Florida Gulf Coast Basketball

Florida Gulf Coast is not only "The Story" of this year's March Madness, but they may be shifting how college basketball teams pursue success.

The No. 15 seed Eagles take winning seriously, but not themselves.

Taking on and defeating some of the best teams in the nation doesn't have to turn them into lifeless zombies.

At the Sweet 16 news conference at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, FGC head coach Andy Enfield stated that he believes that teams play better and players get better if they enjoy what they are doing.

He spoke of having a "culture of fun" where players can be loose and focused at the same time.

It's hard to argue with Enfield's perspective or approach right now after the Atlantic Sun tournament winners have handled No. 2 seed Georgetown and No. 7 seed San Diego State.

The Eagles beat the Hoyas and Aztecs by playing wide open, full throttle hoops with lots of no-look alley-oops and tons of thunderous tomahawk dunks, all of which are regularly worked on in practice.

As FGC prepares to face their in-state rival Florida, they are still carefree and reveling in every minute of their magical ride.

Seeing them first-hand at the Sweet 16 shootaround was priceless.

Some of the Eagles decided that it would be fun to switch practice jerseys before taking the court. Since no one knows them anyway, what's the difference, right?

More than one member of the media was frustrated by the players' playfulness. But this kind of spur of the moment mischief is what fuels this team's camaraderie.

Free-spirit PG/ringleader Brett Comer was being interviewed courtside. Spontaneously taking the microphone, Comer reversed roles, and went from being interviewee to interviewer. Hilarious.

Enfield says his team doesn't have to act like they like each other or act like they're having fun because they genuinely enjoy being around each other and they are having a blast.

The atmosphere was so relaxed on the court at Cowboys Stadium that no one batted an eye when the head coach went and got his young son and held him as he directed the workout.

Make no mistake about it. The Eagles have worked hard collectively and individually to get to where they are today.

Many of these players had serious on-court limitations coming out of high school. But, Enfield believes 100 percent in constantly concentrating on basics like shooting techniques, ball-handling and footwork. Because the Eagles work on these fundamentals on a daily basis, his players are continually developing and improving. As they get better, they truly enjoy the work and the results that comes from the effort.

Even the team’s postseason media guide is fun. When biographical information is listed, fans can also find out each players Twitter handle. Because FGC is also known as “Dunk City,” they list extensive stats on how many dunks they’ve had during the season, including dunk leaders, throwdowns by half and slam superlatives.

Florida Gulf Coast’s upbeat mindset and lighthearted approach to the remainder of the tournament positions them to have further success. They respect Florida, but they are confident about how they can play on any given night.

After all, they aren’t just this year’s Cinderella. The Eagles are the most fun college basketball team in America.

The attention placed on Florida Gulf Coast is well-deserved after a miraculous run to the Sweet 16 in the 2013 NCAA tournament. However, the focus has quickly turned to the business side of college basketball.

Over the past week, head coach Andy Enfield has led his squad to impressive wins over Georgetown and San Diego State, making his Eagles the first No. 15 seed in NCAA history to reach the Sweet 16. While fans loved watching Brett Comer and others have fun on the court, the team's leader has some interesting stories as well.

According to ESPN's Dana O'Neil, Enfield holds the NCAA record for free-throw shooting percentage, he helped start up a software company and he is married to a model.

This already has the makings of one exciting movie.

Still, the latest part of his life to make the news is his salary. Jacob Carpenter of Naples News reports that the FGCU coach is making $157,500 per year and that the school is looking to double that number heading into next season. 

According to Carpenter, booster club chairman Brian Rasnick said of Enfield, "I hope that he takes away that we really want him, we want to give him the respect he deserves, and want to try to get him to be the highest-paid coach in the Atlantic Sun."

Doubling the salary to around $300,000 would certainly be a good way to reward the coach after putting the young school on the map. Of course, this is nothing compared to people in similar positions at high-major programs around the country.

Florida Gulf Coast's next game is against No. 3 seed Florida, led by Billy Donovan. The Gators' coach makes an annual salary of $3.5 million after his latest extension. While he has already won two national championships, it is important to note the difference between what the two programs are able to afford.

