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Miami focused on win, not first-round bye

Miami hoops coach just wants a win tonight as RedHawks fight for No. 4 seed in MAC tourney.

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 8:12 AM Thursday, March 4, 2010

OXFORD — Charlie Coles isn’t thinking about the scenarios that will determine whether his Miami University basketball team gets a first-round bye to next week’s Mid-American Conference tournament.

“I intentionally stayed away from it so I could keep our focus on Buffalo,” the Miami coach said.

The RedHawks play their regular-season finale tonight, March 4, at home against the Bulls. A victory would give Miami a chance at the MAC’s No. 4 seed and that all-important first-round bye.

But the RedHawks also need some help. Even if they win, at least three and maybe four MAC teams would finish tied for fourth in the overall standings with a 9-7 conference record. The tiebreakers will decide all.

Right now, the best guess is that a Miami win, a Central Michigan victory tonight at Eastern Michigan, and a Ball State victory tonight at Western Michigan would give the RedHawks that bye.

If Miami and Central Michigan both win but Ball State loses, then the RedHawks would root for a Kent State victory over Akron on Friday.

Ultimately, Miami will receive the No. 4, 5 or 6 seed, depending on what happens over the next 48 hours.

If the RedHawks are seeded fifth or sixth, they would play a first-round game at Millett Hall on Sunday. If they earn the No. 4 seed, they advance directly to the quarterfinals in Cleveland.

All Coles wants is a victory over the Bulls.

“At the beginning of the year most of the magazine polls picked Akron, Buffalo and Kent State to finish in the top three (in the MAC), and that was based on what they had coming back,” he said. “I thought it was accurate then, I think it’s accurate now.

“We have a chance to get into that upper echelon (by beating Buffalo),” Coles said.

In its last four MAC games Miami has played relatively well against Bowling Green, Akron, Ohio and Kent State, but has lost all four (by an average margin of 4.5 points).

“We’ve got to, sooner or later — and it’s getting to be pretty late — win a couple of those games,” Coles said.

“We think we’re better than what our record says and this would be a good chance to prove it,” he said. “This would be a good chance to improve our standing, not only in the MAC, but to ourselves. We could say, ‘OK, fellows, we’re up there with the big boys now.’ ”

<h5>Today’s game</h5>Who: Buffalo (17-10, 9-6 Mid-American Conference) at Miami (12-17, 8-7)When: 7 p.m.TV: Fox Sports NetRadio: WMOH-AM (1450), WPFB-FM (105.9)Series: Miami leads 17-7

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