Wednesday, March 08, 2000
MAC tourney warms fans to the Madness
Miami gets new life with title run
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Charlie Coles is a basketball coach. But he's also a basketball fan. About midway through Sunday, he was more fan than coach.
“If you told me there was a better day of basketball, I wouldn't believe you,” he said. “I forgot why I was here. I started just being a fan.”
Coles was talking about the quarterfinals at the Mid-American Conference Tournament in Cleveland. The four games were decided by a total of six points, with two going to overtime.
“It was out of sight,” Coles said.
It was March Madness at its absolute finest.
The conference tournaments for the big conference have gotten a little stale. Kentucky, Cincinnati and Duke don't have a lot on the line in the tournaments. But, in places like the MAC, the Madness begins in early March.
“It's been crazy,” said Miami junior Jason Grunkemeyer.
Tonight's final is testament to that. Ninth-seeded Miami takes on second-seeded Ball State at Gund Arena in Cleveland (7 p.m. tipoff, ESPN).
Expect a competitive game. Miami and Ball State split home-and-home this year. The game at Miami went to triple overtime; the one at Ball State to single OT.
Miami, last year's top dog, is this year's underdog. Under last year's format, the RedHawks wouldn't even had qualified for the MAC Tournament — only the top eight teams qualified.
“We would have sitting at home when the tournament started,” Grunkemeyer said.
Instead, the RedHawks have made in improbable run to the finals and, with a win tonight, they can clinch a second straight NCAA Tournament berth.
How improbable? Miami has won four straight to get to the finals; they didn't win four straight all year. In the quarterfinals, the RedHawks needed a 35-foot buzzer shot by Grunkemeyer at the buzzer to force overtime against No. 1 seeded Bowling Green. In the semifinals, Miami needed 10 3-pointers from Jason Stewart to beat Marshall.
“Nobody gave us any chance coming into the tournament,” said Stewart. “But we played everybody tough and lost some close games. So this really isn't that surprising to us.”
What is shocking is the the RedHawks won those two games at Gund with getting a single field goal from leading scorer Anthony Taylor.
Miami came into the tourney like probably eight or nine of the other MAC teams, i.e., the RedHawks knew they had to win the league to get a shot at the NCAAs.
“There are some teams that have a chance to go the NCAA even if they lose in the (MAC) Tournament,” Miami point guard Rob Mestas said. “We're a team that knows if we lose a game it's our last. That makes you play together, play smart and play hard.”
The MAC is an extremely balanced conference. Eight of the league's 13 teams are ranked in the RPI's top 100.
“I've seen better teams in the league,” Coles said. “But I've never seen better balance. The whole league has been upgraded in quality.”
The regular season champion — Bowling Green — finished 14-5 in the league play.
“We just beat up on each other in the this league,” said Ball State coach Ray McCallum.
Coles thinks three teams from MAC deserve NCAA bids: Bowling Green (22-7), Kent (21-7) and BSU-Miami winner.
“My man Digger (Phelps) is on ESPN saying we're only going to get one team,” Coles said. “What is he talking about?”
That balance leads to a wide open tournament, so wide open that a ninth seed like Miami could win it all.
The RedHawks, at least the seven players in the rotation, have the advantage of having dealt with the pressure before. The top seven all had roles in the Miami's run to the Sweet 16 last year. But with the graduation of Wally Szczerbiak and Damon Frierson a repeat run to the NCAA was considered all but impossible.
“We're still Miami,” Mestas said. “We're used to the hoopla. This feels like the NCAA, and we're used to that.”
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