This run by the Eagles is certain to turn some heads around the country. It would not be at all surprising to see Enfield's name come up as schools look to fill job vacancies. 

While it is unlikely that he makes a jump to a program like UCLA after one noteworthy tournament run, there will be plenty of other options as the coaching carousel turns. If one of these schools offers a much larger starting salary, it might be difficult for Enfield to say no.

It is unknown how open the coach is to a change, but there is little doubt that this will be discussed in the coming weeks.

For now, however, we should simply enjoy the moment. A group of kids with no experience of playing on the big stage are having fun and winning huge games in the process.

Hopefully, the talks about salary and coaching changes do not take too much attention away from the players and the fantastic Cinderella story that has occurred this March.

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In the illustrious history of the NCAA Tournament, perhaps no story has been as riveting as that of the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. Led by head coach Andy Enfield, the Eagles are the first No. 15 seed in NCAA history to reach the Sweet Sixteen.

As a result of this legendary feat, Enfield is approaching the active legacies of VCU's Shaka Smart and Butler's Brad Stevens as the nation's next elite coaches.

For those unfamiliar, Florida Gulf Coast is currently on one of the most magical runs in NCAA history. The No. 15 Eagles started their run by upsetting No. 2 Georgetown—a team that won the regular-season Big East championship and boasts a Naismith Award finalist in Otto Porter Jr.

They followed that win up with a victory over No. 7 San Diego State—a team led by NBA prospect Jamaal Franklin and legendary head coach Steve Fisher.

Behind their success has been Enfield, a 43-year-old head coach in his second year with the team. Prior to taking over the Eagles, Enfield had been an assistant coach for two NBA franchises and the Florida State Seminoles.

Never had he been a head coach.

In his first year with the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles, Enfield led the team to a record of 15-17 overall and 8-10 in conference play. That was an improvement of five wins over the previous season.

One year later, Enfield is making history with a Florida Gulf Coast team that is 26-10 overall, 13-5 in conference and currently a member of the Sweet Sixteen.

If that sounds familiar to you, it's probably because you've heard a similar story before. That most likely came from the schools Butler and Virginia Commonwealth.

The universities where Brad Stevens and Shaka Smart reside.

Today, Stevens is one of the most respected coaches in the entire country. Not only is this impressive due to the fact that he's 36-years-old, but because he too is in his first career head-coaching gig.

Stevens was an assistant for Butler from 2001 to 2007 before taking over as head coach when Todd Lickliter left to coach Iowa.

In that time, Stevens has led the Bulldogs to two National Championship game appearances and three conference titles. He's compiled a record of 166-49.

To say Enfield is approaching his stature would be an overwhelming complement to the Florida Gulf Coast head honcho.

Smart, meanwhile, is the 35-year-old head coach at VCU. He too has taken his mid-major team to the Final Four, doing so with no prior head-coaching experience.

Enfield may have some work to do before truly reaching their status, but he's done one heck of a job so far.

For all of the hype that individual players may garner, it's the coach that has risen to power in today's college game. With an abundance of one-and-done freshmen, the task of constructing a successful team has been daunting.

Enfield, however, has managed to get the job done.

Much like Smart and Stevens, Enfield has built his name by taking experienced players to NCAA Tournament success. More importantly, he's led an underdog squad to upsets of national powerhouses.

Miami, Georgetown and San Diego State have already fallen to Enfield's crew—the only question is, can he join Smart and Stevens as Final Four alumni?

Historical records will tell some future version of you that the 2012-13 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles were the first-ever NCAA tournament team seeded 15th or lower to make the Sweet 16.

Based on that fact alone, you'd necessarily place the Eagles alongside VCU, Butler, George Mason and the like in your personal pantheon of Cinderella greatness. You'd fete them with the proper "firsts." You'd acknowledge the proper precedent.

And frankly, you'd be selling FGCU short.

What makes the Eagles such a phenomenon is not that they've won two NCAA tournament games they were expected to lose, but rather that they won those games in such absorbingly conclusive fashion (both on the scoreboard and to the aesthetic eye).

