Tracking mid- and low-major conference NCAA Tournament auto bids
This. Is. March. That means one thing: one team from each league is punching its ticket to The Big Dance. Follow along below to track which low- and mid-major teams clinch their league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Northeastern Conference: Fairleigh Dickinson
Clinching the automatic bid to the Dance by default still counts as clinching, and not just in our book.
Merrimack, currently in their final year of a four-year transition to Division I, won the NEC regular season AND postseason tournament. However, with that transition still ongoing (and thanks to the NCAA’s archaic rules), the Warriors are ineligible for the NCAA Tournament, which means the league’s bid goes to its second-place team — the Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson.
First-year head coach Tobin Anderson deserves a ton of credit for what he’s done with this team. The Knights were 4-22 a season ago and had not finished above .500 in three-straight years.
FDU can flat-out score. As a team, Fairleigh Dickinson leads the NEC and sits 43rd nationally in points per game and is bolstered by their backcourt of Demetre Roberts and Grant Singleton. The duo ranks top-five in the league in scoring, respectively, and have not been deterred by their size (Roberts is 5’8 and Singleton is 5’9).
In fact, the Knights as a whole are small in stature. KenPom has been tracking size since its inception in 2007. According to the site, FDU is the second-shortest team of all time. What they lack in size they make up for in heart.
Anderson is a former Division II coach who spent last year at St. Thomas Aquinas. Roberts and Singleton were his top-two players and opted to take their 5th year in the same place as their head coach, giving more credence to the idea that if you can ball, you can ball, regardless of level.
This will be the program’s seventh trip to the Dig Dance, first since 2018-19. FDU seems destined for a trip to Dayton and the First Four, where they’ve played in each of their last two tournament appearances.
The Knights beat Prairie View A&M in their last First Four appearance. Don’t be shocked if FDU scraps and fights its way back into the Round of 64 again.
Ohio Valley: Southeast Missouri State
A college coach once told me, “you don’t have to be good; you just have to be good for four days in March.”
I’ll let you all debate the merits of that mindset; what matters is Southeast Missouri State proved there might be something to it.
The Red Hawks, the five seed in this year’s OVC Tournament, were good for exactly four days in March, punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a win over Tennessee Tech last week. It’s just their second-ever OVC Tournament title and their first trip to the Dance in 23 seasons.
It would not have been an OVC Tournament without loads of drama, something Brad Korn’s group provided all week at the Ford Center. The Red Hawks ousted the top-two seeds on their romp to the title game, and Saturday’s final did not disappoint either.
Just when SEMO stretched its lead to seven with 1:11 left, Tennessee Tech responded in kind, using an 8-0 run to take a one-point lead with :10 seconds left. Chris Harris, the tournament MVP, was then fouled behind the arc and nailed all three free throws, giving SEMO a two-point lead. TTU’s Dionte Wood gave us all a patented March buzzer-beater, hitting what was thought to be the game-winning three as time expired.
Tennessee Tech’s 60-year drought was over. Tears flowed on both sides of the equation.
But after a lengthy review, it was changed to a two-pointer, meaning overtime and new life for SEMO. The Red Hawks wouldn’t squander the opportunity, flexing their muscles in the extra period and winning thanks to a 7-0 run.
Southeast Missouri State is a team that’s hard to not root for. They’re the second-ever OVC to play on opening night and still win the tournament. They’re the first-ever five-seed to win the OVC.
Korn’s Red Hawks also play an exciting style of basketball; they rank 45th nationally in scoring offense and rank 8th KenPom’s adjusted tempo metric. They also average the 26th-shortest possession time of any team in the country.
The third-year head coach has been here before, formerly an assistant at Kansas State. Now Korn has the chance to lead his underdog Red Hawks onto the biggest stage of them all. As he put it last week, “if that’s not the definition of March, I don’t know what is.”
I’m not saying SEMO will win a game in the tournament, but if the Red Hawks pop up on your TV, I highly recommend sitting down and watching.
