March Madness has definitely lived up to its billing as wild, crazy and unpredictable. For the first time since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams, there were no No. 1 seeds in the Elite Eight. That was just the beginning of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, but what happened over this past weekend is exactly why it’s long been associated with the word “madness.”
FAU Shocks And Advances To First Final Four
In the Elite Eight we saw three teams that have never been to a Final Four punch their ticket to next week’s festivities in Houston. They include the San Diego State Aztecs, Miami Hurricanes and Florida Atlantic Owls. The other team, the UConn Huskies, have been here four times, winning the championship every single time in 1999, 2004, 2011 and 2014. And while the others are all surprises, none are bigger than the Owls, who were a virtual unknown until this tourney run, having never won a tourney game until this year.
The Owls live by the motto “no ego, no pride,” as sophomore guard Aliyah Martin said after Saturday’s Elite Eight win over Kansas State.
Martin led the Owls with 17 points.
Dusty May Talks Pie Sharing Daily
With a team of guys who were overlooked by bigger programs, fifth-year head coach Dusty May’s philosophy focused on getting his team to play unselfishly, not caring who got the shine. In his postgame presser, May talked about that and how that attitude resonates within his team. In his postgame presser an emotional and elated May had this to say.
“Extremely rewarding to see a group give as much as these guys have all season — shots, playing time, minutes, everything you could imagine, grit, everything 100 percent everyday in practice — and then be rewarded there’s never a guaranteed,” May said Saturday night. “In this era where everyone wants the whole pie, these guys continued sharing the pie every single day, and this was the result.”
For their efforts the Owls are now just 40 min away from playing for a national championship in a most improbable run.
May Says He Had Second Thoughts After Being Hired In 2018
While all is well down in Boca Raton, Florida, that wasn’t the case when May took the job in 2018. Just hours after signing the deal to be the Owls coach in March 2018, he was having second thoughts. May says he agreed to be the coach without ever seeing the Owls basketball facilities, and when he did, he was like, “What have I gotten myself into?” May told CBS Sports this about that fateful day.
“I walk in the room and I started crying and said, ‘I just committed career suicide. I’m not good enough to do this,’” May told CBS Sports.
“When I feel something in my stomach I go with it,” May said.
May says upon arrival to the basketball facilities, a pickup game was going on and he immediately noticed how meager the facilities were. Not up to par for a D1 program. May says everything from the bleachers to the scoreboard was outdated.
May Overcame Early Doubts About Himself, FAU Program
But as much as May wanted to run, he faced it head-on, and five seasons later he’s led the Owls to college basketball’s biggest stage. The revenue FAU will accrue from this run should do wonders for their basketball program and entire athlete department.
And that’s because of May and twelve unselfish players who believed in one another enough to play for each other and see where it’d take them.
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