FAU NCAA tournament history: How far have the Owls gone before?

The FAU Owls made the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight for the first time in program history on Thursday night, defeating the Tennessee Volunteers.

FAU head coach Dusty May deserves a lot of credit for his massive turnaround in Boca, as the Owls have won over 30 games on the season and dominated every stretch of their schedule.

Despite tying the Houston Cougars — a No. 1 seed in this same tournament — for regular season wins, FAU was ranked a No. 9 seed by the committee. They took that decision personally, as Florida Atlantic has since made its way to the Elite Eight with a smaller lineup, and they could be even better next year.

May, who learned under Hall of Famer Bobby Knight, is establishing himself as one of the premier non-Power 5 coaches in the country.

FAU Owls NCAA Tournament history

Florida Atlantic has only made the NCAA Tournament once before. In 2002, FAU won the Atlantic Sun and made the tourney as a No. 15 seed, where they lost to Alabama.

With 33 wins on the year, FAU increased their best-ever win percentage by more than 33 percent. It’s also only their tenth winning season in a 30-year span.

“We all bought in,” freshman guard Nick Boyd said. “Nobody really cares who gets the shine, the buzz or the credit. We all want to do it for each other. We noticed that we can go as far as possible by doing it with each other, and that’s what we’ve bought into.”

Head coach Dusty May referenced his time under Bobby Knight at Indiana when discussing his team’s success, and the recent leaps he’s made as a head coach.

“I learned so much,” May said. “You volunteer for 40, 80 hours a week just to learn from a legend and expert coach, expert teacher. I take something daily from what I learned from that experience.”

May and FAU are one win away from the program’s first Final Four.