managed to lose in regulation.