December 25, 2023, 1:47 p.m. ET
Florida Atlantic's run to the Final Four last season was seen as a nice story, a small program that made a surprise run before slipping back into anonymity.
The Owls are showing this season that this was no coincidence.
After a double-overtime win over No. 4 Arizona, FAU moved up seven spots to No. 7 in The Associated Press men's college basketball poll released Monday. It's the Owls' highest ranking as a program after they were ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll.
| team | Record |
|---|---|
| 1. Purdue (46) | 11-1 |
| 2. Kansas (5) | 11-1 |
| 3.Houston (9) | 12-0 |
| 4.Arizona | 9-2 |
| 5. UConn | 11-2 |
| 6. Tennessee | 9-3 |
| 7. Florida Atlantic | 10-2 |
| 8.Kentucky | 9-2 |
| 9. North Carolina | 8-3 |
| 10. Marquette | 10-3 |
| 11. Illinois | 9-2 |
| 12.Oklahoma | 10-1 |
| 13. Gonzaga | 9-3 |
| 14.BYU | 11-1 |
| 15. Colorado State | 11-1 |
| 16th Duke | 8-3 |
| 17. Baylor | 10-2 |
| 18. Clemson | 10-1 |
| 19. Memphis | 10-2 |
| 20. James Madison | 12-0 |
| 21.Texas | 9-2 |
| 22. Creighton | 9-3 |
| 23. Wisconsin | 9-3 |
| 24. Mississippi | 12-0 |
| 25. Providence | 11-2 |
“We wanted to play it the worst way possible for a lot of reasons,” FAU coach Dusty May said before Saturday’s 96-95 win over Arizona. “National television. Our boys wanted to be challenged. You love the challenge. And we felt like our program was at a point where we needed these games to achieve more than just a Final Four run.”
Purdue retained its top spot for the second straight week, receiving 46 first-place votes from a 60-member media panel after defeating Jacksonville. No. 2 Kansas had five first-place votes and No. 3 Houston received nine. Arizona and UConn rounded out the top five.
Florida Atlantic made a big splash last season, earning the program's No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 during the regular season before making a magical run in the NCAA Tournament. The Owls narrowly missed a chance in the national championship game when San Diego State's Lamont Butler beat them with a buzzer-beating jumper.
Florida Atlantic (10-2) returned almost every player from that team and showed that another deep run could be on the way.
The Owls suffered an unexpected blip with an early home loss to Bryant and lost to then-No. 1-20 Illinois with seven wins at Madison Square Garden on December 5. FAU won the ESPN Events Invitational by defeating then-No. 12 Texas A&M in the semifinals and Virginia Tech in the title game.
The Owls showed a lot of courage on Saturday in Las Vegas and went head-to-head with Arizona in one of the best games of the season so far.
Johnell Davis scored 35 points and FAU dodged Caleb Love's 3-point attempt at the buzzer to win its fifth game against a ranked opponent in the last two seasons. The Owls were 1-19 against AP Top 25 teams before last season.
RISING AND FALLING
FAU had its biggest jump of the week in the poll and No. 16 Duke climbed five spots after defeating No. 17 Baylor 78-70. No. 19 Memphis moved up four spots after wins over Virginia and Vanderbilt.
No. 22 Creighton posted its biggest drop of the week, falling 10 spots after losing in overtime to Villanova. No. 12 Oklahoma fell five spots after losing by 12 to No. 9 North Carolina.
In and out
No. 25 Providence moved into the poll for the first time since finishing at No. 20 on Feb. 27 of last year after beating No. 10 Marquette and Butler last week.
Virginia's return to the AP Top 25 was short-lived. The Cavaliers dropped out of 22nd place this week after losing to Memphis.
CONFERENCE WATCH
The Big 12 again had the top-rated teams with six and the Big East had four. The ACC, Big Ten and SEC each had three.
The American Athletic Conference had two ranked teams, while the Pac-12, West Coast, Mountain West and Sun Belt conferences each had one.