NCAA Basketball: Purdue, Marquette rise in latest top 25 power ranking
By Joey Loose
17. Florida Atlantic (4-1)
Returning nearly every piece from a Final Four squad is reason for excitement for any college campus, even for a program that accomplished the feat from Conference USA. Florida Atlantic was rated high in the preseason but certainly didn’t look like a highly ranked squad with that horrific performance against Bryant last weekend. Suffice to say, they’ve bounced back nicely on the national stage this week.
At the ESPN Events Invitational, the Owls got back on track with a 91-86 win over Butler in the opening round. Six different Owls were in double figures, led by Vladislav Goldin’s 19-point, 11-rebound effort. Florida Atlantic then had their best outing of the season the following day, delivering in a 96-89 over a stout Texas A&M team that hadn’t yet lost a game. Two of the Owls biggest stars from last season were shining again, as Johnell Davis had 26 points and Alijah Martin added 25 in their second win in two days.
Florida Atlantic won a lot of games last season and will do the same this year. It was a really cold shooting night against Bryant and that certainly hasn’t been the case in these two games at the ESPN facility. Poor shooting performances happen to every team in the nation, though it’ll be interesting to see what exactly the ceiling is for this team with such heightened expectations. They’ll play the title game of their holiday tournament against Virginia Tech on Sunday before a pair of tricky mid-major matchups with Liberty and Charleston.