Given the right breaks, any 15th seed can win a game or two. I know that sounds preposterous, but basketball is a funny game. Winning consecutive games in the NCAA tournament can be—and often is—a simple statistical anomaly.

Florida Gulf Coast, however, is undressing elite teams, beating them in ways that should make us question the very power structure of modern college basketball.

At no point have the Eagles dabbled in circumstance or even appeared over-matched. They've looked quicker, bouncier and altogether more capable than their opponents. They've looked, in sum, like a team beating teams they're supposed to beat.

Consecutive 10-point victories tell part of that story—FGCU is the only team seeded 13th or lower to win back-to-back games by double digits—but the tactical and programmatic brilliance driving those margins may be more revealing still.

Here's how they're doing it.

The Dunks

Public reaction to FGCU's run has predictably coalesced around the Eagles' athleticism, in particular their penchant for aerial theatrics.

https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/316059953607626752

On one hand, the "dunk city" moniker threatens to obscure all the other things Florida Gulf Coast does well (pass, shoot, play defense, etc.). On the other, it drives at the collective physical attributes that make FGCU such a thoroughly modern basketball phenomenon.

Throughout college basketball history, there have always been rare athletic outliers who fall through the recruiting cracks and end up elevating some backwater program to relevance. Larry Bird wound up at Indiana State. Santa Clara lucked into Steve Nash. Lord only knows how tiny Guilford College landed World B. Free.

But the Eagles aren't one athletic outlier. They're a team of athletic outliers.

And in that way, they aren't really an outlier at all.

Three decades ago, a program of FGCU's station—founded in 1991, fully minted D-I in 2011—wouldn't have been able to attract a roster full of high-flying athletes.

Yet the Eagles have—not because coach Andy Enfield and his predecessor, Dave Balza, necessarily recruited over their heads but because the abundance of basketball talent now exceeds our capacity to harvest it.

In other words, FGCU landed the caliber of recruits you would expect FGCU to land. The difference is the depth of quality recruits now available to lower-tier programs.

According to ESPN's prospect database, FGCU's top-rated recruit over the last six years is current point guard Brett Comer, a 2-star athlete out of Winter Park, Fla. Leaper Chase Fieler garnered only one star. Leading scorer Sherwood Brown doesn't even have a profile.

As fast as the basketball recruiting industry has grown, it would appear that it hasn't been able to keep pace with the influx of prep talent.

Part of the reason for that is basketball's growing popularity abroad, as well as the burgeoning democratization of high school recruiting.

It's considered something of a given in college basketball circles that AAU and other high-exposure youth leagues have ruined the game by emphasizing individual skill, disincentivizing team play and inflating young egos well out of proportion.

What we fail to acknowledge is how these networks flatten the recruiting playing field, allowing athletes to market their skills to a wider range of coaches and allowing coaches to scout players from other parts of the country (and world) that they otherwise wouldn't have seen.

The result is that a branch campus school with zero basketball history like FGCU can recruit players from West Virginia (Fieler), Georgia (Bernard Thompson), Maryland (Leonard Livingston) and Central Freaking Europe (Christophe Varidel, Alexander Blessig, Filip Cvjeticanin).

In fact, only one player on the FGCU roster, North Fort Myers native Eddie Murray, is actually from Florida's Gulf Coast.

Look around D-I at every level, and you'll see similarly constructed programs. Even the smallest schools are no longer bound by geography in their recruiting patterns.

That combined with the quickening pace of basketball's popularity ensures that almost every roster will have its share of highlight-reel athletes.

So yes, the FGCU Eagles can dunk. In that way they are both remarkable and tellingly emblematic.

The Offense

Whenever evaluating a Cinderella's performance, the first question we often ask is, "How many threes did they hit?"

The answer in FGCU's case is, "Not as many as you'd expect."

In both frequency of attempts and success rate, the Eagles were an average three-point shooting team this season.

They ranked 195th nationally in three-point percentage at 33.4 percent, and 135th in three-point attempts as a ratio of overall field-goal tries (34.6 percent).

In tournament play, FGCU has shot a better percentage from beyond but has actually taken fewer three-point shots than usual, and in each case the differences are incremental.

