NCAA Basketball: How UConn, Miami, FAU and San Diego State got to the Final 4
The Owls aren’t scared of the big stage
The East region has been the region of upsets highlighted by Fairleigh Dickinson’s victory over No. 1 Purdue. But, the “Cinderella” of the tournament, Florida Atlantic has reached the Final Four as a No. 9 seed. The problem is, the Cinderella moniker shouldn’t and doesn’t fit for a team that has now won 35 games against just three losses.
If you’ve watched Dusty May and the Owls you’ve noticed an important trait of this team that doesn’t show up in any box score, no stage is too big for them and they don’t get rattled. This is a roster with just one senior, Michael Forrest has learned how to keep their composure under pressure. That was never more evident than in their opening-round game against Memphis when Nicholas Boyd, a redshirt freshman, hit the game-winner with just 2.5 seconds left.
Winning close games is nothing new for the Conference USA champs. 12 of the Owls’ 31 regular-season wins have come by single digits as has two of their losses, that’s nearly half of their regular-season games decided by less than 10 points. Their NCAA Tournament run has been no different, their win over Memphis was a 66-65 decision and their subsequent wins over Fairleigh Dickinson, Tennessee, and Kansas State were all decided by eight points or less and an average of six.
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Florida Atlantic may meet their match in Houston against San Diego State, but they may not. One thing is for sure, if the game is close and late don’t bet on Florida Atlantic being the ones to make a mistake, they’ve been here before.