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WERE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?

Emily Brustoski - Video Editor — Photo by Emily Brustoski | The Miami Student

https://youtu.be/oq9gdHuFAg0

Emily Brustoski | Video Editor

Were you not entertained?!

No, I'm not just talking about the Indiana Pacers Power Pack Dunk team performance at halftime of the RedHawks' 77-69 loss on Friday night.

Ask anyone in the stands if they had attended a Miami basketball game before No. 21 Buffalo came to Oxford, and I can nearly guarantee 60 percent of the students would have answered no.

But for those in attendance, really, were you not entertained?

Despite the RedHawks being down 18-0 early in the game, the atmosphere inside Millett stayed electrified.

No one left after the first half, unlike at Miami football games, and the RedHawks trailed the Bulls by as few as two points. There were chants coming from fans that you'd normally only hear from the 14-person cheerleading squad -- chants I hadn't heard since high school, or ones I'd hear playing pick-up at the Rec.

It only seems right that the fans' taunts were aired on national television, so here's the top five chirps heard during the game:

"Ref, your hairline sucks."
"Yeah, that's right [CJ] Massenberg, sit your broke ass down on the bench!
"Aye Ronaldo [Segu], aye, bro, you thought you was Harden? That's why you're on the bench!"
"Aye Colby [Moultrie], your head look like a meatloaf!"
"[Nick] Perkins, that isn't the only stroke game you're bad at!"

To all those I missed or didn't list here, save them for another game, which leads me to my next critique:

Where the hell was this energy all year? At any Miami sporting event, for that matter!

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"I love basketball, and I hate football!" a student yelled early in the second half as Miami climbed back to within two points.

That's probably the first time those words have been uttered since Wallyball in 1999.

I don't think this uptick in basketball appreciation is simply due to a publicity stunt from Barstool Sports' "Storm Chasers," who donned Paddington Bear-esque attire. It wasn't a stunt because they sat in the dark, back left corner 25 yards from the court.

The Mid-American Conference is ranked seventh as a conference in women's basketball RPI (Rating Percentage Index) and eighth as a conference in men's basketball NET (a system to evaluate possible NCAA tournament appearances). Power-Five who?

"No need to say we are one of the best "mid-major" conferences..." the MAC's official account tweeted last Monday.

"We are one of the best conferences.

Period."

Students need to start realizing this isn't just the MAC anymore.

Keep bringing the noise and we will, for sure, make our mark. Love and Honor.

@Bennettmwise

wisebm@miamioh.edu