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This year's Miami team brings special challenges for everyone, including veteran head coach Charlie Coles. Immediately below, Julian Mavunga throws one down. Dree Magee, middle, has been productive in recent games. Bottom left, D.J. Cooper is one cog in a potent Ohio squad. MRO file photos.

 
A former Miami star at the guard position (1963-65), Coles was head coach Central Michigan (1986-91) before returning to Miami as an assistant under Herb Sendek in 1994. When Sendek went to North Carolina State , Coles was named Miami’s 22nd head coach and has remained in that position through many highs and a few lows.
 
Barring a reversal of fortunes, this season isn’t tracking toward one of the high points – at least on a win-loss level. It may, in fact, be one of the tougher seasons in Cole’s 21 years of collegiate coaching.
 
It would have been a challenging season for Coles’ RedHawks anyway, given that the MAC East, in particular, is loaded with both talent and veteran coaches possessing the savy to take advantage of that talent. Coles, of course, knows a thing or two about basketball himself. He didn’t become the career Miami and MAC-wins coaching record holder by sheer luck. He must now draw on his vast experience, knowledge and instincts in a season when his team is oh-so-vulnerable.

"Our margin of error is very thin. We’ve got to play a ... near perfect game," Coles said after the recent home loss to Bowling Green.
 
The RedHawks 2011-12 season is being played out against a background that involves a run of luck – bad luck. Such is basketball and such is life – and Coles knows plenty about both.
 
Injuries – along with separate player issue – stripped the RedHawks of three key players almost before they were done lacing up their gym shoes for 2011-12. What still would have been a relatively young Miami team led by a talented senior is now a team that is re-inventing itself on the fly.
 
While the transformation hits the team as a whole, several parties bear an extra burden. One is Julian Mavunga, a senior from Indianapolis . The 6-8 forward is one of the MAC’s top players and has led the conference in scoring for much of the season. Every opponent game plan begins with defending Mavunga, and he draws multiple defenders like Aspen draws skiers in January.
 
Mavunga started the year in arguably his best shape since coming to Oxford. Perhaps his upcoming senior season was extra incentive. Perhaps he felt his final MAC tournament game of 2010-11 – a double overtime loss to eventual MAC tourney champ Akron – might be a harbinger of things to come. He played all 50 minutes of that game. 
 
In any case, reporting in especially good shape this season was especially good – both for Mavunga and the team. Already an iron-man before this season (36.3 minutes per game last year), Mavunga typically stays on the court more than anyone but the officials. He is averaging 38.4 minutes per contest through 16 games.
 
To put that in perspective, he has participated 39 or more minutes in 12-of-16 MU contests and played the entire 40 minutes nine times – with three extra minutes in an over-time win over Dayton to open the campaign.

Despite the mileage and defensive focus that he draws night-in and night-out, Mavunga often focuses during post-game press conferences on his teammates’ progress and contributions. Regardless of Miami’s final record this season, Mavunga’s senior leadership likely won’t soon be forgotten by those who played on this year’s team.
 
They may also remember the efforts of Coles and his staff. They have picked up the remaining chess pieces and channeled their own efforts into the most basic of sports principles - improvement. Coles made it clear that nobody was going to shed their crutches to spark the offense or run out of the training room to shut down key opponents. 

"I've learned that we've got to get better," Coles said. "Everybody in the East is better than us right now. That is the first time that has happened in a long time. I mean, we’ve had bad records before coming into the league, but we always did well in the league. Right now we’re challenged to play well in the league." 
 
To everyone’s credit, the RedHawks have been competitive, and their 5-11 overall record (1-3 MAC) would be better were it not for some second half struggles.

Such struggles are hardly surprising given the circumstances. Quality depth is not yet a Miami forte. As games progress, key players can wear down. In a recent home tilt against Buffalo, MU had just eight players see action, and the bench (one forward, one center and one guard) provided a total of 14 participation minutes. It’s not like the RedHawks are gasping for air, but the grind takes a toll. Miami actually led at halftime in all three of its MAC losses this season.

