The FAU Owls and the top 10 most fantastic runs

Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images NEW YORK CITY– The 2023 Last 4 is poised to be the land of the unknown. UConn is the only team still standing with a championship game to its name. Neither Creighton nor San Diego State has actually ever been to a Final 4. Prior to last Friday, Florida Atlantic had never even won an NCAA competition game as a program. Mark Few and Jim Larranaga have actually been to Final Fours, but Greg McDermott is the only other Elite 8 coach who had advanced out of the first weekend of the NCAA competition prior to this season.Editor’s Picks

1 Associated If someone besides UConn lower the webs, three of the past 4 nationwide champions will have been novice winners.Parity has struck college basketball in a significant way, with the arrival of the transfer website and the additional year of eligibility due to COVID among the reasons.So in a season and

competition filled with parity, how not likely was it that FAU– the group with the most wins in college basketball this season– would make a Last 4 run? Just six teams seeded lower than the Owls have actually ever played in a nationwide semifinal, so they’re in pretty uncommon business. FAU beat No. 3 seed Kansas State 79-76 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.Here are the 10 unlikeliest Final 4 runs considering that the NCAA tournament broadened in 1985.(One fast note: 1985 Villanova was the unlikeliest national champ, however this isn’t the unlikeliest NCAA competition runs, it’s the unlikeliest Final 4 runs. )(9) FLORIDA ATLANTIC DANCES TO THE FINAL FOUR The Owls remove(3)Kansas State 79-76 to advance to their very first Final 4! #MarchMadness

pic.twitter.com/DdHxynvdWk!.?.!— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB )March 26, 2023 10. 2017 South Carolina Gamecocks(7-seed)A 7-seed has actually won everything previously, when Shabazz Napier led UConn’s gone through the 2014 NCAA tournament. However perhaps the most surprising Final 4 run originated from Frank Martin’s 2017 South Carolina group, which went into the NCAA competition winning three of its last nine games. But the Gamecocks ran through 10-seed Marquette by 20 in the first round, then knocked off 2-seed Duke, 3-seed Baylor( likewise by 20 )and 4-seed Florida in the Elite 8. Sindarius Thornwell quietly had one of the best NCAA tournament runs of any player in the past decade.9. 2011 Butler Bulldogs (8-seed )You might be shocked to discover that 8-seeds have as many Final Four groups as 6-and 7-seeds integrated, with 6. In fact, four have advanced to the national championship game, including last year’s North Carolina team– and one, 1985 Villanova, won

all of it. While Villanova’s national championship was the most surprising title win in competition history, it wasn’t the most unexpected Final Four run in history– that likely goes to 2011 Butler.It was a year after the Bulldogs went to the title game and lost in the final seconds to Duke. They were sitting at 14-9 in early February, on a three-game losing streak and hovering in the 60s in KenPom. They didn’t lose another game up until the last Monday night of the season, to UConn, beating 9-seed Old Dominion, 1-seed Pitt, 4-seed Wisconsin and 2-seed Florida to get to Houston, where they then beat the 2011 VCU group. Picture by Elsa/Getty Images 8. 2023 Florida Atlantic Owls (9-seed) On Choice Sunday, one of the bigger talking points was how underseeded FAU appeared. The Owls went into the NCAA tournament with a 31-3 record and a top-30 ranking in the majority of metrics. Yet they were offered a 9-seed due to their lack of top quality wins. But they headed out, silenced the skeptics and backed up the fans. It took a last-second shot from Nick Boyd to beat Memphis in the

preliminary prior to facing 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson in the 2nd round. FDU looked poised for a 2nd straight stunner, however FAU retreated late. Against a physical and defensive-minded Tennessee group in the Sweet 16, FAU had the ability to impose its will more than a lot of teams had all season– and then the Owls took down NCAA competition star Markquis Nowell and Kansas State in the Elite 8.7. 2013 Wichita State Shockers( 9-seed )Until Saturday night, the Shockers were the only 9-seed to advance to the Last 4– and it was a springboard for Gregg Marshall and Wichita State’s 35-0 go to the NCAA tournament the following season. Not just did Wichita State beat a 1-seed, 2-seed and 8-seed on its method to the Last Four, it beat three of the top-12 teams at KenPom that season. The Shockers burnt out Pittsburgh in the preliminary by 18 points, then knocked off top-seeded Gonzaga to advance to the Sugary food 16.

