Turning the Corner: Inside a Special Season for Miami Basketball

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Travis Steele sees the same sign every day.

It hangs in his home office over his desk.

Seven words that drive who Steele is as a coach and how he tries to lead the Miami University men's basketball program.

"Be obsessed with trajectory, not the result."

Since Steele arrived in Oxford in April 2022, that's been his focus.

"That's how you live life," he explained. "Are you getting better or are you not getting better? Because you're really not going to stay the same… Travis Steele

"Everybody is consumed with the result. If you're consumed with the trajectory, I think the results will take care of themselves."

The upward climb has been obvious around Millett Hall this winter, both for Steele's squad and second-year coach Glenn Box's women's basketball team.

Between the men (23-8 record) and women (19-10), Miami Basketball has accumulated 42 victories this season. That's tied for the highest total in school history, going back more than a half-century, and represents a remarkable 18-win improvement from 2023-24 after the men finished 15-17 and the women went 9-20 a year ago.

It started on the first day of the current season, when both RedHawk teams blasted Appalachian State as part of the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge, and has led Miami all the way to Cleveland's Rocket Arena for this week's MAC Tournament. This will be the first time since 2018 that the Miami men and women have both made it to Cleveland for the postseason in the same year.

Box's group, with four new starters from a year ago, owns the No. 5 seed in the eight-team women's event with an 11-7 league record and will face fourth-seeded Kent State Wednesday at approximately 1:30 p.m. Miami split two previous meetings with the Golden Flashes, including a two-point road win on Feb. 15.

First-team All-Conference pick Enjulina Gonzalez is averaging 17 points a game and has scored in double figures in 24 straight contests for the Red and White, while Amber Tretter is nearly averaging a double-double (11 points, nine rebounds) and Maya Chandler is chipping in 11 points a night.

Glenn Box

"Our expectation from the get-go was to win and to win big and to get into the tournament," Box said. "Not the MAC Tournament, but the NCAA Tournament….

"Every game we've walked into this year, we anticipated that we were going to win. That's a good feeling that a lot of teams don't get to have."

There are several similarities between how the men's and women's seasons have unfolded, perhaps most notably the consistency of the lineups. Five different players have started at least 25 games for Box, while Steele had started the exact same lineup in 29 of 30 games heading into Senior Night last weekend.

The Miami men also boast what Steele calls the deepest team in the league, with nine different players averaging at least 5.7 points per game, led by first-team All-MAC guard Peter Suder (13.3) and third-team selection Kam Craft (13.2). Both Suder and Craft own 40-point games this season, marking the first time Miami had two different players drop 40 in the same season since 1957-58.

The RedHawks, who won their final 15 home games, went 14-4 in conference play to claim the No. 2 seed in the MAC men's tourney and will take on seventh-seeded Eastern Michigan at approximately 4:30 p.m. Thursday in Cleveland. (The Eagles are a familiar foe: Miami won once and lost once against EMU in the regular season, and this will be the teams' third matchup in the span of 45 days.)

With 2,513 total points this season, Steele's group has already smashed the Miami team scoring record before the postseason even tips off – an impressive feat for a program that dates back all the way to 1905.

But his RedHawks aren't looking back. Their focus is in front of them.

"It's the best time of the year; it's Christmas for any basketball fans or players or coaches," Steele said. "This is what we all work toward, obviously, and I told our guys, 'We put ourselves in a good position. Now we've got to go take advantage of the advantage that we've created.'… Kam Craft

"Our guys are excited. Hopefully, we're going to be playing a lot longer, and it starts with that first game. Eastern Michigan is our absolute Super Bowl…

"Enjoy the moment, have fun, play for one another and create memories that we'll hopefully have for the rest of our lives."

If the Miami men are confident as they begin their quest for a trophy this week, it's probably because they've already claimed one championship this season. The RedHawks defeated Siena and Mercer in the Ft. Myers Tip-Off in late November, which Steele said was a turning point for his team.

"That was a pretty cool experience for our guys, getting used to winning and winning championships," said Steele. "It's been a while here since we've been really good, and I think that really showed our guys, 'Hey, listen: We can do this.'

