BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ & ADAM ZAGORIA
PHILADELPHIA — After Tennessee’s win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament head coach Rick Barnes had high praise for an opponent many thought would always be outclassed against a Power-conference opponent.
“Miami of Ohio should have been the darlings, the talk of the tournament,” Barnes said following the Volunteers 78-56 victory over the RedHawks. “You win 32 basketball games, I don’t care what league you play in. I don’t care what anybody says. And they would win some games in our league [the SEC].”
That’s quite a statement considering the SEC is off to a 6-1 mark in the Big Dance.
Miami (OH) made headlines throughout its season due to its perfect 31-0 record in the regular season. They lost in the first round of the MAC Tournament but then won a game in the First Four over SMU.
Asked about Barnes’s comment, Miami (Ohio) coach Travis Steele responded: “We didn’t get a chance to play in the SEC. Give Tennessee credit. “
Many questioned whether the quality of opponents the RedHawks faced made their record look more impressive than the team actually was.
One of those people was a former SEC head coach and current TV analyst Bruce Pearl. Pearl made headlines earlier in the season for saying Miami (OH) would finish in the lower half of the BIG EAST Conference, a league that only sent three teams to the Big Dance.
At the very least, Miami (OH) did win a NCAA Tournament game and gained the respect of a head coach in the SEC.
“My goal is to get this thing to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, Steele said. “Fell short of that this year, but we’ll be back”
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