March 10, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

MIAMI MAKES 27th MAC TOURNAMENT APPEARANCE: Miami University men's basketball team makes its 27 Mid-American Conference Tournament appearance in the 29-year history of the tournament. The RedHawks are the No. 5 seed for just the fourth time in those 27 appearances and will take on the No. 12 seed Buffalo Bulls at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12 in a first-round game. The RedHawks seek their fourth first-round win and try to make their 20th consecutive quarterfinal appearance.

MAC Tournament Tickets
Reserve your seats in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena for this week's 2008 Mid-American Conference Basketball Tournament! Get MAC Women's and Men's Basketball Tournament tickets and join up with fellow Miamians for thrilling postseason hoops action and fun social events. To order tickets and ensure being seated with fellow Miami fans, call 1-866-MUHAWKS. Tickets also may be picked up in Quicken Loans Arena's "Winner's Circle" (located just outside of the Cleveland Cavaliers team store) immediately following each Miami MAC Tournament victory.

Red & White Rallies at the Hard Rock Café
All Miami Basketball fans are invited to attend the Red & White Rally at the Hard Rock Café, located in the Tower City Center, adjacent to Quicken Loans Arena. The rally will be held in the 'Icons of Rock Room' at 6 p.m. on Monday, March 10 in preparation for the Miami Women's quarterfinal game at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 11. There also will be a Red & White Rally at the Hard Rock Café on Wednesday, March 12 at 6 p.m. prior to the Miami Men's opening round game at 8 p.m. that night.

Red and White Rally's will be held before additional games in which Miami plays at the Hard Rock Café approximately two hours prior to each contest for potential games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

ABOUT BUFFALO: The Bulls enter the MAC Tournament with a 10-19 overall record and posted a 3-13 Mid-American Conference mark. After downing Bowling Green 96-50 on March 4, Buffalo suffered a 94-80 loss at Ohio in its last game on March 9. The Bulls are paced by Andy Robinson, who averages 13.4 ppg on the season and 16.3 ppg in league action. Calvin Bets follows, averaging 8.9 ppg this season and 10.0 ppg in MAC play. Betts also averages a team-leading 6.6 rpg on the season, including 7.8 ppg in MAC action. Robinson and Sean Smiley pack a one-two punch from the perimeter with Robinson knocking down 54 treys this season and Smiley draining 50. In MAC play, Robinson leads the league in steals, averaging 2.12 per game. As a team, the Bulls lead the league in scoring offense, averaging 71.7 ppg, however, they also rank last in scoring defense, giving up 75.2. Buffalo also leads the league in rebounding, averaging 38.2 rpg.

THE SERIES WITH THE BULLS: Miami and Buffalo meet for the 21st time in series history with the RedHawks holding a 16-4 record against the Bulls. This is just the second time the teams have met in MAC Tournament action with Miami winning the previous meeting on March 5, 2002, 71-60, also in the first round of the MAC Tournament. It is the first neutral-site meeting between the teams. Miami won both meetings this season (64-57 vs. Buffalo on Jan. 20; 64-55 at Buffalo on Feb. 16) and has won three straight meetings against the Bulls. Buffalo's last win in the series came on Jan. 14, 2007 at Buffalo, 68-51.

Tournament Tidbits:Miami is the defending Mid-American Tournament Champions, winning the 2007 tournament crown as the No. 4 seed. Only once has a team repeated as tournament champions (Kent State in 2001 and 2002).

Last year, Michael Bramos and Tim Pollitz were named to the MAC All-Tournament Team with Pollitz capturing MAC Tournament MVP accolades. Pollitz became just the fourth Miami player to capture Tournament MVP honors, the first since Devin Davis in 1997 and the first junior since Ron Harper in 1985.

Miami is the No. 5 seed for just the fourth time in its 27 MAC Tournament appearances. The last time the Red and White was the No. 5 seed was in 1989 with Miami being edged in the quarterfinals by No. 4 seed Eastern Michigan, 70-69.

This is the first year since 2002 that Miami will be participating in a first-round game. The RedHawks had earned first-round byes the past five years. Coincidentally, the last time the RedHawks played a first-round game was in 2002 against Buffalo. No. 7 seed Miami defeated No. 10 seed Buffalo 70-61 in Oxford.

No matter what the seed, Miami has traditionally managed to make noise in the MAC Tournament. The RedHawks are the lowest seed to advance to the championship game, doing so as the No. 9 seed in 2000 and the No. 8 seed in 2001. Miami assistant coach Jason Grunkemeyer was a key member of both of those squads that made a MAC record five straight title game appearances.

