Friday night’s 110-108 overtime road win over archrival Ohio University gave the undefeated (31-0) Miami University (Ohio) its first undefeated regular season in program history. The Redhawks enter next week’s Mid-American Conference Tournament at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland as the only undefeated team in men’s college basketball and the prohibitive favorite to win and secure the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Miami (Ohio) Needs MAC Tournament Win To Lock In NCAA Tourney Trip?
In fact, the Redhawks have been so impressive that most believe even if they don’t win the conference tourney they’ll still get one of the 37 at-large bids. One of the people who’s been stomping heavy for the Redhawks is ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who strongly believes they’re a shoo-in no matter what happens in Cleveland next week.
That take drew the ire of college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman, who’s taken shots at Smith in the past, and this was no different.
Stephen A. Smith Rants For Redhawks And Goodman Laughs
Speaking on “First Take” earlier this week, Smith raved about the Redhawks’ chances without winning their conference tourney next week.
“There is no reason on God’s green earth why a team that goes 30-0 in the regular season — only the fourth team in the last 45 years to do so — can’t make a field of 1 of 68. That’s insane,” he said.
“I mean, talk about the equivalent of literally saying that the regular season means absolutely nothing,” Smith said. “If you go 30-0 and you don’t make the NCAA Tournament, the regular season no longer means a damn thing. You can’t do that.”
ESPN Analyst Jeff Goodman Disrespects Stephen A. Smith Over Miami (Ohio) Take
Smith’s comments drew a response from former Stadium college basketball analyst and co-founder of Field of 68 Jeff Goodman.
“This guy is laughable. Never seen anyone have an opinion on absolutely everything — and so much of it he has zero clue about,” Goodman posted.
This isn’t the first time Goodman has questioned Smith’s college basketball acumen, and from the looks of it most of his takes revolve around Smith not knowing what he’s talking about.
Fans Chime In
In the aftermath of Smith’s comments and Goodman’s rebuttal fans took to X give their varying opinions on the matter.
“I guarantee he doesn’t watch college sports. Or any sports besides NBA and NFL (maybe). And he’s still wrong on those most of the time,” a fan said.
“The sports talk show formula is ‘Having a loud, strong opinion about everything… with knowledge of almost nothing.’ Stephen A. Smith fits the formula perfectly,” another fan said.
“Every media personality must run their takes by Jeff Goodman for approval beforehand,” another fan quipped.
“But he’s right in this case. Your initial statement was correct but this was a poor example to prove,” a fan mentioned.
“The black Howard Cosell without the toupe,” another fan spewed.
“I wish more people with your type of platform told him that,” a fan said.
“Goodman is a joke. Talk about a bad example to use. Two blowhards don’t make it right,” a fan said.
Some fans don’t like either based on the takes, but in this instance Stephen A is correct. It will be very hard to keep Miami Ohio out of March Madness.
Redhawks Made History Friday Night
With the win the Redhawks join an exclusive group of only 21 teams in college basketball history to complete an undefeated regular season. They’re just the fifth team in the past 35 years to achieve this feat joining UNLV 1991, 2014 Wichita State, 2015 Kentucky and 2021 Gonzaga.
None of these teams won a championship, with only Gonzaga advancing to the championship game. While the Redhawks probably won’t either, they do deserve a spot in the “Big Dance” no matter what happens in their conference tourney.