As soon as there, they removed an even larger Cinderella in 13-seed La Salle prior to beating Ohio State in the Elite Eight. Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports 6. 2016 Syracuse Orange (10-seed )Only one 10-seed has actually ever reached the Final Four– and it was Jim Boeheim’s last Final 4 of his career. The Orange backed into the NCAA tournament, losing 5 of their last 6 games to enter Selection Sunday at simply 19-13 overall and 9-9 in the ACC. However the committee gave them a quote and Boeheim’s well known 2-3 zone came to life, flummoxing everyone on its path. Syracuse burnt out 7-seed Dayton in the preliminary by 19, had a lucky draw versus 15-seed Middle Tennessee in the second round(heaven Raiders upset 2-seed Michigan State)

and after that removed Gonzaga and Virginia on its way to the Final Four.5. 1986 LSU Tigers(11-seed)LSU doesn’t precisely shout Cinderella, however the Tigers are among simply 5 11-seeds to reach the Last 4– and they’re the just one to go through the very best possible seed in each round. They began by beating 6-seed Purdue, followed it up with an 83-81 success over 3-seed Memphis, knocked off 2-seed Georgia Tech and then beat top-seeded Kentucky to advance to the Final 4. The win over the Wildcats was especially gratifying, offered they had actually faced them 3 times prior to the NCAA tournament– and lost all three. AP Photo/Michael Conroy 4. 2021 UCLA Bruins (11-seed)Given their blue-blood status, the Bruins don’t rather in shape with the other candidates at the top of the rankings. However they were still an 11-seed and still only the 2nd First Four group ever to make the Last 4. UCLA entered the NCAA tournament on a four-game losing streak, consisting of an overtime Pac-12 competition loss to Oregon State that jump-started the Beavers’ Elite Eight run. After beating Michigan State in overtime of the First 4, UCLA went and beat BYU and 14-seed Abilene Christian by double digits, then knocked off 2-seed Alabama in overtime, 1-seed Michigan by 2– and Gonzaga required a Jalen Suggs 40-footer to beat the Bruins in the Last Four. Darren Carroll for ESPN 3. 2018 Loyola Chicago Ramblers (11-seed) Sis Jean! Loyola Chicago was in fact among the most popular groups in the country going into the NCAA competition, winning 17 of its final 18 games, but a hard very first half of the campaign led to an 11-seed. When there, the Ramblers had some of the best close-game efficiencies we’ve ever seen in the competition. They beat 6-seed Miami by 2, 3-seed Tennessee by one and 7-seed Nevada by one– prior to emerging versus 9-seed Kansas State in the Elite 8, burning out the Wildcats by 16. They didn’t go through the region’s 1-seed to get to the Last Four, however it was also the program’s first NCAA competition given that 1985, so No. 3 seems fair.2. 2006 George Mason Patriots( 11-seed) After losing to Hofstra in the semifinal of the CAA tournament, it appeared like

George Mason might be excluded of the NCAA competition. However the Patriots got an at-large quote ahead of the Pride and made history after that. Jim Larranaga directed his team to wins over 3 of the most significant programs in the sport, beating 6-seed Michigan State in the first round, 3-seed North Carolina in the second round, knocking off 7-seed Wichita State in the Sugary food 16– and then the greatest stunner of them all, an 86-84 success over 1-seed UConn, probably the competition favorite. Jamie Squire/Getty Images 1. 2011 VCU Rams(11-seed )HAVOC! The very first First Four-to-Final Four group, the Rams are tied with four other 11-seeds

as the most affordable seed to ever make the Final Four– but they’re the most unlikely of the group. VCU lost 4 of its final five games to end the regular season, lost in the CAA competition and went into the NCAA competition ranked No. 84 at KenPom. However something flipped for Shaka Smart’s group in the Dance, where the Rams beat USC in the First Four, upset Georgetown by 18 in the first round and after that stunned 3-seed Purdue by 18 in Chicago. They got an excellent break when 10-seed Florida State upset Notre Dame in the second round, but they still had to remove top-seeded Kansas to get to the Last 4.