Big South: UNC Asheville
All season long, one thing was certain: UNC Asheville was on a mission. That mission? A trip back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.
Not satisfied with a Big South regular season title, fifth-year coach Mike Morrell and his team pieced together three wins in as many days, taking down upset-minded Campbell, the seventh seed, in last week’s Big South title game.
It wasn’t always the easiest road, especially in Sunday’s final. The Bulldogs had to come from behind to beat the Camels in a game that featured five ties and six lead changes. At one point, Campbell led by as many as 14.
But a 29-point, 8-rebound, 3-block performance from Big South Player of the Year Drew Pember was enough to spur UNC-A to their fifth NCAA Trip in program history.
“After the first five years, I’ve been here, to see that today was special,” a clearly emotional Morrell said.
After serving on staff at Texas, VCU and Clemson for teams who all made NCAA Tournament appearances, the 41-year-old now leads his own team to the largest stage in college hoops.
Morell, the Big South Coach of the Year, has executed quite the turnaround since his first season ended with just four wins. The Bulldogs set new program records this season for conference wins (16) and wins against DI opponents (25), and their 27 wins are the fourth-most for a team in the state of North Carolina.
UNC Asheville is going to be a scary matchup for some team come tournament time. The Bulldogs are littered with prior DI talent, including the Tennessee transfer Pember, as well as former Murray State Racer Nick McMullen.
More importantly, UNC-A defends as well as anyone in the nation. Entering the NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs rank 77th in field goal defense, 13th in three-point defense and 65th in blocks per game. Led by Tajion Jones, they also boast the country’s 8th-best three-point attack.
With a NET Ranking of 139, Asheville isn’t likely to get that favorable of a matchup (ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has them pitted against 2-seed Arizona). Still, though, the Bulldogs will be a tough out thanks to their size, shooting and defending.
Missouri Valley: Drake
Insert Soulja Boy “DRAAAAKE” meme here.
Yes, the Bulldogs (not the rapper) are MVC Champions once again, thanks to a shooting night so hot it would make Al Gore and global warming uncomfortable.
Second-seeded Drake made easy work of the top-seed Bradley, shooting 66.7% in the second half and rolling to the largest margin of victory in an MVC title game since 2008. Apparently, revenge is a dish served best piping hot; the win avenged a 73-61 loss to the Braves less than two weeks ago.
That loss cost Drake a chance at a shared-MVC regular season title.
“Coming down here healthy for the first time in five years was a good feeling,” head coach Darian DeVries said. “Today, we were able to get a lead then go to our bench and keep playing the way we wanted to. We were incredibly determined to get to this spot, not today, but last year. For them to be rewarded for all of their hard work is pretty special.”
With a near record-setting regular season in the books (27 wins are their second-most all-time), these Bulldogs are off to their sixth-ever NCAA Tournament. The way they’ve done it, though, is as unique as any team.
In a day and age dominated by the transfer portal, Drake has chosen to build the old-school way. Four of the Bulldogs’ five starters are in at least their fifth year of college, half of that quartet is in its sixth year.
Drake is 19th in KenPom’s minutes continuity (minutes returning from last year) and 28th in DI experience, nearly three years averaged among the entire team.
The only non-senior in the starting lineup is Tucker DeVries, who just so happens to be the MVC Player of the Year.
“This is what we dreamed about when we made the decision to come back [for a fifth season of eligibility],” guard Garrett Sturtz said after the win.
Going back to the NCAA Tournament was just part of the motivation. Drake’s veterans had plenty of demons to exercise, as well, losing in the MVC title game each of the last two seasons to Loyola Chicago. In 2021, the Bulldogs became a rare exception to the rule, earning an at-large bid, but were left out in the cold last year.
Simply put: Drake is one of the best teams in the nation, full-stop.
The Bulldogs hold four Quad 1/2 wins, including a win over Mississippi State. They beat fellow champions Louisiana. They rank as the 32nd-best scoring defense in the country, while also allowing the 29th-lowest three-point percentage of any team nationally. They don’t turn the ball over, either, committing the 22nd-fewest in the NCAA.