So far during the postseason, the Eagles have taken just 30.1 percent of their shots from three and hit a modest 39.4 percent of those attempts. The fact that FGCU hasn't faced a large deficit in either tournament game accounts for some of that data.

What it doesn't account for is why the Eagles are building and maintaining leads in the first place. And if it isn't the three ball, then what is it?

Obviously FGCU's open-court athleticism has been critical. So too is Florida Gulf Coast's excellent offensive spacing and timely use of backdoor cuts, the latter of which was particularly effective against Georgetown (of all teams).

But when I browse the statistics, what stands out is the turnovers, or, in this case, FGCU's lack of turnovers.

On most accounts, the Eagles had a good offense this year. They shot a great percentage from inside the arc (52.4 percent), rebounded at a decent clip and posted an excellent effective field-goal percentage (51.6 percent).

And yet Andy Enfield's team finished just 114th in adjusted offensive efficiency. As you might imagine, turnovers were the main culprit.

The Eagles turned the ball over on 20.7 percent of their possessions this year, a mark that left them 220th nationally in ball security.

So far in the tournament, though, that mark has dropped to somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 percent (hand calculation). That may sound like a small dip, but it's significant when you consider that FGCU hasn't abandoned its freewheeling style of play in the process.

And really any drop in turnover rate for a double-digit seed facing a team like Georgetown (which ranked 47th nationally in defensive turnover percentage) is impressive, regardless of circumstance.

Since regular season turnover rates aren't adjusted for competition, we generally expect underdogs to turn the ball over more frequently than normal in games against higher-tier competition. For lower-seeded teams that do fall into that pattern, usually the only way out is an exemplary shooting performance.

In FGCU's case, the exact opposite has been true. The Eagles have actually become stronger with the ball, thereby eliminating the need to shoot more than usual from the perimeter.

The Defense

In addition to their gripes with AAU ball, college basketball nitpickers also like to prattle on about how zone defenses muck up the game.

And it's true. Zone defenses often damage college basketball's visual appeal. Believe me, no one ever mistook a Syracuse game for a night at the theater.

But zones are also a fantastic equalizing agent that (a) give lesser teams a means to defend superior athletes and (b) add wonderful layers of tactical complexity to an otherwise straightforward game.

Former Penn player Stephen Danley, writing for Sports Illustrated, penned a fascinating post on the way FGCU switched in and out of different defensive alignments during the San Diego State game.

Danley in particular noted a 1-3-1 formation the Eagles used during their decisive second-half spurt, a defense that Danley says was decidedly different from the usual 1-3-1 and palpably unfamiliar to the Aztec players.

He writes:

Assistant coach Kevin Norris described the zone as “a simple matchup” with a wink and a smile, insisting he needed to “keep it under wraps” because there were more games to play. But the zone was anything but typical. A standard 1-3-1 defense is designed to extend to half court and trap in the corners.

Instead, FGCU used it to pack the paint, with forward Chase Fieler serving as a center fielder and roaming the foul-line area. Norris insisted the goal of the defense was to mix and confuse opponents. At its best “it may look like a 1-3-1 and end up being a 1-2-1-1.” That type of disguise of the base configuration of the defense makes it harder for an offense to figure out what to run.

I will admit that Danley's understanding of the Xs and Os is beyond anything I can truly comprehend.

But the assistant coach's response to Danley's observation tells me that Florida Gulf Coast is indeed massaging some foreign elements into its game plan. And it appears the Eagles have caught a couple of generally well-coached teams off-guard.

Whether any of this will hold against Florida in the Sweet 16 is a debate for another space.

The Gators will have more prep time than San Diego State and more game tape than Georgetown. They've also been one of the best teams in the country this year, and their athleticism on the perimeter will be a challenge for FGCU's guards.

Then again, Florida has lost 15 times in the NCAA tournament.

The Eagles never have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWvqqVOpkKk

Note: All advanced statistics courtesy of KenPom.com

The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles have been the surprise of the 2013 NCAA tournament. The No. 15-seeded team in the South region has improbably soared to a Sweet 16 appearance.

It’s the first time in history that a program with a seed this high—and expectations so low—has made a run to the tourney’s fourth round, but don’t assume the Eagles will be ready to rest on their laurels.

