The main thing too many college basketball fans were eager to mock in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll was FAU's school-record No. 10 ranking.
Man, people hated that ranking.
The haters swore FAU didn't deserve that ranking. They swore FAU was nothing more than a mid-major that made a lucky run to the 2023 Final Four. They swore the Owls would prove unworthy of the number next to their name just as soon as the season got started.
Then came the loss to Bryant.
That was obviously bad.
But since somehow losing to Bryant as a 23.5-point favorite in the third game of the season, the Owls have gone 8-1 with the latest impressive performance being Saturday's thrilling 96-95 double-overtime victory over an Arizona team that was ranked No. 1 in the AP poll just six days ago. It was arguably the game of the year, one dominated by Johnell Davis, the American Athletic Conference Preseason Co-Player of the Year who finished with 35 points in 49 minutes.
"It felt like a high-level basketball game," said FAU coach Dusty May. "This felt like a February game with the conference championship on the line."
FAU is now 10-2 on the season with five wins over top-65 teams at KenPom.com. Again, the Bryant loss is horrific. No getting around that. But the only other loss on the resume is a single-digit loss on a neutral court to an Illinois team that's No. 5 in Sunday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, and that's among the reasons FAU is up to No. 7 in the Top 25 And 1, one spot ahead of the Arizona team the Owls just beat in Las Vegas while shooting exactly 50% from the field.
"We told our guys these are the type of teams you're going to play once you make a deep tournament run," said Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd. "[FAU is] an incredible team."
That fact that so many rejected that opinion in the preseason — that FAU is indeed an incredible team — never made much sense to me, if only because it was so clearly true. Contrary to what the lazies suggested, FAU was not just a team that made a lucky run to the 2023 Final Four. Rather, FAU was a team that was 31-3 before the NCAA Tournament even started. Then, sure, the Owls were fortunate to get past Memphis in the first round, but nothing that happened after that was "lucky." FAU beat Fairleigh Dickinson and Tennessee comfortably, then got past a Kansas State team that had previously beaten Texas, Kansas, Baylor, TCU, Kentucky and Michigan State.
Simply put, you don't win your league by multiple games, win your league tournament, advance to the Final Four and finish 35-4 with wins over a top-four team in the SEC (Tennessee), a top-four team in the Big 12 (Kansas State), and a top-two team in the AAC (Memphis) by being lucky. You can only do all of that if you're very, very good. And when it was confirmed that FAU would return all five starters from the team that did all of those very, very good things, nothing other than the Owls being in the top 10 of the preseason polls would've made any sense to me.
Now, the skeptics are starting to quiet down.
They're finally beginning to show respect.
Better late than never, I guess.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Zach Edey finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in Thursday's 100-57 win over Jacksonville. The Boilermakers' next game is Friday against Eastern Kentucky. | -- | 34-5 |
| 2 |  | Kevin McCullar finished with 34 points and six rebounds in Friday's 75-60 win over Yale. The Jayhawks' next game is Saturday against Wichita State. | -- | 23-11 |
| 3 |  | Emanuel Sharp finished with 17 points and four steals in Thursday's 72-37 win over Texas State. The Cougars' next game is Saturday against Penn. | -- | 32-5 |
| 4 |  | Zakai Zeigler finished with 13 points and five assists in Thursday's 65-46 win over Tarleton State. The Vols' next game is Jan. 2 against Norfolk State. | 1 | 27-9 |
| 5 |  | Quincy Guerrier finished with 28 points and eight rebounds in Friday's 97-73 win over Missouri. The Illini's next game is Friday against Fairleigh Dickinson. | 1 | 29-9 |
| 6 |  | Samson Johnson finished with 16 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 69-65 win over St. John's. The Huskies' next game is Jan. 2 against DePaul. | 1 | 37-3 |
| 7 |  | Johnell Davis finished with 35 points and nine rebounds in Saturday's 96-95 win over Arizona. The Owls' next game is Saturday against Florida Gulf Coast. | 3 | 25-9 |
| 8 |  | Caleb Love missed 17 of the 25 shots he attempted in Saturday's 96-95 loss to FAU. The Wildcats' next game is Friday at Cal. | 4 | 27-9 |
| 9 |  | David Jones finished with 28 points and nine rebounds in Saturday's 77-75 win over Vanderbilt. The Tigers' next game is Saturday against Austin Peay. | 1 | 22-10 |
| 10 |  | David Joplin finished with 20 points and nine rebounds in Friday's 81-51 win over Georgetown. The Golden Eagles' next game is Saturday against Creighton. | 1 | 27-10 |
| 11 |  | Antonio Reeves finished with 30 points and two steals in Thursday's 95-76 win over Louisville. The Wildcats' next game is Friday against Illinois State. | -- | 23-10 |
| 12 |  | RJ Davis finished with 23 points and five assists in Wednesday's 81-69 win over Oklahoma. The Tar Heels' next game is Friday against Charleston Southern. | -- | 29-8 |
| 13 |  | Oklahoma finished with 18 turnovers and six assists in Wednesday's 81-69 loss to North Carolina. The Sooners' next game is Thursday against Central Arkansas. | -- | 20-12 |
| 14 |  | Graham Ike finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds in Wednesday's 100-76 win over Jackson State. The Zags' next game is Friday against San Diego State. | -- | 27-8 |
| 15 |  | Nique Cifford finished with 23 points and four rebounds in Friday's 76-67 win over Loyola Marymount. The Rams' next game is Friday against Adams State. | -- | 25-11 |
| 16 |  | Spencer Johnson finished with 14 points and seven assists in Friday's 101-59 win over Bellarmine. The Cougars' next game is Saturday against Wyoming. | -- | 23-11 |
| 17 |  | Matthew Murrell finished with 26 points and five assists in Saturday's 89-72 win over Southern Miss. The Rebels' next game is Sunday against Bryant. | -- | 20-12 |
| 18 |  | PJ Hall finished with 27 points and four rebounds in Friday's 109-79 win over Queens. The Tigers' next game is Friday against Radford. | -- | 24-12 |
| 19 |  | Jared McCain finished with 21 points and three assists in Wednesday's 78-70 win over Baylor. The Blue Devils' next game is Saturday against Queens. | -- | 27-9 |
| 20 |  | Ja'Kobe Walter finished with 26 points and five assists in Friday's 107-48 win over Mississippi Valley State. The Bears' next game is Jan. 2 against Cornell. | -- | 24-11 |
| 21 |  | AJ Storr finished with 29 points and two rebounds in Friday's 80-53 win over Chicago State. The Badgers' next game is Jan. 2 against Iowa. | -- | 22-14 |
| 22 |  | Terrence Edwards finished with 29 points and nine rebounds in Friday's 89-75 win over Morgan State. The Dukes' next game is Saturday against Texas State. | -- | 32-4 |
| 23 |  | Devin Carter finished with 24 points and nine rebounds in Saturday's 85-75 win over Butler. The Friars' next game is Jan. 3 against Seton Hall. | -- | 21-14 |
| 24 |  | Jaylin Williams finished with 20 points and three rebounds in Friday's 82-62 win over Alabama State. The Tigers' next game is Saturday against Chattanooga. | -- | 27-8 |
| 25 |  | Isaac McKneely was 1-of-8 from the field in Tuesday's 77-54 loss at Memphis. The Cavaliers' next game is Wednesday against Morgan State. | -- | 23-11 |
| 26 |  | Hayden Hefner finished with 24 points and two rebounds in Friday's 79-52 win over Houston Christian. The Aggies' next game is Saturday against Prairie View A&M. | -- | 21-15 |
