8 to watch: Tim Pollitz

For the underdog RedHawks, Mid-American Conference tournament Most Valuable Player Tim Pollitz will be crucial to Miami’s effort against the Oregon Ducks. The 6-foot-6 forward averages 16 points and 5.7 rebounds a game and said defense will be the critical factor in the RedHawks’ first-round matchup against the quick Oregon offense. “We do a lot of transition defense-type drills,” Pollitz said. “Basically just getting up and down the floor, especially on defense, and making sure we get our hands up right from the start, from the get-go, like when they pass to the wing, hands are up flying, because obviously they like to shoot a lot of 3 balls. We’ve been working on that as these practices have been going.” Pollitz added that the media frenzy has been a little wild for him and his teammates. “It’s been a little crazy,” he said. “Just basically on campus before we even went to Spokane. You see (teammate) Doug (Penno) on Cold Pizza. It was like, what? Doug?” By Jessica Brown, Staff writer