Why Miami (Ohio) is in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament after March Madness bracket reveal
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Why Miami (Ohio) is in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament after March Madness bracket reveal originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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Miami (Ohio) won its first 31 games of the 2025-26 college basketball season.
Despite that, the Redhawks aren't even in the Round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament in the brackets revealed Sunday night. Instead, they're in the First Four.
That means they'll play earlier in the week in Dayton. It's against 11-seed SMU, and whoever wins will go into the full bracket.
It's at least a little bit of a bummer for Miami.
MARCH MADNESS HQ: Live NCAA bracket | Full TV schedule | Printable bracket
Why is Miami (Ohio) in the First Four?
Miami (Ohio) is in the First Four because the Redhawks were the last at-large bid into the tournament.
When the NCAA expanded the tourney to 68 teams, it meant the last four teams in would go to the First Four to play for seeded spots in the Round of 64.
This year, that meant Miami was one of those teams.
Carolyn Geckler (Mass. Perry) pin Eleanor Polking (Oak Hills)The problem for Miami? A loss.
After going 31-0 in the regular season, the Redhawks fell to UMass in the first round of the MAC Tournament.
And Miami hadn't beaten anyone of note during the regular season. The only NCAA Tournament team they beat was Akron, which snagged the MAC's automatic bid after Miami was out of the way.
The Redhawks will just have to bounce back and make the most of it.