No easy first-round matchup for Miami
Coach in Georgia was recorded saying RB accepted ‘donations.’
If the Miami RedHawks hope to win t heir first Mid-American Conference men’s basketball conference tournament championship since the 2006-2007 season, they’ll have to overcome a team that apparently is quite good at holding a grudge.
Seventh-seeded Miami (1210, 9-8) is scheduled to meet second-seeded Buffalo (157, 13-5) in Thursday’s third of four quarterfinal games at Cleveland’s Rocket Mort- gage Fieldhouse. Miami upset the Bulls at Buffalo in a MAC Tournament firstround game last season, and Buffalo responded this season by handing the RedHawks losses by a season-worst 28 points at Millett Hall on Dec. 15 and by 24 points — tied for second worst — on Feb. 6 at Buffalo.
The winner of Thursday’s game is scheduled to meet in Friday’s second semifinal the winner of third-seeded Akron and sixth-seeded Bowling Green. Miami swept the twogame season series against the Falcons and lost at home to Akron. The rematch with the Zips at Akron was canceled due to what Miami’s media release described as “COVID-19 concerns.”
Toledo is the tournament’s top seed. Kent State is fourth with Ohio fifth and Ball State eighth.
The tournament is being played under a format differ- ent than in recent seasons, when all 12 teams qualified and the bottom four seeds played at the fifth through eighth seeds’ home arenas before the final eight teams converged on Cleveland for the remaining three rounds.
Not only do the Bulls go into the game with six consecutive wins, the MAC’s longest current win streak, their roster includes senior guard Jayvon Graves, who was named on Monday the MAC player of the week after averaging 15.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 9.0 assists in wins over Akron and Kent State. Graves logged his first career triple-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists against the Zips.
The RedHawks’ win at Bowling Green in what turned out to be the regular-sea- son finale was their fourth straight on the road, their longest conference road winning streak since the 2008- 2009 season.
“That was just a gutsy win,” fourth-year Miami coach Jack Owens said after the game. “I want to give credit to (Bowling Green coach Michael Huger) and Bowling Green. They’re a good team. We knew it would be a hard-fought game. Our offense got into a flow and our defense locked in.”
The RedHawks ended the regular season with four wins in their last five games, despite having two games previously postponed due to COVID-19 concerns added to the second-last week of the schedule, both on the road in Michigan. Seven of Miami’s last nine games were played away from home.
“Nobody complained,” Owens said.
Senior forward Dalonte Brown scored a career-high 29 points, 16 in the second half, and added 14 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. The 6-foot7, 205-pound Brown averaged 17.6 points per game over Miami’s last five regular-season games.
“I’m proud of him,” Owens said. “He’s playing at a high level. The pace of the game has slowed down for him. He’s been playing the way we thought he could play. You’re talking about a guy who’s been around for four years.
“We finished the conference race on a high note, even though we didn’t know it was going to be our last regular-season game.”
Buffalo finished the regular season as the MAC’s most-prolific scoring team, producing an average of 82.7 points per game while allowing opponents to sink a conference-low 41.2% on shots from the field, including 27.8% on 3-pointers. The Bulls also average a MAC-best 44.1 rebounds per game and 4.1 blocked shots.
Due to the cancellation of the game at Akron, Miami will have had eight days off before meeting Buffalo.
Nick Chubb and the word “controversy” aren’t often associated with one another, and the Browns two-time Pro Bowl running back would like to keep it that way.
Chubb denied an accusation Monday that he accepted $180,000 to stay at the University of Georgia for his senior season in 2017 instead of entering the NFL Draft.
“If I needed money I would have went pro .fakenews,” Chubb tweeted.
The Browns drafted Chubb in the second round (No. 35 overall) in 2018. Since then, he has become one of their best players, and he’s eligible for a contract extension this offseason.
The accusation of Chubb receiving three $60,000
“donations” at Georgia came from high school coach Rush Propst in secret recordings that recently leaked and circulated online, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Propst alleged Georgia and the University of Alabama have paid players hundreds of thousands of dollars to sign with their football programs.
Michael “Nub” Nelson is heard on the recordings talking with Propst, football coach at Valdosta High School in Georgia. Nelson, the former director of the Valdosta Touchdown Club, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he doesn’t believe the allegations in part because Propst’s “credibility is zero.” Nelson told the newspaper the recordings were made on May 16, 2020.
Propst has never coached Chubb and referred to him as “Chubbs” in the recorded conversation. Chubb attended Cedartown High School in Georgia.