Two years ago, Roman Penn missed the MVC Tournament with a broken foot. Last year, guard DJ Wilkins tore his ACL just before Arch Madness. This year, as DeVries alluded to, the Bulldogs are healthy and clicking on all cylinders.
That is a scary thought for the ‘unfortunate’ high major they get matched up with.
Expect Drake to make noise in the NCAA Tournament.
ASUN: Kennesaw State
I’m still not sure any of us believe it, but Kennesaw State is, in fact, the champion of the ASUN.
Yes, that Kennesaw State who won a single game in 2019-20.
Build the Amir Abdur-Rahim statue yesterday. Pull the Brinks truck up onto the floor of the KSU Convocation Center. And for the love of God, give this man every Coach of the Year award in existence.
After being picked 8th in the ASUN Coaches Poll, the Owls won 26 games, shattering the previous program mark of 14. Moreover, it’s more wins in a single season than in their last three years COMBINED. Abdur-Rahim’s Owls have now doubled their win total in three-consecutive seasons.
Not only is it their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, but it’s also the program’s first season finishing above .500 ever.
The Owls have been a DI program since 2005.
“It’s nuts, to be honest,” Abdur-Rahim told ESPN this week.
Nuts, indeed. When you consider the context, it’s even wilder. Kennesaw State is the first team since BYU in 2001 to make the NCAA Tournament less than five years after a season with one or zero wins.
A school-record 3,805 people crowded into “The Convo” to watch KSU win the ASUN title – a far cry from the less than 1,000 who dotted the crowd in Abdur-Rahim’s first season. The record crowd was treated to an instant classic, with Kennesaw State using a 40-point second half to extinguish the Liberty Flames.
The one-point win marked the Owls’ best win in the NET Rank-era; Liberty entered 40th in the most recent rankings.
The Flames, ASUN royalty, had previously been undefeated in ASUN title games and 12-1 all-time in the ASUN Tournament.
How Adbur-Rahim and staff have built this team is the most intriguing part. Much like the aforementioned Drake Bulldogs, these Owls have used a slow-burn process. Abdur-Rahim told ESPN “not every job is a transfer portal job…we wanted to build with high school guys, get older.”
With just two scholarships at their disposal in year one, the staff signed Terrell Burden and Armani Harris. The following year, the inked Chris Youngblood, Brandon Stroud, Spencer Rodgers and Kasen Jennings.
Of those initial signees, six are still on the roster and five of them played over 20 minutes in Sunday’s championship final. Burden, Youngblood and Stroud all were tabbed as all-tournament team. After a 19-point performance, Burden garnered ASUN MVP honors.
The Owls can fill it up from deep; they shot 40% from three-point in the win over Liberty. On the season, they rank 48th in the country. They also force nearly 15 turnovers per game, 57th-best in the country and they average a steal on 10.5% of possessions, per KenPom.
The realist in me says the Owls might be overmatched come tournament time, but who cares. A story like what we’ve seen unfold in Kennesaw, Georgia is as good as the sport could ever hope to produce.
Soak it in, Owls fans. You all deserve it.
Sun Belt: Louisiana
After Marshall, Southern Miss and James Madison all were shockingly upset in prior rounds, the path to the NCAA Tournament looked all but cleared for Louisiana.
It felt almost like destiny for Bob Marlin and the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Someone forgot to tell South Alabama that, however. The Jaguars, fresh off wins over top-seeded Southern Miss and JMU, pushed Louisiana to its limits in Tuesday’s title game.
However, the Cajuns showed their championship mettle, rallying from a four-point halftime deficit to claim their fifth SBC title under Marlin.
The Sun Belt has been hard to pick all season. Louisiana entered the year as the preseason favorites, appearing in the title game last year only to fall short. All season long, Marshall, USM, Louisiana and JMU played musical chairs with the league’s top spot before the Golden Eagles (thanks to Marshall’s loss at ODU) claimed the top seed.
