The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 238 is FAU basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of FAU basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 1
- Elite Eights: 1
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 4
- Bids: 3
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 12.9
- Bids per season: 0.09
- AP Polls: 20
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 0
- Conference Players of the Year: 2
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 2
- Conference tournament titles: 2
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on FAU basketball
Florida Atlantic might be one of the most debatable programs in these rankings. On one hand, they had a terrible start to Division I. The Owls had losing seasons in 10 of their first 12 seasons. In their next stretch, things got a little better, but still with losing records in 10 of 13 seasons.
Then, someone named Dusty May came to town and transformed the program like no other. To be fair, May’s first four seasons were an improvement, but still just a 66-56 overall record.
But in year five, May made history, leading FAU to a 35-4 record, which led to a 9-seed in the NCAA Tournament and a trip to the Final Four. It was one of the wildest runs in March Madness history, and of course led May to Michigan, where he won the National Championship in April.
May stayed one more season at FAU before jumping ship, and went 25-9 with a first-round tourney loss. But in two seasons under John Jakus, the Owls have had back-to-back 18-win seasons. It’s a step down, but it’s still proving that May leveled the program up from what it was.
Obviously, that Owls TEAM with Johnell Davis, Alijah Martin, Vlad Goldin, and Nick Boyd was one of the best we’ve seen this century. But in terms of ranking an overall PROGRAM, one or two seasons can’t outweigh the other 31 completely. And Owls fans had one of the craziest tourney runs of all-time, but unfortunately, the whole product didn’t do enough to put them up much higher.