UP NEXT: Should Miami win its first round game, the RedHawks would advance to face No. 4 seed Ohio University in the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 13.

MIAMI ISP SPORTS NETWORK:In its first year of its partnership with ISP Sports Marketing, the Miami ISP Sports Network continues its coverage of Miami men's basketball with a group of affiliates blanketing most of Southwest Ohio and Southeast Indiana. "The Voice of the RedHawks" Steve Baker delivers the play-by-play coverage, while Joe Barry provides color commentary and Tim Bray gives sideline updates. Tune-in to one of Miami's game-day affiliates: WMOH-AM 1450 (Hamilton, OH), WFTK-FM 96.5 (Cincinnati, OH), WFMG-FM 101.3 (Richmond, IN), WONE-AM 980 (Dayton, OH)

GETTING OUT OF THE GATES: In Miami's last two home games, the RedHawks have had dominant first-half efforts, pulling out to a 37-14 lead against Ohio on March 1 and a 36-20 lead against Bowling Green on March 9. Junior forward Michael Bramos averaged 16.5 ppg in the first half alone in those two games, which was just under the opponents' 17.0 ppg first-half average as a team. In its last four games, the RedHawks also have proven they are capable of putting points on the board, eclipsing 70 points three times and averaging 70.25 ppg.

POLLITZ NAMED TO NABC ALL-DISTRICT TEAM: Senior forward Tim Pollitz earned Second-Team All-District 10 honors by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, Pollitz is one of 150 student-athletes from 15 districts that are now eligible for the State Farm Division I All-America teams. Pollitz ranks in the top-10 in the MAC in seven statistical categories and leads Miami in scoring (15.9 ppg), rebounding (7.1 rpg) and assists (3.2 apg). Pollitz and Ohio's Leon Williams were the only two players to earn all-district honors from the Mid-American Conference. Notre Dame's Luke Harangody, Indiana's D.J. White and Eric Gordon, Dayton's Brian Roberts and Butler's Mike Green earned District 10 First-Team honors. Ohio State's Jamar Butler, Xavier's Drew Lavender and Butler's A.J. Graves joined Pollitz and Williams on the District 10 Second Team.

THIRTY SOMETHING: For the fifth time this season and for the second straight game, Miami had a player score 30 or more points as junior forward Michael Bramos poured in 31 points in a 73-49 win against Ohio on March 1. It was Bramos' fourth 30-point scoring effort of the season. Bramos also recorded 30 points in back-to-back games against Mississippi State on Nov. 25 and a career-high 36 points against Dayton on Nov. 28, becoming just the sixth player in Miami basketball history to score 30 points in back-to-back games. Junior guard Kenny Hayes scored a career-high 30 points at Valparaiso in Miami's previous game on Feb. 23.

REDHAWKS HOLD BOBCATS TO 14 FIRST-HALF POINTS: Ohio's 14 first-half points against Miami on March 1 tied for the seventh fewest points Miami has allowed an opponent in a half. The last time the RedHawks held an opponent to 14 points or less in a half was when it restricted Florida A&M to 11 first-half points on Nov. 17, 2006. Additionally, The RedHawks shot 56.1 percent from the field against Ohio, marking its fourth straight game shooting above 50.0 percent from the field and 12th 50 percent field goal percentage effort this season.

DOUBLE-DIGIT TRIO: Junior guard Kenny Hayes scored a career-high 30 points, while junior forward Michael Bramos amassed 23 points and senior forward Tim Pollitz added 22 points in a double-overtime game at Valparaiso on Feb. 23, marking the first time since Dec. 2, 1997 three Miami players recorded 20 or more points in a game. Damon Frierson had 27 points, Wally Szczerbiak had 26 points and Anthony Taylor recorded 22 points against IUPUI during the 1997-98 season.

ROARING 20s: Eclipsing 20 points for the third straight game against Toledo on Feb. 6, junior guard Kenny Hayes strung together a series of 20-point scoring efforts. Hayes has scored 20 or more points in five of Miami's last 11 games and has the most consecutive 20-point games by a RedHawk this season. Junior forward Michael Bramos notched consecutive 20-plus point scoring efforts twice this season, most recently on March 1, and back-to-back 30-or-more point games against Mississippi State and Dayton earlier this season. Bramos has nine 20-point scoring efforts, senior forward Tim Pollitz has seven, while Hayes has five.

