NCAA Basketball: Baylor rises, Kentucky falls in latest 2023-24 WTE power rankings
By Joey Loose
6. Florida Atlantic
Those who followed Florida Atlantic before the postseason knew that this team could play but we all found out once the NCAA Tournament began. It took a buzzer-beater in the Final Four for someone to stop the 9-seeded Owls, who had a season of historic proportions. Dusty May’s work with this program is downright heroic and the success isn’t over quite yet.
The reason that Florida Atlantic is ranked this high is that every single piece from the Final Four team returns except for Michael Forrest, a senior who wasn’t even a starter. Johnell Davis, Alijah Martin, and Vladislav Goldin all averaged double figures, all starred in the NCAA Tournament run, and all return to Boca Raton as juniors. The Owls didn’t need to make any major additions because they have a plethora of talent that the world has already seen.
This season will also see the Owls transition to the AAC, which will surely provide its fair share of new challenges. That being said, it’s hard to bet against a team returning so much of their minutes and talent, especially off of all that success. Nobody expects another Final Four-type season out of Florida Atlantic, but that’s exactly what we said about Butler just thirteen years ago.