Men's NCAA Tournament 2023: Power Ranking the Elite Eight Teams | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
What We've Learned: For the record, Purdue losing in the first round as a No. 1 seed and Princeton reaching the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed are not indications that the selection committee screwed up. Those are just absurd March Madness things that happened.
But the selection committee did screw up.
FAU deserved better than a No. 9 seed, and we all knew that long before this run to the Elite Eight. The Owls' seed was one of the things I griped about in our annual "Who got screwed?" article on Selection Sunday. They were 13th in NET and had an average rank across the six metrics of 27.2. There's a lot more that goes into determining seeding, but that number alone suggests FAU should've been a No. 7 seed.
The problem, of course, is that the Owls hadn't faced anyone worth mentioning. Great metrics, but no actual evidence they could beat a quality opponent. Until now.
They battled back from a seven-point deficit midway through the second half against a good, old Memphis team, survived a battle with FDU in which the entire world was rooting against them and then had an even more impressive comeback against Tennessee, putting together an 18-2 run against one of the best defenses in the nation. These Owls belong in the Elite Eight.
Most Outstanding Player Candidate: Johnell Davis. Despite standing just 6'4", Davis is the de facto power forward for the Owls. And through three tournament games, he is averaging 18.7 points and 7.7 rebounds. He was sensational in the second-round win over FDU, finishing that one with 29 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and five steals. And he came through in the clutch against Tennessee, going 6-of-6 from the charity stripe (plus an assist and two rebounds) in the final five minutes.
X-Factor: Three-point shooting. Coming into the tournament, FAU was shooting 37.2 percent from distance and had not once sputtered through back-to-back games below 30 percent. But the Owls have had three consecutive tourney games below that mark yet keep finding a way to win. They got hot for a few minutes during the big second-half run against Tennessee, but we've yet to see them really catch fire.
Championship Blueprint: Maybe they're saving those triples for the latter half of a title run? Because FAU could win it all if those deep shots start falling. The Owls have shown remarkable heart and poise, outrebounding each of their first three opponents despite never having two players taller than 6'4" on the floor at any juncture.
