23. Miami (ohio)

It got to the point last season that Miami of Ohio players and coaches had to be wondering what else could go wrong. Four games in, the RedHawks lost starting point guard Rob Mestas for the year with a knee injury. Leading scorer Wally Szczerbiak missed eight games in January with a broken right wrist. Then coach Charlie Coles suffered a heart attack during Miami's first-round MAC tournament game on Feb. 28.

"You kind of take a step back and realize what's really important," says Coles, who's been given clearance by his doctors to return to coaching. "We learned a lot of things basketballwise, but more than anything we learned about life. When you've been through as much as this team has, I know one thing: At least we'll all be friends."

The RedHawks' unity and experience will be apparent on the court as they try to do some damage in the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. (The program has produced just four NCAA tournament victories in its 93 seasons and only one in the last 20 years.) This season the weapons are there: Szczerbiak and Mestas haw fully recovered from their injuries, and the RedHawks bring back five starters and 97% of their scoring from last year's 17-12 team. The return of Mestas gives Miami an added dose of speed and defensive tenacity and allows senior Damon Frierson to go back to shooting guard, where he can concentrate on what he does best—scoring. "I've got the easiest job on the team," says Mestas. "All I have to do is get the ball to Wally and Damon and I have an assist."

While it may not always be that simple, Szczerbiak and Frierson will certainly provide a potent one-two punch. The sharp-shooting Szczerbiak (page 80), a chiseled 6'8", 243-pound senior forward who was the best player on the U.S. Goodwill Games team, is sure to draw extra attention. That'll open up things for Frierson, a former Indiana Mr. Basketball who's as adept at shooting a three-pointer as he is at driving to the hoop.

"With Rob healthy, it allows us to be quicker and more aggressive on offense and defense," says Coles. "We'll have two guys who can handle the ball and a lot of people who can score. Last year we were young, and it was a growing process on and off the court. Now it's time to see what we've really learned."

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