Badin vs. Fredericktown
Miamisburg graduation 2012
Valley View vs. Greenville
CBI Miami: RedHawks like the mystery
Team knows little about its first-round opponent, Tulsa, but interim coach says that may work in Miami's favor.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
OXFORD — Jermaine Henderson doesn't mind that the Miami RedHawks and Tulsa Golden Hurricane are total strangers on the basketball court, two teams that have never come face to face.
"We don't know each other," the Miami's interim men's head coach said. "That could be a good thing for us."
Extras
Miami and Tulsa will square off tonight, March 19, in the first round of the inaugural College Basketball Invitational.
According to Henderson, "you can't figure a team out in two days," which suits the RedHawks and their fairly rare style of play, a weaving, methodical half-court offense which allows Miami to slow — and control — the game's pace almost every time.
Miami wasn't able to do it against Kansas earlier this year, but that was the exception. In last year's NCAA tournament, the RedHawks' first-round opponent, Oregon, was considered an overwhelming favorite.
But Oregon was unprepared for Miami's ability to dominate the tempo, and even though Tim Pollitz spent much of the first half on the bench in foul trouble, Oregon was barely able to hold on for a 58-56 victory.
"Against Oregon, I don't know if we were so much better. We were just different," Henderson said.
Of course, it works both ways. Miami doesn't know much about Tulsa, other than that the Golden Hurricane lost twice to second-ranked Memphis during the regular season, each time by 15 points, and then got blown out by Memphis in the Conference USA tournament final 77-51.
"They had some tough games against Memphis," Henderson said, "but a lot of teams have tough games against Memphis."
The Golden Hurricane have a balanced scoring attack with seven players who average six or more points per game. They also have a dominant shot blocker in 7-foot sophomore Jerome Jordan, who swatted 117 shots. The RedHawks are very good shot blockers, and they had only 108 as a team.
That isn't particularly good news for a Miami offense that struggled in the Mid-American Conference tournament championship game.
"We've got to get ourselves (straightened out). We had 47 points in our last game," Henderson said, referring to the 49-47 loss to Kent State.
In the national RPI rankings, Miami is No. 73 and Tulsa is No. 93, mainly because of the RedHawks' much stronger nonconference strength of schedule (Miami's is the seventh-most difficult in the nation, Tulsa's is ranked 273rd).
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197
or pconrad@coxohio.com.
