I am definitely not the first to ask the question: where did this Florida Gulf Coast University team come from?
First of all, they severely messed up my bracket. I was out of the running for being anywhere near the top of the standings midway through day two. But that’s not the point.
The point is that a team like Florida Gulf Coast is exactly what college basketball needs in this day and age.
With the one-and-done players becoming more and more prevalent, the art of team chemistry has gone by the wayside (yeah, I’m talking to you, John Calipari and Kentucky.) The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles brought real chemistry back to the game.
Following in the footsteps of Norfolk State University and Lehigh University from last year’s tournament, Florida Gulf Coast entered the tournament as a No. 15 seed and was tasked with a matchup against outside National Championship contender Georgetown University. The team that showed up in Philadelphia was energetic, excited and together. One phrase came to mind while watching head coach Andy Enfield’s Eagles: “They’re just having fun.”
Senior guard Sherwood Brown was humble in his pregame speeches, but there was nothing humble about the shots he made throughout the tournament and the tongue sticking out after knocking them down. There was also nothing humbling about some of the dunks the Eagles came up with against the Hoyas, then in the second round against San Diego State University. They were more like daggers straight into the chances of the opponents.
Though Florida Gulf Coast was bounced in the Sweet 16 by instate rival University of Florida, the Eagles are now on the map after their improbable run.
So is their head coach, Enfield. Through the course of the week after the Eagles reached the Sweet 16, Enfield and company became celebrities. Suddenly, people cared. What came with the fame were new contract offers for the bench boss. Being paid around $150,000 a year according to NBC2 News, Florida Gulf Coast looked to find funds to keep him at the school and double his salary to $300,000. Before they could make much progress, Enfield bolted to the University of Southern California.
Can Enfield translate his small school success to the upper echelon of college basketball in the Pac-12? Only time will tell, but what will happen is Enfield will build a team of players willing to stick around and play for each other, not for an NBA contract. I never claim to even like USC, but I hope for college basketball’s sake and, really, for humanity’s sake, that he builds a program surrounding the values we saw for one week in March at Florida Gulf Coast. The kids stay in school, get an education and play not for an NBA contract, but for the fun of the game.