Even still, the Ragin’ Cajuns very much so still felt like the team to beat. Jordan Brown, the Arizona transfer, has been a man on a mission. The California native earned SBC Most Outstanding Player honors, posting a pair of double-doubles in the Cajuns’ three games in Pensacola.
Louisiana’s depth has been its strength, though. Case in point, Tuesday’s title game. Terrence Lewis II, Themus Fulks and Jalen Dalcourt all chipped in double-figures scoring, including Fulks’ game-high 23 points.
Sure, their defense leaves something to be desired (Marlin told me as much this year, saying “we still need to figure out how to improve on the defensive end”), but when you can score the way Louisiana can, you can overcome a lot.
The Ragin’ Cajuns will enter the NCAA Tournament as the 40th-highest scoring offense in the country, including the 18th-best field goal percentage and 22nd-best three-point percentage. Louisiana has shot 44 percent or better 24 times this season and in seven-straight games. They’re 6-1 in those seven, averaging 74.0 points per game.
It’s especially impressive when you consider they aren’t some run-and-gun team like their offensive numbers would indicate. According to KenPom, their possession time of 17.2 seconds is only 116th nationally.
Watching the aforementioned Brown feast against high-major bigs will be a treat come tournament time. The Sun Belt first-teamer has ripped off 10 double-doubles this season, including five in his last six games. He also ranks 35th nationally in total rebounds.
In Louisiana’s loss earlier this year at ranked Texas, Brown scored 20 points in 28 minutes, adding six rebounds, three assists and a block.
With their shooting and Brown’s presence underneath, Louisiana absolutely has what it takes to win a game in the NCAA Tournament, which would be the SBC’s first since Little Rock upset Purdue in 2017.
SoCon: Furman
Whether it’s playing a sport, a video game, trying to whistle or solve a Rubik’s cube, we’ve all done a task that we come close to accomplishing, but just couldn’t get it. Then, one day, you finally do it. Remember how good that felt?
Furman knows what I mean. It’s why the Purple Paladins are partying like it’s 1980.
Their task? Win the Southern Conference and go back to the NCAA Tournament. And boy, have the ‘Dins been close.
No closer than last year, when Furman had victory snatched from their grasps in the 2021 SoCon title game thanks to a buzzer-beater in overtime by Chattanooga.
On Monday, in a rematch from last year’s conference championship, Furman had their chance once again. And this time, the Paladins left little doubt, winning 88-79 over the Mocs and ending a 43-year NCAA Tournament drought in the process.
To put that drought in perspective, head coach Bob Richey wasn’t even alive the last time Furman played in the NCAA Tournament.
The Paladins raced out of the gates thanks to a 27-3 run and never looked back, getting 20 points from SoCon Player of the Year Jalen Slawson, 17 from JP Pegues and 16 from Mike Bothwell, the SoCon first-team pick.
Bob Richey’s group has been impressive all season, not just against the Mocs. Furman shared the SoCon title with Samford, who they snuck past in the semifinals to face Chattanooga. Winning games is nothing new for this Furman program, who are tied with Gonzaga, Kansas, USC and Saint Mary’s as the only schools with 22+ wins in six of the last seven year. But with their win Monday, the ‘Dins set a new single-season program record for wins.
What makes Furman so special is their efficiency. Sure, the Paladins live and die by the three (they rank 12th in attempts and 154th in percentage), but their interior shooting opens up so much outside. The ‘Dins shoot the second-highest two-point percentage in the nation, per KenPom.
Plus, Richey’s team takes expert care of the orange. Furman will enter the NCAA Tournament with the country’s 12th-best assist-to-turnover ratio and averages just 11.0 turnovers per game.
They’re sneaky-good from the stripe, too. Furman is 20-0 this season when outscoring foes from the free throw line and they attempt the 68th-most per game in the country.
The duo of Slawson and Bothwell will be a nightmare for any team to deal with come tournament time. Both rank top 100 nationally in field goals made this season and both rank top 85 in field goal percentage.
