Florida Atlantic’s run to the Final Four final season was seen as a pleasant story, a small program making a shock run earlier than sliding again into anonymity.
The Owls are exhibiting this season that that was no fluke.
Coming off a double-overtime win over No. 4 Arizona, FAU moved up seven locations to No. 7 in The Associated Press males’s school basketball ballot launched Monday. It’s the Owls’ highest rating as a program after being No. 10 within the preseason ballot.
“We wanted to play it in the worst way for a lot of reasons,” FAU coach Dusty May mentioned earlier than the 96-95 win over Arizona on Saturday. “National television. Our guys wanted to be challenged. They love the challenge. And we felt our program was at a point where we needed these games to elevate even more than a Final Four run.”
Purdue maintained its high rating for the second straight week, receiving 46 first-place votes from a 60-person media panel after blowing out Jacksonville. No. 2 Kansas had 5 first-place votes and No. 3 Houston obtained 9. Arizona and UConn rounded out the highest 5.
Florida Atlantic made huge waves final season, incomes this system’s first rating within the AP Top 25 in the course of the common season earlier than making a magical run within the NCAA Tournament. The Owls simply missed a shot on the nationwide championship recreation when San Diego State’s Lamont Butler beat them with a buzzer-beating jumper.
Florida Atlantic (10-2) returned almost everybody from that crew and has proven one other deep run may very well be coming.
The Owls suffered an surprising slipup with an early house loss to Bryant and misplaced to then-No. 20 Illinois by seven at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 5. FAU received the ESPN Events Invitational by knocking off then-No. 12 Texas A&M within the semifinals and Virginia Tech within the title recreation.
The Owls confirmed loads of grit in Las Vegas on Saturday, going toe to toe with Arizona in among the best video games of the season to date.
Johnell Davis scored 35 factors and FAU dodged Caleb Love’s 3-point try on the buzzer to win its fifth recreation over a ranked opponent over the previous two seasons. The Owls had been 1-19 towards AP Top 25 groups earlier than final season.
FAU had the most important leap of the week throughout the ballot and No. 16 Duke climbed 5 locations after beating No. 17 Baylor 78-70. No. 19 Memphis moved up 4 locations following wins over Virginia and Vanderbilt.
No. 22 Creighton had the most important drop of the week, falling 10 locations after dropping to Villanova in time beyond regulation. No. 12 Oklahoma fell 5 locations after dropping by 12 to No. 9 North Carolina.
No. 25 Providence moved into the ballot for the primary time since hitting No. 20 final Feb. 27 after beating No. 10 Marquette and Butler final week.
Virginia’s return to the AP Top 25 proved to be brief lived. The Cavaliers dropped out this week from No. 22 after the loss to Memphis.
The Big 12 once more had probably the most ranked groups with six and the Big East had 4. The ACC, Big Ten and SEC every had three.
The American Athletic Conference had two ranked groups whereas the Pac-12, West Coast, Mountain West and Sun Belt conferences had one every.
