Except they did. They sent out requests, made phone calls, etc. to over 75 teams, including mid majors. The Yahoo writer below has the emails as they he got them through a public records request. They all exist. I just don't think you have a real grasp of the situation. Miami won 25 games last year and returned most of their key players. They were always going to be a good team this year. That isn't the type of team many teams will play, and then if they find one, it has to work for both their schedules. The emails requesting games are extensive. They didn't ask for return games. They said they play basically any day or time. The coach called people he used to work for, none of them would play Miami. Nothing but crickets. Miami tried, and they tried a lot. Miami also isn't alone. High Point couldn't schedule anyone good either nor could Belmont or Liberty (well Liberty got 1). Teams in a similar situation to Miami. Liberty is the only 1 of those 4 to have a power conference opponent, just the 1, NC State which beat Liberty easily. But NC State gets basically no credit for that win because of the quadrant system. That is newer and that is the cause of all of this. Teams that on a good night could beat you, just aren't worth scheduling unless they are a tier 1 school (or some sort of rival).
https://sports.yahoo.com/mens-college-basketball/article/undefeated-miami-ohio-hasnt-played-anybody-good-dont-blame-the-redhawks--they-tried-and-were-turned-away-by-more-than-75-teams-220121856.html
Then perhaps Miami should have, as I mentioned above, scheduled Belmont, or Liberty, or High Point. Play good mid-majors. Belmont lost early in its tourney too, and will presumably miss March Madness with a similar resume as Miami. A game against each other would have been a Quad 1 game for the road team and a Quad 2 game for the home team. High Point would also be in the same boat had they not won their conference tourney. There is nothing stopping the top mid-majors from playing each other. If Pitt doesn?t want to play you, play each other. There were 41 non-power conference teams Miami could have played that would have counted as Quad 1 or 2 games, and that is with a very broad definition of power conference that includes the Mountain West and WCC. They played one such game, and based on last year?s rankings, that was one more than expected. They scheduled only one non-conference game from a team with a better NET ranking than they had last season, and again, Miami was 151. Seems to me that Miami did to the mid-majors what the power conferences did to Miami.
They will make the tourney because of narrative, but they have no business doing so and will lose on the first round.
