One of college basketball’s greatest players has a strong opinion on one of this year’s most debated Selection Sunday decisions.
Miami (OH)’s Arrival in the First Four Creates Controversy
Miami (OH) earned an at-large bid to the 2026 NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday and was placed in the First Four as an 11 seed, where it will face SMU at UD Arena in Dayton on Wednesday. But not everyone is happy about it.
North Carolina legend Tyler Hansbrough, the four-time All-American who led the Tar Heels to the 2009 national championship and won the National Player of the Year award in 2008, did not hold back when weighing in on the RedHawks’ inclusion in the field.
“No, I don’t think they should have made the tournament. And the reason I say that is their strength of schedule is pretty weak. What is it? Let’s see here, 339th. No quad one wins. We had a Quad 1 win debate last year whenever Carolina got in there, but we had a much stronger schedule.”
Tyler Hansbrough on Miami (Ohio):
“I don’t think they should’ve made the tournament” 👀
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He added, “And quite honestly, I think these other teams, maybe Oklahoma or somebody, kind of came on a little bit towards the end, or teams in bigger conferences that actually have a legit chance that didn’t schedule D2 schools in their pre-conference schedule, I felt like they should have been rewarded.”
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And if we haven’t learned anything from the college football playoffs, realistically, is Miami of Ohio a contender? Absolutely not. I have them losing in the playing game,” Hansbrough said.
Hansbrough’s argument is a familiar one in the ongoing mid-major-versus-high-major debate that has defined the Miami (OH) conversation all season. The RedHawks finished the regular season 31-0, becoming just the 21st Division I program in history to go undefeated through the regular season.
That historic achievement, however, came crashing down when a 16-15 UMass team knocked them out of the MAC Tournament quarterfinals earlier this week. With no automatic bid to fall back on, Miami was forced to sweat out Selection Sunday and plead its case as an at-large team.
The numbers Hansbrough cited are accurate. Miami finished with a 339th-ranked strength of schedule and had zero Quad 1 wins, a combination that has historically been disqualifying for at-large bids. The selection committee ultimately leaned on Miami’s Wins Above Bubble ranking, which sat 38th nationally, as justification for including them.
That metric measures how many victories a team accumulated relative to what an average bubble team would be expected to produce against the same schedule, and Miami ranked comfortably among teams projected to make the field. Still, critics like Hansbrough argue the metric fails to capture what the tournament is designed to test.
The comparison to North Carolina’s situation from a year ago adds another layer. When UNC earned a bid last season despite some bubble anxiety of its own, the committee cited WAB and quality wins against a stronger schedule as justification. That the same logic is now being applied to a MAC school with no Quad 1 wins is the core of Hansbrough’s frustration.
Miami’s road through the First Four is steep. SMU, their opponent on Wednesday in Dayton, finished 45th in the WAB and brings a resume built against power-conference competition. The winner advances to the round of 64.
Whether or not Hansbrough’s prediction proves correct, the selection committee’s decision to include the RedHawks at all has already given March Madness its first major talking point before a single First Four game has been played.
