Who are these guys? Cinderella FAU stands between Kansas State and Final Four

Andy Katz

College Basketball Analyst & Writer

NEW YORK — None of this is traditional.

Florida Atlantic, somehow, is in the Elite Eight.

The Owls are here despite not having a star, nor likely a future pro standout. They have a head coach who got his start as a manager for Bob Knight, Indiana’s former Hall of Fame coach.

Well, that last part isn’t completely out of the ordinary. There have been a few, like Lawrence Frank with the Nets and most recently Joe Pasternack of UCSB.

Yet, here they are, the Owls of FAU out of Boca Raton, located just 40 minutes away from the Final Four in Houston. They’re chasing the holy grail, playing at the Mecca of the sport — Madison Square Garden. If they can get past Kansas State in the East Region final on Saturday, they’ll go to the Final Four.

They might be the least-known team left in the tournament, yet they embrace the sense of anonymity.

“It’s been wonderful, honestly,” said Bryan Greenlee, a junior transfer from Minnesota. “When you step between them lines, all that extra stuff just kind of goes out the window and it just comes down to competing and who has the biggest heart. I feel like we’ve proven that we just want it more than a lot of teams.”

The Owls are the unknown. Sure, they have won 34 games, were ranked a few times, and outlasted UAB, North Texas and Charlotte in the highly competitive, yet under-covered Conference-USA (see: UAB and North Texas in the NIT semifinals and Charlotte winning the CBI).

“We really don’t think about things like that because we all know at the end of the day we put our pants on the same way they do,” said Michael Forrest, who is a bit of unicorn these days as a five-year player who was a high school recruit and stayed at the same place. He was the first recruit for head coach Dusty May.

“Once we step onto the court, we’re just going to give our best effort and leave everything to God,” Forrest said.

The Owls’ roster is a mish-mash of high school players, four-year transfers and junior college players. That’s to be expected in building a roster today outside the brand-name grid. And May, who has far exceeded his own career expectations, is the perfect blender for this gig.

“It’s been very gratifying to go through so many steps,” said May, whose route took him from studying under Knight at IU to being a video coordinator at USC, back to Indiana as an administrator, to assistant coach positions at Eastern Michigan, Murray State, UAB and then joining forces with Mike White at Louisiana Tech and Florida before landing FAU in 2018.

“The journey was tough, but to really go the tough route, all I ever wanted to do was to be a high school basketball coach in Indiana. This all kind of just happened, so very — like you said, up and down. Across the board, moving your family every year when you have young kids, all that kind of stuff.

“It’s been awesome,” May added. “Every step I’ve enjoyed. I loved being an assistant. I loved being a video coordinator. I loved being a head coach, so every part of it. I’m grateful to be here, grateful to be a part of this game and recommend these young men. They’re awesome guys.”

What did he learn from Knight as a manager?

“Serving without wanting anything in return, and [to] accept knowledge and experience,” said May.

The coach clearly has connected extremely well with his players, both past and present. He got emotional in discussing his recruitment of Keyontae Johnson when at Florida, and his reaction when the wing, who now stars at Kansas State, collapsed during a game in 2020. May had recruited him for White, but never coached him.

May’s oldest son, Jack, is a walk-on at Florida and was close with Johnson, too. He said he can’t watch the video of Johnson’s collapse. But he loves discussing Johnson the player, calling him a “unique talent.”

May has a gift of being kind in his comments and effusive in his praise. Clearly, that humility carries over to his team, too.

“He instills confidence in all of us,” said Greenlee. “I think just his belief in what we can do just allows us to play with freedom, and we don’t have to think about making mistakes or think too much on the court.

“Also just how accountable he and the staff hold us,” said Greenlee. “Our preparation and the work we’ve put in have prepared us for games and opportunities like this. It’s all the work that goes on behind the scenes.”

Where does that come from? Back to Indiana.

“No one in my family ever played basketball,” May said. “My mom signed me up when I was young, and something about this game, I became obsessed with it from the very first minute I ever played it. She made me wear sweatpants because I had so many floor burns. I was so aggressive. And I just wanted to be like my high school coach. That was it.”

The work ethic May has is shared by this team: they are unselfish, take turns being the leader, defend with purpose and never seem to take a play off. This team didn’t win 34 games to this point for no reason, taking out Memphis in the first round, Cinderella FDU in the second and Tennessee in the Sweet 16.

They are just as worthy as any other team remaining to be in this position.

“We take a lot of pride in our work ethic back home in southern Indiana,” said May. “And then I love basketball. So none of it feels like work: watching film, studying leadership, getting in the gym, it feels like a hobby that I get paid to do. I think all of that stuff is very overblown because I enjoy doing it.”

And now he’s 40 minutes away from playing in the Final Four. With one more win against Kansas State, and the Owls will land in Houston as a well-deserving, if unexpected, guest.

Andy Katz is a longtime college basketball writer, analyst and host. He can be seen on the Big Ten Network, as well as March Madness and NCAA.com, and he hosts the podcast “March Madness 365.” Katz worked at ESPN for nearly two decades and, prior to that, in newspapers for nine years.

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