Miami (Ohio)'s First Four win over SMU proves its detractors wrong

The closer Miami (Ohio) got to completing an undefeated regular season and earning an NCAA Tournament bid, its critics only got louder. 

Their complaints about the RedHawks were understandable: despite a 31-0 regular season, Miami (Ohio) didn't play a single Power Four program. And while it went undefeated in MAC play, it didn't blow many teams away and lost in its first MAC Tournament contest against UMass.

But that didn't matter on Wednesday, as Miami (Ohio) led SMU 43-34 at halftime and beat the Mustangs 89-79 for its first NCAA Tournament victory since 1999. The RedHawks' First Four victory will pair them up with six-seed Tennessee in a Round of 64 tussle on Friday.

Eian Elmer led the RedHawks with 23 points, including an exclamation mark of a dunk that put Miami (Ohio) up 85-76 with a minute to play. 

Miami (Ohio) silences the doubters

Much was made about whether the RedHawks deserved an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament after their loss to UMass in the MAC Tournament. Bubble teams from power conferences such as Oklahoma and Auburn were left out of the tournament as Miami (Ohio) was given a First Four spot. 

On Wednesday, Miami (Ohio) was the more poised team down the stretch and never looked frazzled in its first contest against a Power Four squad this season. 

Friday's game against a better Tennessee team will be a much more telling game in regard to the RedHawks' ceiling, but at the very least, Miami (Ohio) proved that it was very deserving of an NCAA Tournament berth and that it was not simply an undeserving Cinderella just happy to be in the Big Dance. 

For a night, Miami (Ohio)'s critics were silenced; its doubters proved wrong, and its NCAA Tournament dreams were kept alive.

That's the magic of March in a nutshell.