Shortly after Florida Atlantic beat Kansas State, 79–76, in the Elite Eight to advance to the school’s first Final Four, Owls coach Dusty May had a simple message to the college basketball analysts who doubted the No. 9 seed.
“I expect the prognosticators to pick us fifth in the Final Four,” May said, via Action Network’s Brett McMurphy.
May is poking fun at the fact that few pundit and analysts expected FAU to make it this far in the NCAA men’s tournament, even though the team entered the Big Dance with an impressive 31–3 record.
But, as history shows, not many No. 9 seeds make it to the Final Four. In fact, this is only the third time in NCAA men’s tournament history in which a No. 9 seed made it to the final weekend. The previous teams were Wichita State in 2013 and Penn in 1979.
FAU will have a chance to prove the prognosticators wrong again, though, next weekend when the Owls face the winner of the Elite Eight matchup between No. 5-seed San Diego State and No. 6-seed Creighton.