BLOCK PARTY: Over the last eight games, Miami has amassed 43 blocked shots as a team, which is an average of 5.4 bpg during that stretch. The RedHawks recorded 10 against Central Michigan on Feb. 9, which was the most by a Miami team since Jan. 10, 1996 against Toledo and tied for second on the RedHawks' single-game list. They followed that with nine blocked shots at Western Michigan (Feb. 12), which tied for fifth on the single-game charts, and recorded five against Buffalo (Feb. 16), two against Akron (Feb. 19), seven at Valparaiso (Feb. 23), five against Ohio (Mar. 1), two at Kent State (Mar. 4) and three vs. Bowling Green (Mar. 9).

WORKING OVERTIME: Twice over an 11-day stretch Miami had games go to double overtime. The RedHawks lost a tough 78-75 decision at Western Michigan on Feb. 12 and dropped a 99-94 game at Valparaiso on Feb. 23. The 94 points against the Crusaders were Miami's most since amassing 100 at Central Michigan in a double-overtime game on Jan. 5, 2002. Earlier in the season, Miami defeated Illinois 61-58 in overtime.

BUILDING BLOCKS: Junior forward Michael Bramos has been a shot blocking machine. Bramos has amassed 22 blocked shots in Miami's last eight games (2.75 per game), accounting for 51 percent of Miami's blocked shots during that stretch. He ranks third among MAC statistical leaders in blocked shots in overall games and fourth in league-only games. Bramos set a career high of five blocked shots against Central Michigan on Feb. 9 and had four blocked shots in the RedHawks' next two games. Bramos has 91 career blocked shots and has catapulted himself into fourth place on Miami's career blocked shot chart.

LENDING A HELPING HAND: Miami's post players have been the RedHawks' top assist men this season. Senior forward Tim Pollitz has 89 assists this season and averages 3.07 apg, while junior center Tyler Dierkers has recorded 76 assists and averages 2.11 apg. The duo accounts for 44 percent of the team's assists.

THE HAYES HAS LIFTED: Junior guard Kenny Hayes started the season off scoring in double figures in his first two games, including 18 points in Miami's season-opening win against Xavier. After a somewhat foggy 11-game stretch where Hayes scored in double figures just three times and averaged 7.3 ppg, it seems that the fog has lifted as he has scored in double figures in 14 of the RedHawks' last 16 games, including three straight 20-point efforts from Feb. 2 - Feb. 9 and a career-high 30 points at Valparaiso on Feb. 23. He is averaging 16.1 ppg over Miami's last 14 games and shooting 49.3 percent from the field, 45.8 percent from 3-point range and 87.3 percent from the free-throw line. In MAC play, Hayes averaged 14.3 ppg.

POLLITZ RECORDS 500th CAREER REBOUND AND 200th CAREER ASSIST: With four assists and six rebounds at Ball State on Feb. 2, senior forward Tim Pollitz recorded his 200th career assist and 500th career rebound. Pollitz, who surpassed 1,000 career points earlier this season, owns 1,364 career points, 564 career rebounds and 222 career assists.

TWO REDHAWKS CLOSING IN ON CAREER TOP-10 CHARTS: Senior forward Tim Pollitz and junior forward Michael Bramos rank on or are closing in on several Miami career top 10-charts. Additionally, Bramos needs 72 points to become the 33rd RedHawk to amass 1,000 career points. Tim Pollitz • His .572 field-goal percentage ranks first all-time at Miami. • Needs 2 more field goals to tie the 5th place total of 595. • Needs 37 points to tie the 10th-place total of 1,401.

Michael Bramos • Needs 18 blocked shots to tie the 3rd-place total of 109. • Is 7 3-pointers away from tying the 10th-place total of 129. • His .809 free-throw percentage ties for 5th all-time at Miami.

A MIAMI WIN WOULD ... • Advance Miami to the MAC Tournament quarterfinals for the 20th straight year. • Make Miami 4-0 in MAC Tournament first-round games. • Make Miami 2-0 in MAC Tournament action against Buffalo. • Be the RedHawks fourth straight MAC Tournament win, dating back to 2006-07. • Up Miami to 17-4 all-time when facing Buffalo. • Give the RedHawks a 16-14 overall record.

A MIAMI LOSS WOULD ... • Drop the RedHawks to 15-15. • Be Miami's first first-round loss. • Even the RedHawks' record to 1-1 against Buffalo in MAC Tournament play. • Make Miami 0-4 as the No. 5 seed, also losing in its opening game of the 1983, 1987 and 1989 MAC Tournaments. • Snap Miami's three-game win streak against the Bulls.