"There's no doubt about it. I think they knew we were talented beforehand, but until you do something like that, that makes it a little bit more real."

On the women's side, the Miami turnaround didn't necessarily show up in any one specific game. Gonzalez said the RedHawks' climb began farther back, dating all the way to when the team first got together on campus in the offseason.

Enjulina Gonzalez

"It started in summer, building not just in practice, but outside of practice," the sophomore guard from Miami, Fla. told reporters on Monday. "Where Katey [Richason], Clare [Chambers] and Cori [Lard] live – we would bond there: Watch movies, play cards and hang out all the time.

"It starts with bonding off the court as much as on the court. So with whatever happens in the MAC Tournament, I'm just grateful to have amazing friends and have made amazing memories that I'll forever hold in my heart. If we don't or we do win – which we will, because we want to!— you'll always have people to be there with you."

While it's been a special season for the Miami men and women already, with hopefully more history still to come, Steele and Box both said it's been especially gratifying to enjoy the side-by-side success that their teams have experienced simultaneously.

The men's and women's programs' office suites at Millett share a hallway, so the staffs are naturally close and uniquely invested in each other's success.

"They don't hesitate to come into my office or speak to me or text me when things look a little sketchy at times, or to give me some advice," Box commented. "I think we have a really good setup here as far as the community.

"I just think we're growing this thing. When I got here, there wasn't as much excitement, and [now] there's been more and more people showing up. I'm getting emails, I'm getting texts; it speaks to what these kids are doing.

"It's cool to witness and it's cool to be a part of."

Steele agreed. "To see the men's and women's basketball programs change from when I got here year one to now, it's been mind-blowing… Millett Hall Crowd _ One Miami

"Obviously the Miami fans see the product on the floor that he [Box] has been able to put out there, but day-to-day – who they have in their program from a staff and player standpoint – they're a lot of fun to be around.

"We have a lot of crossover; when they're leaving the gym, we're entering the gym. They've got great girls and a great staff, and he's building it the right way. I'm excited to continue to watch to see what Coach Box can do and hopefully they can make a huge run in the MAC tournament. I think they definitely can…

"It's an exciting time to be here at Miami."

And while the 2024-25 season is one that will certainly be remembered for a long time in Oxford, both Miami Basketball teams know they still have an opportunity in front of them to accomplish something truly legendary. Three consecutive wins in northeast Ohio this week is all that separates either team from the ultimate college basketball experience: A trip to March Madness, which is guaranteed for the MAC Tournament champ. The men last advanced to the Big Dance in 2007; the women last qualified for the NCAAs in 2008.

"That's what we came here to do," Gonzalez said. "Some of us transferred in, and I came to win. So did Maya [Chandler], Millie [Camille Jackson]: Everybody in this program believes we can do it all."

"It's natural that there is a lot of pressure, but I think we've just got to lean into it," said Steele, whose team earned a top-two seed in Cleveland for the first time in 20 years. "We've got to have fun with it: Never forget why we're playing basketball and why we're doing what we're doing.

"You've got to continue to play for one another…that connectivity that we have as a team will serve us really well in these big moments in the MAC Tournament."

"It's been a great, great year so far," Box added. "We just want to end this thing right. We want to finish…

"We know we can win. It's just a matter of doing it."

Find more Front Row Features at: MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures

The Miami women's basketball team faces Kent State in a MAC quarterfinal Wednesday afternoon at Rocket Arena in Cleveland; tickets for each game the RedHawks play in the MAC Tournament are available here. The Miami men open MAC Tournament play against Eastern Michigan Thursday afternoon at Rocket Arena; tickets for each game the RedHawks play this week will be available here. Check MiamiRedHawks.com for the latest coverage and schedule updates from both teams' tournament runs in Cleveland.

Turning the Corner: Inside a Special Season for Miami Basketball

Players Mentioned

Maya Chandler

Kam Craft

Enjulina Gonzalez

Camille Jackson

Peter Suder

Amber Tretter

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