Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon A. Steinbrecher says he believes the league will place two teams in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament for the first time in nearly three decades, despite a late setback for Miami (Ohio) RedHawks men's basketball.

Miami’s hopes took a hit Thursday when the RedHawks fell 87–83 to the UMass Minutemen men's basketball in the quarterfinals of the MAC tournament, handing them their first loss after a perfect 31–0 regular season.

Even with the defeat, Steinbrecher said Friday he remains confident the RedHawks will still receive an at-large bid when the tournament field is announced Sunday.

“I believe Miami's in the tournament,” Steinbrecher said before the start of the conference semifinals. “I had communication with the committee chair and committee liaisons yesterday and just passed along some information. They're not going to tell me for sure, but I just feel that they're in. They've done the things they need to do to get into the tournament.”

If selected, it would mark the first time since 1999 that the MAC sends multiple teams to the NCAA tournament. That year, Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball won the conference tournament while Miami earned an at-large berth after capturing the regular-season title. The RedHawks went on to reach the Sweet 16.

Miami’s case has drawn criticism from some observers because of its weak strength of schedule. According to the NCAA Evaluation Tool, the RedHawks ranked 344th out of 365 Division I teams in schedule strength. The team did not face any Tier 1 opponents and went 2–0 against Tier 2 competition.

Steinbrecher argued that the scheduling imbalance reflects a broader problem for mid-major programs that struggle to secure games against top-tier schools.

“We’ve allowed metrics to become the story as opposed to wins and losses,” Steinbrecher said. “The metrics don't work real well when you have different schools that go out of their way not to schedule.”

He added that major programs often prefer to schedule either other top-tier teams or significantly weaker opponents, avoiding mid-tier programs that could pose competitive risks without offering ranking benefits.

Miami is only the fifth team this century to finish the regular season undefeated, though it is the second to lose in its conference tournament.

The last team to go unbeaten in the regular season and still miss the NCAA tournament was Alcorn State Braves men's basketball during the 1978–79 season. At the time, the Southwestern Athletic Conference did not yet have an automatic NCAA tournament bid, and the national field included just 40 teams.

Meanwhile, the MAC tournament title will be decided Saturday night when the No. 2-seeded Akron Zips men's basketball face the No. 4-seeded Toledo Rockets men's basketball team.

Akron enters the championship game at 28–5 and is attempting to become the first program to win three consecutive MAC tournament titles since the event began in 1980.