Dick Weiss on College Basketball
PHILADELPHIA– The American Athletic Conference has shown there is life after Houston.
The Cougars, which made the Final Four in 2021 and is one of only three unbeaten teams in Division this season– have left the league for the Big12 this season.
But the ACC has two national ranked teams– Florida Atlantic and Memphis– pick up the slack.
FAU made national waves again last week when it upset previously unbeaten, second ranked Arizona, 98-95, in double overtime at Vegas in what may have been the game of the year to date.
Guard Johnell Davis, the ACC pre-season Player of the Year, dominated the game with 35 points in 49 minutes.
The Owls, who have only been playing Division I basketball since 1994 and have only been to two NCAA tournaments in school history, made history last year when they went 35-4 and crashed the NCAA Final Four,
For those would think that achievement was a fluke, think again.
I know, FAU had an unexpected 61-42 loss to Bryant early in the season. and a loss to Illinois, a top three team in the B1G, at the Garden.
But FAU is 10-2 and is ranked seven in the weekly AP Top 25 after wins over Virginia Tech, Texas A & M, Butler and in an ESPN multi-team event at neutral Disney, wins over Charlotte and St. Bonaventure in the Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Mass, and a win over Liberty, building a resume that is ranked sixth in the NET.
A lot of the credit goes to Dusty May, a one-time student manager on Bob Knight’s Indiana program who had been a nomad spent three years working as a long- time assistant on Mike White’s Louisiana Tech and Florida programs before getting his shot to resurrect a stagnant FAU program that was hop scotching conferences in 2018.and playing in a 3,000-seat gym on its Boca Raton campus.
When May arrived, the team was getting crowds of 500 fans.
Now, student line up 24 hours in advance, much like Duke, to get into the place.
The Owls have outgrown their surroundings with six winning seasons. They have neutral sites games at the Garden, Vegas, Orlando and Springfield, Mass.
After last season, it was only reasonable to assume May and his best players might be at bigger schools, with bigger salaries and more NIL money. But May stayed, signing a 10-year contract extension and the entire roster– including Davis, 7-1 Vlad Goldin and Alijah Martin– returned.
May challenged them with a more competitive non-league schedule and it has allowed Davis to become a household name with the AAC’s TV contract and and the Owls’ offense to become more by playing through Goldin,
With the exception of the Bryant game, FAU has been relentless at both ends of the floor.
Ironically, they almost didn’t get to have their March Madness. After winning Conference USA tournament, the Owls drew Memphis, a chief rival in their new league, in the first round of the NCAA
tournament. They escaped with a 68-67 victory.
Memphis is even better this year. Former Memphis All American and NBA, Olympic star Penny Hardaway has taken a page from Coach Prime Deion Sanders and filled his roster with high value transfers like fifth year guard Jahvon Quinerly from Alabama, 6-7 senior guard Jaytwon Walton from Wichita State, 6-6 senior forward David Jones of St. John’s,6-5 fifth year guard Caleb Mills from Florida State,6-9j, junior forward Nick Jourdain of Temple and 6-10 senior Nae Qwan Tomlin from Kansas State, who was just ruled eligible, giving Hardaway size, talent and experience to go with starting 6-9 center Malcom Dandridge and Penny’s son, Jayden, a fifth-year guard.
The results have been a 10-2 start and the No. 23 ranking in the AP poll. The Tigers raised eyebrows with convincing back-to-back wins over ACC rivals Clemson and Virginia and a five game winning streak.The Tigers also have seven wins over Power 5 teams. That should lock up multiple bids for this underrated conference which restocked with basketball schools like UAB, FAU and North Texas after Houston’s departure.
The 6-6 Jones have been a revelation, scoring 20 or more points in six straight games, including a 28-point performance in a comeback 77-75 victory over Vanderbilt last weekend.
Both teams have a shot to advance to a second weekend in the tournament.