Much like other teams mentioned, this Furman team has built through years of experience together instead of simply loading up in the portal. Three starters, 11 players and 64 percent of minutes from last year all returned for this exact opportunity.
They aren’t done yet, though. Don’t be shocked to see a sea of Purple show up in the second weekend.
CAA: College of Charleston
“The dream season marches on,” reads the College of Charleston’s official game recap.
2022 has been a dream for the Cougars, and a nightmare for their opposition. 31 wins, a 10-game win streak, a resume good enough for an at-large and now the automatic bid to guarantee their spot in the field.
It all culminated in a semifinal rematch with UNC Wilmington, who eliminated College of Charleston from the CAA’s last season. While it wasn’t their easiest victory, it showed just how tough it is to beat these Cougars.
The Seahawks grabbed a 53-45 lead with just over six minutes left in the game, until the Cougars flexed their defensively muscles. UNC-W would score just five points the rest of the contest, while Charleston leaned on a 12-0 run to win going away.
Their win over the Seahawks marked the program’s first CAA title since 2018 and its sixth trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Head coach Pat Kelsey has constructed the ultimate unselfish team in just his second year at the helm. The Cougars rank 3rd in the Colonial in assists per game, have six players who average at least 9.0 PPG and rank 4th in the country in bench scoring.
Aristotle once taught us that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and no mantra better sums up this Charleston team than that.
The Cougars have looked dominant for much of the season, too. Outside of slip-ups against Hofstra and Drexel, and a loss to then-#1 North Carolina (man, does THAT seem like forever ago), Charleston has been relatively unblemished. They rank 51st in the most recent NET Rankings and are 3-1 against Quad1/2 teams. They also boast a whopping 18 double-digit wins.
Charleston is a force on the glass, ending last week as the 4th-best total rebounding and offensive rebounding team in the country. According to KenPom, they grab offensive boards at a 35% clip, they 17th-best mark in the nation.
As a result of their offensive glass domination, Charleston winds up with tons of extra possessions, which sinks their opponents. The Cougars don’t need any extra help offensively, considering they’re the 11th-best scoring team in the nation. They also shoot the three-pointer at a high clip, 2nd-nationally in attempts and 11th in makes per game.
Thanks to their dominance, it’s no surprise that the Cougars landed five players on the All-CAA teams, headlines by Pat Robinson III’s Sixth Man of the Year honor.
Because of their depth, the Cougars really feel like a team who can shake up the brackets when the Big Dance starts. Pick against them at your own risk.
Summit League: Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts is back to wreck your bracket and they don’t care.
Two years after their improbable run to the Sweet 16, Max Abmas and the Eagles have bludgeoned their way through the Summit League, running away with the conference’s AQ thanks to a 34-point win over North Dakota State.
The Eagles, more so than any other team on this rundown, are a legit threat to go multiple rounds deep in this year’s Big Dance.
Thanks to the senior Abmas, ORU is a microwave on offense, heating up in the blink of an eye. Oral Roberts is the 3rd-highest scoring bunch in college hoops, having scored 70 or more points in 32 of their 34 games this season. According to KenPom, Oral Roberts ranks 10th nationally in effective field goal percentage. They also are quick to score, 27th in average possession length.
Abmas, who scored 26 points in the Summit League championship, is the catalyst. The Texas native has scored 15 or more in 21 straight games and double-figures 31 times.
Only Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis and Liberty’s Darius McGhee have scored more points this season.
It isn’t just the Max Abmas scoring show, and that’s what makes this ORU team different from the Sweet 16 team: they have a legit, terrifying defensive presence, and it’s all thanks to their 7-5 center Connor Vanover.
Vanover is one of the country’s premier shot blockers (only WKU’s Amarion Sharp has more) and he’s the primary reason this ORU squad ranks fifth nationally in blocked shots. Vanover, the Arkansas transfer, swatted six shots in the Summit League championship, his 12th game with four or more blocks.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the sharp-shooting efforts of Isaac McBride, as well. The junior is the third-leading scorer on the team and leads ORU in three-point shooting by percentage. McBride has connected on three or more treys on nine different occasions and ranks 7th in the league in total three-pointers made.
