The 31-1 Miami (Ohio) RedHawks are going dancing! (Photo by Miami University)
Ohio State, Wright State, Miami, and Akron are headed to the NCAA Tournament!
Ohio State 21-12 (12-8 in the Big Ten)
The Buckeyes entered the Big Ten Tournament as an NCAA Tournament team. They had to play Iowa on Thursday, a team that had just beaten them a couple of weeks ago. It was a noon battle between the Buckeyes and the Hawkeyes, but Ohio State held on to win 72-69 and get their 21st win of the season. That set up a third game on Friday between Ohio State and that team up north. Ohio State fell to UM for the third time this season.
While it’s never okay to lose to that team up north, the Buckeyes battled hard and weren’t short on effort. The 71-67 defeat hurts, but the Bucks will get at least one more game this year, and this time in the big dance. Ohio State is an #8 seed and will take on the #9 seed, TCU in the East Region. TCU is 22-11, and the winner of this one will almost certainly have to go up against the #1 overall seed in Duke, in the following round.
Cincinnati 18-15 (9-9 in the Big 12)
UC was a bubble team entering the Big 12 Tournament. They got it off on the right foot with a 73-66 win over Utah on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they had to battle Central Florida. The Bearcats blew an eight-point lead with about two minutes to go, to fall 66-65 in overtime to UCF. This will likely be the catalyst for a head coaching change at UC, too. This is the fifth year head coach Wes Miller has failed to make the NCAA Tournament. Rightly, this was enough to lead to his firing on Friday. The favorite to succeed Miller is Utah State’s Jerrod Calhoun.
Xavier 15-18 (6-14 in the Big East)
X limped into the Big East Tournament, having lost five of their final six regular-season games. They played Marquette on Wednesday, who was fresh off their upset of UConn. It was a complete game battle, but the X-Men emerged victorious, 89-87. That, however, set the Muskies up in a David vs. Goliath game. Xavier had to battle the UConn Huskies. UConn never even let Xavier in the game. They led by 20 at halftime and finished Xavier off, 93-68, ending X’s season.
Dayton 23-11 (12-6 in the Atlantic 10)
UD had to open the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Friday, the 13th. The Flyers battle St. Bonaventure in the quarterfinals. Dayton won, 68-63, behind 27 points from Javon Bennett. UD went to battle against league-favorite St. Louis in the semifinals on Saturday. In a finish worthy of this, Dayton topped St. Louis, 70-69.
The Flyers then battled VCU on Sunday for the Atlantic 10 Championship and an NCAA Tournament berth. Unfortunately, UD fell, 70-62. Dayton will play in the NIT starting on Wednesday. They’ll host Bradley at home in Dayton.
Miami (Ohio) 31-1 (18-0 in the MAC)
The undefeated Miami RedHawks opened the MAC Tournament against UMass on Thursday. After rattling off 31 straight wins and an undefeated regular season, the RedHawks fell in round one of the MAC Tournament to UMass, 87-83. It’s ridiculous that Miami, with a 31-1 record, was a bubble team. Goofy arguments are made about analytics, quads, nets, ken poms, and all sorts of things that only have even a small use when comparing teams that are close to one another. What gets lost in all of these is the most important statistic in all of sports, actual wins and losses. No team in college basketball has a better record than Miami.
Miami will battle SMU in the First Four, as both teams are #11 seeds, fighting to play the #6 Tennessee Vols in the Midwest Region. The good news is RedHawks fans won’t have to travel far, as they’ll root for the RedHawks in person in the next county over in Dayton, Ohio!
Ohio 15-17 (9-9 in the MAC)
OU was riding a three-game losing streak coming into the MAC Tournament. On Thursday, things against Kent State continued in that vein. The Bobcats would lose their fourth straight game, and their season came to an end. Ohio finished the 2025-2026 college basketball season with a losing record.
Bowling Green 18-14 (9-9 in the MAC)
BGSU met Toledo in their first game of the MAC Tournament on Thursday. The cross-city rivals had gone 1-1 in the regular season and were playing in the rubber game to survive and advance. The Falcons lost to their rivals, falling to the Rockets by one point. Toledo defeated Bowling Green, 77-76. Bowling Green’s season comes to an end at the hands of their hated crosstown rivals.
