ESPN continues love affair with "Dunk City"

[Muskie]

Link (http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/09/04/florida-gulf-coast-dunkcity-to-be-on-espns-midnight-madness/)

Enfield moved on, but #DunkCity still have enough name cache that ESPN has apparently decided to use the school as one of their featured teams during Midnight Madness coverage on Friday, October 18th.
“FGCU and ESPN are still planning and finalizing the evening, and once we have more information we will pass it along,” FGCU sports information stated in a press release.
ESPN will have a crew on campus that night (http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2013/sep/03/mens-basketball-espnu-coming-fgcu-midnight-madness/), with coverage running from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m.
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I'm interested to see how Loyola Maramount 2.0 does this season.

[PMI]

If it weren't for 30 For 30 and the occasional good live sporting event, ESPN would be on par with MTV for me. Gar. Bage.

[GoMuskies]

The only FGCU game I saw a significant chunk of was the Florida game. Based on that, I'm of the opinion that they richly deserved their 15 seed and will never be heard from again. I enjoyed the highlights from the Georgetown game, of course.

[Muskie]

The only FGCU game I saw a significant chunk of was the Florida game. Based on that, I'm of the opinion that they richly deserved their 15 seed and will never be heard from again. I enjoyed the highlights from the Georgetown game, of course.

Not if ESPN has anything to say about it.

[PMI]

Half the reason I enjoyed watching them last year was to see them steamroll Georgetown and humble those fans in March yet again. The other half was the shots of the coach's smoke show of a wife every few minutes. Well, the NCAA tournament's over, and the coach and his wife have moved to the other side of the country. That leaves me exactly zero reasons to ever care about that flash in the pan again.

[xubrew]

The only FGCU game I saw a significant chunk of was the Florida game. Based on that, I'm of the opinion that they richly deserved their 15 seed and will never be heard from again. I enjoyed the highlights from the Georgetown game, of course.

THANK YOU!!!!!!

FGCU was not even the best team in the Atlantic Sun. Mercer was. FGCU is a great story because they are a transitional team. The university wasn't even built until 1997. Two years ago (2011-12 season) was the first year they were eligible for the postseason, and although they had a losing record, they made it to the ASun title game and actually led Belmont late in the first half. Last year, they managed a winning record, and finished in second place.

It drove me up the wall to hear all of these "experts" saying things like "If you had been paying attention to Florida GC, you wouldn't be surprised by this."

That's just trying to sound smart after the fact.

Well, if you'd been paying attention, you know that no one who follows them actually calls them "Florida GC." You'd also know that they lost to East Tennessee State, Maine and Lipscomb twice....all of whom sucked. They also struggled to beat North Florida, Jacksonville, Alcorn State and Kennesaw State, who are four of the worst teams in div1.

ESPN never mentioned them at any point in the season. There was no "Dunk City." They didn't even appear to play an up-tempo style game for much of the year.

Yet, people are saying you shouldn't be surprised by what they did in the NCAAs. Beating Mercer at Mercer in the ASun title game was a surprise. Beating Georgetown and San Diego State was an utter bombshell. I'm serious when I say this. I think it was the biggest surprise in the history of the NCAA Tournament. Bar none. NC State in 1983 was a top 25 team that had just gotten a key player back. Nova in 1985 was at least a top thirty team who had played Georgetown twice and nearly beaten them once. George Mason was 26-4 and ranked in the top 25 the year they made the FF. Those were surprises, but there was at least some evidence that those teams were at least capable of doing what they did.

FCCU was an utter bombshell. There was NOTHING, not one thing, that suggested they'd be able to win two games like that and play the way they did. A #15 seed was actually lucky, and they wouldn't have even gotten that had the Sun Belt, Big South and Colonial tournaments not collapsed the way that they did.

[GoMuskies]

I think it was the biggest surprise in the history of the NCAA Tournament.

I can't get on board with that. There have been several other 15 seed winners (Coppin State, Santa Clara, Richmond, Lehigh, Hampton, Norfolk State), and I don't think any of those teams beat another 2 seed during the regular season like FGCU did. I'm not saying FGCU was good (I think I clearly stated earlier in the thread that by watching them it was clear they were not good), but I just cannot get on board with a team that has a win over a 2 seed under their belt in the regular season beating another 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament as the biggest surprise in the history of the Tournament. Dook over UNLV in '91 was a bigger surprise IMO.

[bleedXblue]

they've had their preverbial 15 minutes of fame.....they are done....move on

[xubrew]

I can't get on board with that. There have been several other 15 seed winners (Coppin State, Santa Clara, Richmond, Lehigh, Hampton, Norfolk State), and I don't think any of those teams beat another 2 seed during the regular season like FGCU did. I'm not saying FGCU was good (I think I clearly stated earlier in the thread that by watching them it was clear they were not good), but I just cannot get on board with a team that has a win over a 2 seed under their belt in the regular season beating another 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament as the biggest surprise in the history of the Tournament. Dook over UNLV in '91 was a bigger surprise IMO.

Well, Miami was without two starters, and it was the first or second game of the season....I think.

Norfolk State beating Missouri didn't surprise me at all. I wasn't expecting it, but I was hardly surprised when it happened. When Frank Haith is coaching, a loss should never shock you. Lehigh beating Duke did, but that was still a decent Lehigh team.

I forgot about Hampton. I don't think they played a single game against a team in the top 150 that year prior to beating Iowa State, much less beat one. That was shocking.

I don't know enough about the other examples to really comment. I remember them happening, but I hadn't really even heard fo those teams prior to the upsets, much less actually known something about them.

Keep in mind, though, FGCU actually won two games. I think Hampton at least finished first in their conference as well, and they weren't just in their second year of being eligible for the postseason.

[XUFan09]

I think the key is that they went on to win a second game, like Brew said. If it had just been the one game, yeah, I could see it being very debatable whether or not they were the biggest surprise. But then following that up by making it to the Sweet 16? Wow.

[Juice]

But didn't FGCU have some decent transfers sitting out last year who are now eligible?


-- New faces. FGCU will have two redshirt transfers that will make an impact. Nate Hicks, formerly of Georgia Tech, is a big man with good touch and is set up to succeed at this level. Former Marquette guard Jamail Jones should step in and contribute right away now as well. Jones is 6-foot-6 and, like Hicks, tailor-made to succeed at this level.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/22206617/new-faces-new-places-joe-dooley-florida-gulf-coast

Former top 100 recruit from Marquette: http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/06/09/marquette-transfer-jamail-jones-chooses-florida-gulf-coast/

And they lost Sherwood Brown.

I have no idea if this team will improve or what will happen, but some transfers from bigger schools are buying in.

Edit: Brian Greene Jr. from Auburn decided to transfer to FGCU in July.

[xubrew]

I still think Mercer is the team to beat in that conference (although I thought that last year as well, and Gulf Coast beat them).

They finished first in the league, actually won a game at Tennessee in the NIT, and return pretty much everyone. FGCU certainly had the biggest impact moment. I cannot deny that. But at no point until the conference championship game did they appear to be a better team than Mercer.

FWIW, NKU is a transitional team for the next three seasons, but they are on the Atlantic Sun. So, they'll be facing FGCU and Mercer this year.