NCAA Previews: Recognize the Miami (OH) RedHawks

Conference: Mid-American (MAC)
Record: 18-14, 10-6 in conference
RPI: 102
How They Got In: Won the MAC Championship game over Akron 53-52 with a 3 at the buzzer (sort of. After nearly 10 minutes of studying the clock, officials put 0.6 seconds on the clock. The Zips couldn't do anything miraculous) .
Seed/Bracket: 14/Midwest (St. Louis)

Mascot: RedHawks. Used to be the Redskins until the Miami tribe, now in Oklahoma, petitioned them to change it. They discontinued it in 1996 and went to RedHawks in 1997.

Big Win: Does Rutgers count? No? Okay, then their best win was beating Akron 2 of 3 times.

Notable Losses: They showed they can at least lose to good teams, as they lost at Illinois by only 2 points. Of course they were beaten handily by Xavier.

Player You Should Know: Junior Forward Tim Pollitz is part of the All-MAC first team and the MAC Tournament MVP. He averages close to 16 points and 6 rebounds a game and shoots nearly 57% from the field.

Outlook: The RedHawks haven't had Wally Szczerbiak (pictured on the right) for a few years, so that won't help. They could have a shot to steal a game if they can get control the tempo. They are an extremely slow tempo team averaging 59.7 possessions per 40 minutes. That's 329th out of 336 teams. At that kind of tempo, the score can stay close and as they showed in the MAC Championship game, it gives them a chance at the end. It won't happen as they will probably be too low a seed to be able to force the tempo against the top teams.