NCAA Basketball: Top 25 NCAA Tournament cinderellas since 2000
By Adam Childs
3) 2013 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles, No. 15-seed
Record: 26-11, Sweet 16
Beat: (2) Georgetown Hoyas, (6) San Diego State Aztecs
The 2013 NCAA Tournament was the country’s introduction to “Dunk City”, also known as the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. Before their surprise run, barely anybody could have told you where the college was located (Fort Myers, Florida) or that they were even a Division 1 program. It just sounded like a cool name for a college and was near the beach.
The Eagles shocked the Georgetown Hoyas in the first round by 10. Then, they took care of San Diego State Aztecs in the second round by 10 as well. But that was not the full story of this team.
The way they were beating them and how they played caught the attention of the nation. They were a run-and-gun type of team that threw down dunk after dunk. They embraced the underdog role and played off their “Dunk City” moniker.
Florida Gulf Coast became the first and still only No. 15-seed to make it to the Sweet 16. They were led by Sherwood Brown (15.5 PPG), Bernard Thompson (14.3 PPG), and Chase Feiler (12.1 PPG). Their coach Andy Enfield was just crazy enough to think this run could happen and his players bought in.
The Eagles have seen success since then and brought in some good recruits, but have not been able to recreate the magic that happened over two weeks in 2013. They would come up short against the Florida Gators in the second weekend, but they went toe-to-toe with some big-time teams.
Florida Gulf Coast showed it belonged, all while capturing the excitement of fans everywhere. Ask any big-time college basketball fan who “Dunk City” is and they can now probably tell you; it’s Florida Gulf Coast.