Sometimes the knock on fast-paced teams is that they turn the ball over too often. Not Oral Roberts.
The Eagles have committed single-digit turnovers 18 times this year, lead the nation in KenPom’s turnover percentage metric and average 9.4 per game. Only Virginia, Wisconsin, Penn State and Notre Dame average less.
Simply put, Paul Mills has an incredibly special group on his hands at ORU. Don’t be shocked if the Eagles pop up in the second weekend – or beyond.
Horizon League: Northern Kentucky
Welcome back to the Dance, Northern Kentucky.
The Norse (who I think have one of the coolest mascots in sports) are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 and just the fourth time since transitioning to Division I. It’s a trip that has been long overdue for Darrin Horn.
In Horn’s first season in 2020, NKU won the Horizon League but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA canceled that season’s tournament. Last season, the Norse came up just shy of the Dance, losing to Wright State in the Horizon League final.
“What you work for is to be on the biggest stage in college basketball and get a ton of national exposure, not only for your program but for our great university,” Horn told the Cincinnati Inquirer last week. “We don’t take that lightly.
”It’s a full-circle moment for Horn, a Kentucky native, getting to lead a Kentucky team to the tournament. Horn was a high school standout for Tates Creek in Lexington and later graduated from Western Kentucky. He spent the first four years of his coaching career as an assistant at WKU and Morehead State, and in 2003 was named the head coach of his alma mater.
The commonwealth ties don’t stop with the head coach, though.
Marques Warrick previously starred for Henry Clay in Lexington. Sam Vinson led Highlands to a Sweet 16 state title. Trevon Faulkner was former Mr. Basketball Kentucky while at Mercer County in 2018.
All three Kentuckians have been heavy hitters for NKU, none more so than Warrick. If you don’t know his name yet, chances are you will come tournament time.
Warrick paces the team in scoring and minutes, averaging 19.1 PPG. In the Horizon League final, the junior dropped 18 points, all while adding six rebounds and three steals. Thanks to the on-ball defense of Warrick, Vinson and Xavier Rhodes, the Norse pick up a steal on 14.1% of opponents’ possessions, fourth-best per KenPom. They rank seventh nationally in turnovers forced, too.
The offense primarily runs through Warrick, who takes a whopping 30.9% of Northern Kentucky’s shots this season, but he isn’t the only option. Vinson has caught fire at the right time, scoring 16 points in the championship game and 17 against regular season champions Youngstown State to help oust the Penguins.
These Norse may be diminutive (their tallest player is 6’8), but what they lack in size, they make up for in grit. NKU has won six games this year when trailing at the half.
While they’re likely headed for a low seed, and a difficult opening draw, having NKU back in the tournament is a welcome sight.
SWAC: Texas Southern
Death. Taxes. Texas Southern winning the SWAC.
Few things in life are more certain than those three things. Even this year, when it seemed uncertain.
Prior to the start of the SWAC Tournament, the Tigers had lost three straight and four of their previous seven. They squeaked into the tournament field, earning an 8-seed as the final team in the SWAC postseason. With a matchup against one-seed Alcorn on the horizon, not many people (maybe nobody) had Texas Southern destined for much more than an early exit from the SWAC championships.
As the old adage goes, that’s why you play the game.
True to the month so often associated with madness, the Tigers took it to Alcorn State, overcoming a three-point halftime deficit to upend the conference’s top seed. With the Braves out of the picture, the Tigers made quick work of Alabama A&M, setting up a showdown with second-seeded Grambling State for a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Thanks to GSU leading scorer Cameron Christian picking up three first-half fouls, and PJ Henry scoring 11 points in the final six minutes, TSU did the unthinkable – win the SWAC, again. The victory clinched the Tigers their third-straight trip to the Big Dance and 11th conference title.
