NCAA Basketball: Duke, Gonzaga, and WVU rise in latest WTE ’23-24 power rankings

16. Florida Atlantic Owls

After the season was officially over, there was no fan base in NCAA Basketball that was more nervous than FAU. Coming off its first-ever Final Four appearance, the Owls had the chance to bring back just about everyone from the roster for another year.

But it was far from a guarantee. Guys such as Johnell Davis and Alijah Martin became national stars and could’ve been poached to enter the transfer portal. However, neither has any intention of playing for another college team. They each have entered the NBA Draft process but there’s a 99% chance that they’re back.

The other storyline to watch was Coach Dusty May, who has become the hot name in the carousel. What helped the program is that FAU outlasted all of the coaching searches and outside of Texas Tech willing to wait for fellow Conference USA Coach Grant MsCasland to finish up the NIT run at North Texas, the other positions were filled. He’s an Indiana alum and while Coach Mike Woodson isn’t on the hot seat yet, look for May to be a name involved in case things go South there.

There’s really nothing else to update. The Owls bring more than 95% of its production and don’t need to add transfers. As long as both Martin and Davis are back for another year, they’ll be the top mid-major team not named Gonzaga next season.