SMU lands NCAA Tournament First Four matchup vs. Miami (Ohio) for first March Madness appearance since 2017

SMU Basketball is heading back to March Madness as the Mustangs landed a First Four matchup in the 2026 NCAA Tournament vs. Miami (Ohio). The news announced Sunday puts the ACC program in the field for the first time since 2017.

Andy Enfield’s team is 20-13 this season with a NET ranking of 37 on the season while KenPom has the Mustangs at No. 42. SMU went 4-9 in Quad 1 opportunities and 5-4 in Quad 2 opportunities. The Mustangs avoided any crippling resume losses.

What SMU didn’t avoid was losing an All-ACC guard in BJ Edwards down the stretch, which tanked the Mustangs from a lock in the field to sweating out Selection Sunday. Edwards was injured in the team’s loss at Cal and hasn’t played since that Feb. 25 matchup.

The program says Edwards would’ve been back potentially for a later run in the ACC Tournament last week, but will be available for the NCAA Tournament. Edwards does it all, averaging 12.7 points (31st ACC), 5.9 rebounds (19th ACC), 4.9 assists (7th ACC / 67th NCAA), and 2.3 steals (1st ACC / 11th NCAA).

The star power SMU does bring will be a fun watch potentially for fans in March Madness with point guard Boopie Miller and shooting guard Jaron Pierre, Jr. both Top 10 among active NCAA-D1 players in scoring.

At 84.20 points per game, SMU brings a Top 25 offense into the NCAA Tournament while the 77.60 points per game surrendered is good for 281st in the country.

Enfield has SMU in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since his USC team knocked the Mustangs out in 2017 in Tulsa in the first round.

“We’re very proud of our players. We had an unfortunate injury that cost us a couple games here in the last couple weeks, last two weeks. We had to learn how to play without B.J. Edwards,” Enfield said after SMU lost to Louisville in the ACC Tournament. “I think you saw with the Syracuse game yesterday and the game today that we’re an NCAA Tournament team. In fact we thought we could go to the Sweet 16 or beyond before the injury, and now that B.J. is coming back, we feel the same way.

“We have enough Quad 1 wins. Our NET is in the mid 30s, and our offense has been top 20, was top 10 in the country before the injury. I think as far as our schedule strength, the fact that we scheduled four SEC teams in a row, none at home, and have those quality Quad 1 and Quad 2 game wins, that our resume is probably better than some of the other teams in that area with where our NET is right now.”

SMU got support from the ACC as commissioner Jim Phillips also stuck up for the Mustangs to make the NCAA Tournament field.

“The facts are they’re 19-8 when they have BJ Edwards and Boopie Miller,” Phillips said Friday on ESPN2 ahead of Duke vs. Clemson. “BJ Edwards lost four games in a row, and that’s what SMU did. They lost four games in a row. They’re 37th in the NET. They have nine Quad 1 and Quad 2 wins. They have zero Quad 3 and Quad 4 losses. Just watch SMU play. And before BJ Edwards got injured, they were at 30 in the NET. Now, they’re at 37. All the other teams that I see compared to SMU are in the 40s and 50s in the NET.

“As a former NCAA men’s basketball and women’s basketball committee member, I know what goes on in that room. And that metric, specifically, is really important, as well as those nine Quad 1 and Quad 2 victories.”

SMU has lost five of its last six without Edwards, but now hopes to get him back and get back to the team’s winning ways at the most important moment of the season.