This squad has the talented players, brilliant coaching staff, motivation and drive required to advance to the Elite Eight—and possibly even further with the right mix of skill and luck.

Let’s take a look at how the Eagles can knock out the perennial powerhouse from the Sunshine State, the Florida Gators, and keep dancing during March Madness.

Control the Pace

The Eagles are at their best when the tempo is cranked way up. These players love to run and gun and no player has been more instrumental to FGCU’s success than point guard Brett Comer.

This 6’3” sophomore has put up double-digit assist numbers in the opening two games of the tournament, dropping 12 points, 10 assists and six rebounds against Georgetown, followed by a 10-point, 14-assist, two-rebound performance against San Diego State.

Comer isn’t afraid of dishing dimes in style, either. Florida Gulf Coast has earned the moniker “Dunk City”—after the Los Angeles Clippers' “Lob City”—for its tendency to throw alley-oops and constantly create highlight plays.

As long as this team is pushing the break and creating opportunities in transition, it has a legit chance against UF in the Sweet 16.

Take Efficient Shots

One of the main reasons the Eagles have become the Cinderella of this tourney is their shot selection. Obviously, the dunks and fast-break layups are going to be high-percentage looks, but the FGCU players have also been smart about their attempts that don’t involve flushing down an alley-oop.

Against the Hoyas, the Eagles buried 42.9 percent of their attempts from the field and 40 percent from behind the three-point line—an area this underdog surprisingly hasn’t been reliant upon.

Georgetown also challenged them at the charity stripe, but the Eagles answered by sinking 30 of 44 from the line.

FGCU followed this performance up by shooting a whopping 55.9 field-goal percentage against the Aztecs, while utilizing the three-pointer effectively, but not often—hitting 7 of 18 from deep.

If this program can maintain its discipline in the face of a ferocious Florida defense, it wouldn’t be a stretch to see the Eagles in the Elite Eight.

Stay Loose

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX1qGr-xKbk

Perhaps the greatest quality of this special Florida Gulf Coast squad is its “swagger.”

As a No. 15 seed, there were no expectations coming into the Big Dance and the players were able to relax on the court. Because no one believed the Eagles would beat Georgetown and then had no chance against San Diego State, it gave the players the proper motivation to band together and do nothing more than try their best.

Even coach Andy Enfield confirmed that his squad is just trying to enjoy the moment, telling the Associated Press: "We don't take ourselves too seriously. We try to have fun, get serious when we have to.”

As long as the Eagles are on the same page, running up and down the court, making highlight plays and taking efficient shots, this team looks unbeatable. Expect Florida to have its hands full and work cut out when it matches up against FGCU in the Sweet 16.

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Florida Gulf Coast University was a relatively unknown institution until this past week, as they have stormed into March Madness and effectively taken over as the main attraction.

The school was not established until 1991, didn't hold its first class until 1997 and is only in its second year of NCAA tournament eligibility. It has an enrollment of 12,683, nestled in the suburbs around Fort Myers, Fla., on a beautiful campus on the beach.

The team generated a little interest when it was revealed that head coach Andy Enfield's wife was supermodel Amanda Marcum of Maxim, Elle and Vogue fame. But this was only seen as a little fun fact for a team that was just happy to be included.

Ranked as the 15th seed in the South region, FGCU had a matchup with No. 2-ranked Georgetown and was thought to be an easy victim for the powerful Hoyas, who had just won the Big East. The pride of the Atlantic Sun Conference would not bow out easily, however. 

The FGCU Eagles shocked the world, playing with Georgetown in the first half and outplaying them in the second. But it was the way they did it that really impressed everyone. Their fast-paced, high-flying style and contagious energy made them a joy to watch.

They became only the seventh No. 15 seed to advance, drawing San Diego State in the third round. They showed their win over Georgetown was no fluke as they handled the Aztecs with relative ease.

And they were back playing that electric style, with a number of huge dunks and a relentless energy that persisted from start to finish.

Their loose style and penchant for shooting three-pointers and throwing down massive slam dunks really have captured the attention of the nation. 