Toledo 19-15 (11-7 in the MAC)
The Rockets locked horns with crosstown rival Bowling Green in the opening round of the MAC Tournament on Thursday. Toledo got the 77-76 win in the quarterfinal matchup. The Rockets advanced to the semifinals, where they battled UMass, fresh off their upset of Miami. Toledo defeated UMass, 77-67, and advanced to the MAC Championship on Saturday against Akron, where a win would get them to the big dance for the first time since 1980. Toledo’s drought from the NCAA Tournament was sadly extended Saturday night when they fell in a hard-fought battle against Akron.
Akron 29-5 (17-1 in the MAC)
The Zips came into the MAC Tournament as one of the hottest teams in college basketball that no one was talking about. They were poised to be one of two MAC teams to make the big dance this year. Akron started the conference tournament against Buffalo on Thursday. In a close scoring game, the Zips defeated the Bulls, 73-70, to win their quarterfinal matchup. They then battle Kent State in the semifinals on Friday. The semifinal between the MAC’s two teams from northeast Ohio went the way of the Akron Zips. Akron defeated Kent State, 75-68, on Friday and moved on to the MAC Championship game against Toledo. Akron and Toledo had a war in Cleveland Saturday night. Hometown guard for Akron, Shammah Scott would hit the game-winning three-pointer to give Akron their third straight MAC Tournament Championship.
Akron will play Texas Tech in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Tech is the #5 seed and the Zips the #12 seed in the Midwest Region. They will play on Friday in Florida!
Kent State 24-9 (14-4 in the MAC)
The Golden Flashes entered the 2026 MAC Tournament as something of a dark horse. They had their opening round game on Thursday against the Ohio Bobcats. Kent State won by 11, defeating Ohio, 86-75, in the quarterfinal. Kent State played their second game of the tournament in the semifinals on Friday against Akron. The Golden Flashes fell to Akron, 75-68, ending their NCAA Tournament chances. Kent State will play in the NIT, opening that on the road against Illinois State.
Youngstown State 15-17 (8-12 in the Horizon League)
YSU finished their season last week with a first-round loss to Robert Morris in the Horizon League Tournament. That’s the second straight year Robert Morris has eliminated Youngstown State. Youngstown State will continue to chase their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid in 2026-2027.
Wright State 23-11 (15-5 in the Horizon League)
The Raiders were the first team from Ohio to officially punch their NCAA Tournament ticket. WSU beat Cleveland State last week in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament, 90-61. On Monday, they defeated Northern Kentucky, 103-90, in the semifinal. Tuesday night, despite trailing for much of the second half, Wright State mounted a furious comeback and defeated Detroit Mercy, 66-63! Late game heroics gave WSU the win and the Horizon League Tournament Championship and an automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Tournament!
Wright State is the #14 seed in the Midwest Region and will play on Friday in Philadelphia against the #3 seed Virginia!
Cleveland State 11-22 (6-14 in the Horizon League)
The Vikings entered the postseason on a seven-game losing streak, but managed to beat IU-Indianapolis in the play-in round of the Horizon League Tournament. That success was short-lived as Cleveland State fell to eventual conference champion Wright State in the first round. The Vikings’ run of five straight invitational postseason tournaments that began with an NCAA Tournament berth in 2021 has come to an end.
Jerry Lucas-Oscar Robertson Player of the Week
Bruce Thornton of Ohio State had a good couple of games for the Buckeyes. Dayton’s Javon Bennett and Jordan Derkack had good outings for the Flyers, nearly winning them the Atlantic 10 Championship! Wright State’s TJ Burch had 16, 22, and 19 points in the Raiders’ three games to the Horizon League Championship and an NCAA Tournament berth. For me, though, the player of the week is Cleveland’s hometown hero Shammah Scott. Scott had 12, 18, and 12 points off the bench for Akron in their three wins in the MAC Tournament. Most of all, he had the game-deciding three-pointer to give Akron its third straight conference crown and NCAA berth.
