Travis Steele advocates for analytic scheduling change with high-majors

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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — If there’s one thing that’s consistent every year during March Madness, it’s the love men’s college basketball fans have for the mid-major programs among the 68 teams.

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The Miami (Ohio) Redhawks, VCU Rams and High Point Panthers are examples this season. All three programs defeated Power 5 Conference programs in the first game of the men’s NCAA tournament, with the Redhawks beating SMU in their first four games.

But senior programs don’t necessarily like it when it comes to non-conference arrangements. Miami (Ohio) fourth-year head coach Travis Steele said that needs to change from an analytics standpoint.

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“A lot of it is analytics-driven. Adjustments need to be made,” Steele said after Miami (Ohio) lost to sixth-seeded Tennessee in the first round of the Midwest Region at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday. “… I don’t know when they last made adjustments or if they ever have. But the fans want to see those games. Our fans want to see it. Their fans want to see it. They want to see the brand. It’s bad.”

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Redhawks senior linebacker Peter Suder agreed with his coach on why senior major programs won’t field mid-majors.

“I wouldn’t say they’re scared. It’s a numbers issue, an analytics issue,” said Suder, who scored a team-high 27 points against the Volunteers on Friday. “We want to play them. It’s a great opportunity for the mid-level pros to show they’re just as good. It’s more of an analysis.

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Steele and Studer’s comments came less than 24 hours after High Point head coach Flynn Kleiman spoke on the matter following Thursday’s win over fifth-seeded Wisconsin in Portland. Kleiman expressed his emotions in the postgame interview, days after Miami (Ohio)’s metrics were briefly in doubt ahead of Sunday’s selection as the Redhawks had not won a four-game stretch before beating SMU in their previous four.

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“It’s clear to me that the senior majors need to play mid-major during the season,” Kleiman said. “Because they said we didn’t play anyone? Now we play some people.”

Discussions about Miami (Ohio)’s resume and metrics began long before the Redhawks drafted Sunday, and after Friday’s win, the Redhawks were ranked No. 91 by two analytics sites, KenPom, and No. 86 by Bart Torvik. The Redhawks enter the day as a Quad 2 team at Tennessee State, where they are ranked No. 64 in the NCAA NET system.

It’s not like the Redhawks or other mid-major programs haven’t tried. According to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by Extra Point’s Matt Brown, they attempted to place schools such as Pitt, Kansas, BYU and Ohio State on the non-conference schedule.

“Most of the scheduling is done over the phone, which is frustrating,” Steele said.

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Steele said he knew as early as last June that his team was going to be “in trouble” with the non-conference schedule.

“We didn’t finalize the plan until mid-October. We didn’t start playing two weeks later, which is ridiculous, especially in today’s college environment,” Steele said. “It sounds crazy to me, but again I understand why they don’t want to play, because you want to stay away from a Quad 2 or Quad 3 game. That doesn’t do you any favors.

“It’s almost like a lose-lose situation.”

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Travis Steele says fans ‘want to see’ high majors play against mid-majors