Then they did the chicken dance on the bench, and that just brought everything to a whole new level. Also, in regards to their incredible dunks against Georgetown, this video is hilarious and awesome at the same time and is just one more reason to love this team.

They are more than just a Cinderella team this year; FGCU is a legitimately lovable underdog who wins in style and seems to have a blast doing it. If there's any team to get behind this year, it's the Eagles. 

 Andy Enfield is the head coach of Florida Gulf Coast University. In just its second year as a Division I program, Florida Gulf Coast earned its inaugural NCAA tournament berth by winning the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament. Enfield’s Eagles, who beat Miami early in the season, earned the No. 15 seed in the South region. Florida Gulf Coast (24-10) plays No. 2 seed Georgetown on Friday in Philadelphia.

It’s exciting that we have made it here so quickly. It’s only our second year with the program at Florida Gulf Coast. We never had a timetable as a coaching staff. When I first got the job in April 2011, I just told my staff I have a five-year contract and there’s no pressure to win right away, but we need to make improvements in this program quickly. I expect our staff to show up every day and every week just trying to make this program a better place, whether that’s with recruiting, academics, getting involved with the community or the student body, player development on the court or our team development.

@claytravisbgidAndy Enfield and family. twitter.com/KennyLockhart1…

— Bubba Lockhart (@KennyLockhart15) March 20, 2013

This week will be special. None of our players have been to the NCAA tournament so we’ll try to get them ready mentally, but when we get there, I want them to have fun and enjoy the experience whether we win or lose. However far we advance or don’t advance, it’s something I want them to remember for the rest of their lives and take with them.

We have a great challenge in front of us on Friday when we go up against Georgetown, but I believe our players are prepared.

We had a challenging schedule early in the year. We played VCU, Miami, Duke, Iowa State and St. John’s. Georgetown is a tremendous basketball team. They have great players and an excellent coach. We understand how good the Hoyas are, but we’ve also played against teams just like Georgetown early in the season.

I think the way we played in the Atlantic Sun Tournament gives us confidence. We won 12 out of our last 14 games, played exceptionally well down the stretch. The Miami win, which many people will talk about with our team, was a long time ago. It seems like years ago even though it was a couple months ago; however, we understand we can beat a top-tier team in the country if we play well and Georgetown is no exception.

We were fortunate enough to play a team very similar to the Hoyas in our conference championship. Both Mercer and Georgetown are top 10-15 in the nation in scoring defense. Their styles are similar with their defense and their offensive execution.

Georgetown likes to slow the game down and we’ll try to push it, but the Hoyas are great at what they do. Only four teams all season have topped 70 points against them. Mercer gave up 57 points a game and we scored 88. If we can speed the tempo up and run at opportune times, that will be very important for our chance to win the game.

In the half court, we don’t have any back-to-the-basket big men like an Indiana or Duke. Our big men are tall, athletic, they’re fast, they jump, they have long arms, but we’re not a physical back-you-down team that’s going to score in the paint over people. We’re going to use our speed and our athleticism kind of like a Tyson Chandler mode. We’re looking to run our style and we’re not going to change. This is who we are. We’re built for an up-tempo style of play. If it takes us a little longer to get a good shot off, that’s okay as long as we get open shots.

The one player I’ve been asked about lot this week is Otto Porter, and it’s hard to prep for Otto Porter. He’s the Big East player of the year. He’s a potential lottery pick in the NBA Draft. We just have to understand that they have four other guys on the court who are pretty good too. You can’t just concentrate on one player. You have to look at their whole team and try to play team defense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kaw-8yqkaiM

We are ready for the moment. We didn’t know how long it would take for us to be successful. The fact that it happened in two seasons I’m ecstatic about for our players and our university, but our staff hasn’t changed. We’ll continue to have the same mentality going forward.

Florida Gulf-Coast (11-6, 3-1 A-Sun) at USC Upstate (8-7, 2-0)

Jan. 10, 2013, 7:00 p.m.

Spartanburg, S.C., G.B. Hodge Center (1,000)

History Of The Rivalry

SPARTANBURG, S.C.--Thursday night offers an opportunity for the USC Upstate men's basketball program to offer a good showing with a victory in its first home conference game in front of what promises to be a healthy turnout of students and alumni packed inside the cozy confines of the G.B. Hodge Center Thursday night.

