The Redhawks are Red Hot

There are just two unbeaten teams left in all of men’s college basketball. And yes, one is a blue-blood of the highest order, and is the top ranked team in the country in the Arizona Wildcats. But the other might surprise you.

Just up the road about 40 miles rests a little campus many of us are familiar with. They boast an undergraduate population of around 20,000 students, and one of the hottest basketball teams in the country.

The Miami Redhawks are showing the world they are for real with each game they play.

They sit at 21-0 and 9-0 in the MAC behind a core of great players. Brant Byers has been Miami’s top scoring option and one of the most efficient forwards in the MAC. He is averaging 15.1 points per game while shooting 51.1% from the field and an excellent 42.1% from three-point range. He is in the top five in the MAC for scoring and shooting percentage.

Close behind him is Peter Suder, the transfer from Bellarmine, who is posting 14.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. He’s having a career year from the field as well, shooting 56.1% from the field and 44.6% from three. He’s one of the best in the conference at distributing the ball and a dead eye shooter as well.

Photo Courtesy Of Miami Basketball on X

Eian Elmer is a dynamic player as well, and you only have to look at last game against UMass to see it. He hit six threes and had a career high 30 in Miami’s thrilling 86-84 win to remain unbeaten.

Photo Courtesy of Miami Basketball on X

They are poised to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007 when they won the MAC. They were a 14-seed that year and narrowly lost to Oregon in the first round, 58–56. But the differences between those two teams couldn’t be more obvious.

That 2007 team was 320th in basketball at 57.4 PPG and finished 18-15. This year’s Miami unit has already eclipsed that win total and it is just the end of January. In addition they are tops in the country scoring 94.5 per contest.

And they seem to be the only show in town.

It has been a down year for college basketball in the Queen City. The Bearcats entered the season with a "tournament or bust" mentality, aiming to end an NCAA Tournament drought that stretches back to 2019. But little has gone to plan for Wes Miller’s boys. Fans have worn bags on their heads to protest the product on the court. They are fighting to stay above .500 and face a brutal Big 12 schedule.

For their part, Xavier is in the first year of the Richard Pitino era. However, they are in the bottom half of the Big East and have a losing conference record.

It would have been hard to believe in the preseason that come January 2026 the only tristate team to be ranked would be the Miami Redhawks. And even harder to comprehend that they’d be one of the top offensive teams in the country and spotless in the loss column to boot.

And it all starts with head coach Travis Steele, now in his fourth season in Oxford after his tenure at Xavier. In 2025 his team won a program record 25 games, laying the foundation for what Miami is accomplishing this year. Steele has constructed a balanced roster that score on anyone and win the tight games they seem to have night in and night out.

They are playing extremely exciting basketball right now and we are all along for the ride.