At 14-20, it marks the first time since 1999 a sub-.500 team has gone dancing and is just the fifth time in the tournament’s history.
But who cares? A team like Texas State underscores exactly what this time of year is all about.
Since arriving in the Lone Star State, Johnny Jones has been a March maestro, guiding the Tigers to a 26-8 record in the month of March. A date with Dayton seems the likeliest destination for Jones and TSU, where they’ve won three-straight First Four games.
These Tigers do have some serious limitations, like scoring. They average 69.0 PPG this season, third best in the SWAC but 226th nationally. They’ve been held under 70 points 18 different times. According to KenPom, their adjusted offensive efficiency ranks 330th in the country.
However, they went through a gauntlet of a non-conference schedule, the 4th-toughest in the country per KenPom. The Tigers played teams like San Francisco, Arizona State (who they beat), fellow NCAA Tournament team Oral Roberts, as well as Kansas and Houston – two 1-seeds in this year’s Big Dance.
Coaches say all the time if you want to be the best, you have to play the best. If nothing else, these Tigers won’t be daunted by the thought of facing a high-major or top-seed.“This is huge for us,” Jones said last week.
Huge, indeed. Let’s all give a hand to the most improbable of March success stories, Texas Southern.
C-USA: Florida Atlantic
If life is a beach, then FAU is playing in the sand.
Under the direction of head coach Dusty May, the Owls have slowly but surely gotten better each season. Now in the fifth year of the May era, it’s all reached a crescendo. Florida Atlantic closed the season 31-3, punching their second-ever ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a win over UAB in the C-USA title game.
I wrote about Florida Atlantic’s turnaround earlier this year. At the time of that writing, May tole me, “we’ve come so far. This isn’t just a flash in the pan, it’s been the culmination of a lot of hard work, a lot of hours put in.”
That was in late January. Turns out, his Owls would go even further a little over a month later.
Florida Atlantic is, by every definition, a Cinderella story. FAU had not finished above .500 in a decade prior to May’s hiring in the summer of 2017. Their win over UAB earned them their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2002. Prior to this season, they’d never won more than 21 games.
In true Cinderella fashion, they’ve taken the country (and Boca Raton) by storm. The Seinfeld memes. The sold-out crowds. The national exposure.
Like May said, though – this isn’t just a flash in the pan.
National pundits and college basketball insiders openly admitted FAU was a tournament lock, regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s C-USA title game. At 13th in the latest NET Rankings, that speaks to how strong of a resume the Owls boast. C-USA hasn’t been a two-bid league since, well, ever. The last time a C-USA squad had at-large hopes was in 2017 when Middle Tennessee had an RPI of 30, but lost in the conference quarterfinals and were left out in the cold on Selection Sunday.
Part of what makes Florida Atlantic so difficult is their depth. The Owls lead the country in bench scoring, averaging 35.1 PPG from their secondary-scoring unit. The non-starters shined again in Frisco last week, scoring 25 in the win over WKU and combining for 53 bench points in three games.
Marshall head coach Dan D’Antoni admitted to local media that he spent a week last year teaching May (and FIU coach Jeremy Ballard) the patented D’Antoni ‘six seconds or less offense.’ May clearly took the pointers to heart because FAU ranks 77th in possession time and they’re also wildly efficient.
The Owls enter the NCAA Tournament 19th in effective field goal percentage and top-50 in both field goal and three-point shooting.
Make no mistake, though. They’re equally as tough on the defensive end. FAU ranks 19th in the country in field goal defense, 40th in scoring defense and they’ve held eight-straight teams under 75 points, including UAB to a season-low 56 on Saturday.
With five players averaging at least 9.0 PPG, Florida Atlantic has the ability to win at least one game in the NCAA Tournament. They have history on their side, too. A C-USA school has won its first-round matchup in seven of the last eight tournaments.
FAU has moved into the NCAA Tournament, lock, stock and barrel. They’ll be in the pool, the clubhouse and all over the court. Don’t be surprised if they’re in the second weekend, either.