"I thought we were playing good basketball, but we started turning the ball over, and you can’t do that," Coles said after the BG setback. "When we came unglued, that is when they set their game in action. ... They’ve got experience. Let’s face it. They took our kids to task."

For what it is worth, MU has shown signs of improvement.

Getting more scoring options to compliment Mavunga was critical. Although offensive production from the Red and White has been inconsistent, two relative newcomers are starting to produce.

True freshman Brian Sullivan, a 6-0, 170-pound guard from Upper Arlington is now averaging 9.2 ppg. He has scored in double figures in three of the last five games, with a career-high of 24 points against Vanderbilt. Getting production from Sullivan is particularly important as MU tries to combat zones and collapsing defenses focusing on Mavunga.

The RedHawks have also benefitted from the recent play of sophomore Drew Magee. The 6-11 center was limited to eight points in 17 minutes Wednesday as MU fell at home to Bowling Green, 65-57. However, Magee tallied 16 points against Kent State and 11 in the RedHawks 52-51 win over Buffalo – both in 28 minutes on the court.

Miami will need all hands on deck and playing well Saturday as the RedHawks finish the first MAC East round with a date at Ohio (2 p.m.). Coles knows the MU-OU rivalry as well as anybody, and he also knows the Bobcats are loaded with talent.

Entering MAC play, the Bobcats were arguably the hottest team in the league. Ohio posted wins in 12 of its first 13 games and was on a nine-game winning streak before dropping its non-conference finale to Robert Morris.

The Bobcats then dropped two of their first three conference game, losing on the road to Bowling Green, 67-57, and falling at Akron 68-62. In between, Ohio downed Buffalo in Athens 60-52 and most recently crushed Kent State 87-65 in the Convo.

The latter was the first of four straight home games for Ohio, which begins inter-conference play Wednesday against Western Michigan.

Ohio’s talent and experience will be a tough matchup for Miami, and an enthusiastic crowd at the Convocation Center, as always, adds to the challenge.

Coles has embraced the challenge in the past, even relishing it on a number of occasions. This year, is a different kind of challenge.

Junior guard D. J. Cooper leads the Bobcats with a 14.3 ppg average, but he also has managed to register 5.8 assists and 2.7 steals per contest. Walter Offutt (11.4 ppg) and Ivo Baltic (11.1) join Cooper in double figures, while Nick Kellogg (9.3 ppg) and Reggie Kelly (9.1 ppg) are just a shade under double digits.

Ohio is third (MAC –all games) in both scoring offense and defense. The Bobcats are No. 1 in scoring magin with a 9.5 mark. Miami is 10th in scoring and fifth in defense, although the latter has been unusually suspect (by MU standards) at times. Drives, layups and high shooting percentages have given Miami opponents the upper hand – particularly in the second half of games. The RedHawks, in fact, rank last in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to connect on 44.9 percent of their shots from the field.

Ohio ranks third in offensive rebounds (12.9 rpg) and is sixth in defensive caroms (22.7 rpg) . The RedHawks, by contrast, are last (8.6 rpg) in offensive rebounds and 10th on the defensive boards (22.2 rpg).

One of the biggest issues for Miami thus far has been turnovers, and it could once again be a key factor- especially in the noisy atmosphere of an Ohio-Miami game at the Convocation Center. Ohio leads the MAC in turnover margin (+5.44), while MU is ninth (-2.75).

Certainly, a talented Ohio team playing at home will be favored. But for Coles and the RedHawks, it’s about getting better.  MAC teams will start interdivisional play next week, and the East has generally been regarded as stronger this year. By February 15, it’s back to intra-divisional play for a home stretch run prior to MAC tournament play.

For Coles and his staff, there is no looking ahead and no looking back. There is only an upcoming opponent and a key element of sports – getting better.