Read through the rest of the Cheat Sheets here.
Conference: Atlantic Sun
Coach: Andy Enfield
Record: 24-10, 13-5
Rankings and Ratings:
- Kenpom: 137
- RPI: 106
- AP/USA Today: N/A
Seeding?: Our Dave Ommen had regular season A-Sun champ as a No. 16 seed in Friday’s Bracket Projection, but FGCU has a better RPI and beat Miami this season, so they might be able to sneak up a seed line or two, depending on what teams earn the automatic bids.
Names you need to know: Sherwood Brown (15.2 ppg, 6.3 rpg), Bernard Thompson (14.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.9 spg), Chase Fieler (12.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.3 bpg)
Stats you need to know: FGCU shoots 32.4% from three and commits a turnover on more than 21% of their offensive possessions. But they average more than 68 possessions per game, ranking as the 62nd fastest team in the country.
Tendencies: The Eagles like to push tempo, they want to force turnovers (they do so on one out of every four-and-a-half possessions), and they want to beat you before your defense can get set.
Big wins, bad losses: Florida-Gulf Coast own one of the most impressive mid-major wins this season, beating Miami back in November before Miami became ‘Miami’. But they also got swept by Lipscomb and lost to East Tennessee State, among others.
How’d they get here?: They won the Atlantic Sun tournament championship, 88-75, over Mercer to earn an autobid.
Outlook: As good as that win over Miami looks right now, it may be the most head-scratching outcome of the season this side of TCU and Kansas. FGCU is going to find themselves going up against a top three seed -- maybe even a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed -- and the teams that are going to be seeded that high are going to be tough to turn over and speed up.
How do I know you? You don’t. This was FGCU’s first ever postseason appearance at the D-I level. In fact, the university has only been in existence since 1991.
You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.