It’s different this time. Dusty May is the first to say so.
Sure, his Florida Atlantic University basketball team isn’t just back in the NCAA Tournament but heading back to New York where players held their breath together before a practice last March to hold that special moment.
“I remember looking around, taking everything in,” forward Alijah Martin said.
They then won two games there to reach the Final Four. They’ve never let go of that feeling. Would you?
“Since we got off the plane last year from New York, life has changed for all of us — most of it in a good way,” May said.
Their arena, once echoing in its emptiness, sold out every game this season. They were ranked a preseason No. 10 and regulars on national television. May left last tournament a hot coaching commodity and the question is if he’ll be offered the Louisville or Michigan jobs whenever FAU is knocked out of this March.
Assuming he’s knocked out of the tournament.
Do you believe Miracles II?
“It seems more familiar,” May says of this year’s trip. “Guys seem equally excited. It’s just different. Guys have had this moment circled for a long time.
“There’s a renewed energy. It feels very similar in that way. But there’s a lot of other things going into the game, and that just seems much more familiar than a year ago.”
FAU plays Northwestern on Friday in Brooklyn in the opening round as opposed to playing in Madison Square Garden in the Sweet 16 last tournament. Still, it’s close enough to bring up memories, just as FAU being an eighth seed is close to its ninth seed last year.
No one pretends even with the same starters it’s the same team, though.
“Last year, our runs (in games) were defined by getting stops and rebounding,” May said. “This year it is with the ability to score. We take for granted our defense was slipping and didn’t play with the same edge.”
FAU ranked 191st defensively since Feb. 9. It went from a preseason No.10 ranking to out of the Top 25. It had some defining wins — Arizona, Texas A&M, Loyola — and lost to Temple in the American Conference semifinal last Saturday.
It’s not diminishing the achievement of this tournament bid — just the third in school history — to say how hard it is to re-create magic of last season. May knew the challenge ahead when he sought counsel from Heat president Pat Riley before the season on dealing with a team’s success and Riley’s patented “Disease of Me.”
You also could just glance across South Florida to see how difficult it is to reach this far again. The University of Miami joined Florida Atlantic in the Final Four last season. It didn’t make the tournament this year. It lost 10 consecutive games to close the season. Coach Jim Larrañaga was especially frustrated this week in saying as least five players will leave via the transfer portal.
By comparison, May was talking Tuesday about Northwestern’s toughness and: “Knowing we have to play hard on every possession. We have to challenge everything. Have to pay with great physicality, greater intensity.”
So much remains the same at FAU despite their success. May’s office is still directly below a second-floor practice court, meaning the thud-thud-thud of dribbled basketball is the soundtrack to his workday. Coaches still have a rule to leave the cramped office when receiving a phone call so everyone doesn’t have to listen to the conversation.
The arena still seats 3,100 for games. But what’s important is the seats were full this season. The fabric of the program changed thanks to last spring.
“I always think of what we didn’t have now, which is the support of fans,” Martin said.
He knows what the chance they have now, too. Maybe the Temple loss last weekend actually helps. FAU hasn’t lost two games in a row this season.
“We’ve got a team that responds well to adversity,” May said.
Can they respond like last year?
“We know the type of game we have to play,” he said.
It’s different this time. They know that. But going back in the tournament, back to New York, back as a mid-level seed — maybe they should hold their breath again before practice and appreciate the moment. It worked once.
