Travis Steele ‘Could Care Less’ About Bruce Pearl, Knows His 30-0 RedHawks Are Built For March and Beyond ‘We’re Not A One-Hit Wonder’

OXFORD, Ohio — Travis Steele knew the questions were coming Tuesday night, win or lose.

What did he think of former Auburn coach-turned basketball TV talking head Bruce Pearl saying this Miami team wasn’t one of the top 68 teams in the country and didn’t deserve to be in the NCAA tournament if they don’t win the Mid-American Conference tournament in Cleveland?

Fortunately, Steele could address that question after his team became the 15th team in NCAA history to go 30-0 with a 74-72 win over Toledo Tuesday night before another sellout crowd at Millett Hall.

It wasn’t perfect by any means, and the Miami head coach knew it. Peter Suder scored 19 and Brant Byers added 13 as No. 19 Miami (Ohio) overcame sloppiness throughout to outlast Toledo, 74-72, in Mid-American Conference play and remain as the nation’s only unbeaten team. Antwone Woolfolk added 14 for Miami (30-0, 17-0), which committed 15 turnovers to just 12 assists on the night. “We’re not finished,” Steele told the crowd in the celebration.

About an hour later, he moved onto the other subject.

“I’m gonna address Bruce,” Steele began when prompted with the question. “I like Bruce. I do. Hey, Bruce is a great guy. I’m not calling Bruce and asking him for his opinion. All respect to Bruce. Bruce is a way better coach than I’ll ever be, right? He’s a he’s a Hall of Famer. He’s won everywhere he’s been.”

But?

“I could care less what heck he says,” Steele continued. “We control our own destiny. Let’s prepare the right way. Let’s focus on the right things.”

Steele was grateful that his athletic director David Sayler came out in no uncertain terms and dropkicked Pearl on social media for his now infamous “if we’re selecting the best 68 teams” line on the Big East TV network.

“He is embarrassing himself and should not be on TV covering this sport and saying these things!” Sayler said.

What Pearl suggested is laughable and really doesn’t deserve merit of debate. Miami is not only the 15th team to go 30-0 in the history of the sport, the previous five in the history of NCAA tournament seeding have all be No. 1 seeds.

That won’t be the case with Miami but to suggest they don’t belong in the tournament with one or two losses is laughable, and every knowledgable basketball observer knows it. Yes, their strength of schedule (360 out of 365) is awful, but to beat every team on the schedule and to win close game after close game with the multitude of injuries they’ve dealt with speaks to their remarkable strength of character as a team. Tuesday, with the regular season MAC title on the line was no different.

“As for David Sayler, I love that he’s going to bat for us,” Steele said. “He’s a fighter. He’s gonna fight for us. So he’s not afraid to afraid of anybody, and he wants to see our program do really well and get the get the recognition it deserves. So I appreciate David’s, I guess his words. I don’t even know what he said or what’s happened, but like I’ve heard, but that haven’t really seen it. So I appreciate David.”

What was remarkable again Tuesday was how Miami met every single moment with resolve and determination. Four times Toledo drew within a point and four times Miami managed to defuse the Rockets, including a remarkable block from behind by Eian Elmer on an Austin Parks potential dunk with nine minutes remaining that would’ve put Toledo on top and the game-sealing poke from behind by Luke Skaljac on Leroy Blyden Jr. in the paint with 0.1 seconds remaining. The confetti was blasted from canisters as Miami celebrated its 22nd Mid-American Conference regular season title and first since 2004-05.

How? Steele says it’s the intangibles and the details that are truly incredible about his 2026 team.

“Just the connectivity, the human beings that we have in that locker room or the character is just ridiculous,” Steele beamed. “The non-selfishness in the landscape that we’re in, it’s hard. I talked a lot of my friends in the business. They may be winning, they may be talented, but they’re miserable. ‘It’s hard to get this guy to guard on the play, or be to make the extra pass, to cut hard, to run hard, because you may not get your to roll hard on a ball screen, because you may not get that ball.’ They’re only happy if they get the ball, right? Our guys do things that don’t show up in the stat sheet because of their connectivity off the court, because of their character, of who they are, right? And people don’t get to see that on a day to day basis. They see our results, which is great. Get the results, but that’s what makes us really good.”

Can Steele appreciate just how rare that unselfish quality is in this NIL era of college sports and how unique his team truly is?

“Absolutely,” Steele told me. “But I knew what could happen here. I think Miami was positioned (for it). It’s a unique University, like you step foot on campus here, I’ve said it before. It’s like Disney World. It’s unbelievable. It’s the nicest college campus I’ve ever been on, elite academics, the vibe’s incredible. So I knew we’d have an ability to retain a lot of guys if we could create a culture, a good culture, and find guys that fit Miami and fit me and development’s real. Listen, if you feel like you’re getting better as a player, you get excited, right? You look at Eian Elmer, you look at Luke Scaljac, Brant Byers, our staffs done a great job with those guys, just helping them get better than winning helps. We won 25 games last. We’re not a one-hit wonder (like) Milli Vanilli, and maybe they had two hits. I can’t really remember, but maybe they did. But again, we’re not a one-hit wonder. We can have sustainable success here at Miami. There’s no question about it.”

David Sayler was acting like a proud dad doing interviews on the court as the confetti decorated the court Tuesday. He certainly would approve of Steele’s response to that coach-turned-TV talking head.