The opponent—Florida Gulf-Coast—also offers the Spartans what may be the most rewarding of opportunities in sports—redemption. 

Let's rewind to Feb. 23, 2012, with the venue being the same one in which the two teams will duke it out on Thursday night. 

Plenty was on the line for both the Spartans and Eagles.

Upstate had a chance to clinch a seed and a bye in the opening round of the 2012 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Tournament. FGCU was just looking to qualify for the postseason tournament and, like Upstate, ended up doing so in its first season of eligibility following the NCAA's mandated four-year transition from Division II to Division I.

Preseason Player of the Year Torrey Craig's tomahawk jam as time expired set off wild celebrations in the crowd, as Upstate posted an 87-74 win over the Eagles to move on to the conference tournament in its first season of eligibility. Meanwhile, FGCU would have to wait on its status. After Mercer upended Lipscomb that same night, the Spartans knew they would be making the trip to Macon, GA., for the 2012 A-Sun Tournament. 

The Spartans had already claimed another meeting between the two earlier in the 2011-12 season, an 80-75 win at Alico Arena in Fort Myers. This time they used a school-record—in the Division I era—15 triples. Craig and eventual A-Sun Freshman of the Year Ty Greene each had career-high nights, with 30 and 22 points, respectively, thereby helping the Spartans to the 13-point win. 

As fate would have it, and despite losing their final two conference games, FGCU received some help in other league games, and the Eagles garnered the No. 6 seed for the tournament. This meant the Eagles would open the tournament in a Thursday night clash against No. 3 seed USC Upstate, setting up the unique scenario of two conference tournament rookies facing each other in the quarterfinals of the league tournament.

On Mar. 2, the Spartans and Eagles laced up once again as foes on the A-Sun hardwood, only this time there was much more at stake. This time it was a different FGCU team the Spartans encountered, and one that was tenacious on the defensive end of the floor. The Spartans simply sizzled from the perimeter en route to a 71-61 win at Mercer's Hawkins Arena/University Center. 

It was the beginning of a memorable tournament run for the Eagles, as the league tournament newbie made its way to the title game before running out of gas against former league power Belmont. It was a bittersweet end to what had been the most remarkable turnaround story in Division I college basketball in 2011-12, with the Spartans bowing out of the tournament with a 20-12 mark.

Upstate would, of course, get an invite to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, where it opened with a win over Kent State before bowing out in the next round with a loss at Old Dominion. 

In the A-Sun quarterfinal matchup between the two last season, in which the Eagles got their first Division I conference tournament win, FGCU placed five players in double figures and shot 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from beyond the arc, while holding Upstate to just 31.9 percent (22-of-69) from the field and just 23.8 percent (5-of-23) from three-point range. 

After seeing Craig post a career-high 30-point effort against them a little over a week earlier, the Eagles limited the A-Sun Player of the Year to just 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-of-9 from three-point range. The Eagles were also able to frustrate Greene, who was held to 10 points on 3-of-14 from the field and just 1-of-6 from three. Greene had come into the contest leading the A-Sun in three-point field goal percentage, hitting at nearly 44.0 percent entering tournament play.

Meanwhile, FGCU was able to spread the wealth offensively in that quarterfinal win. The European connection of Christophe Varidel and Filip Cvjetcanin combined for 23 points (Varidel: 14 pts, Cvjetcanin: 11 pts) off the bench, including hitting six of the team's nine triples in the contest to give the Eagles offense a huge lift. 

Though the Spartans went on to extend their season with another first for the program, the sting of defeat in the opening round of the league tournament didn't wear off during the offseason. 

That Feb. 23 matchup last season was a vivid reminder of what college basketball is all about, complete with rowdy hecklers right behind the FGCU bench and their head coach, Andy Enfield.

Thursday night's A-Sun clash offers that opportunity for a team to right a previous wrong against a rival. That chance is summed up in one word: redemption.

Thursday night will offer the first of two opportunities this season for Upstate to capitalize on this opportunity, and 24 hours from now, we will know if redemption is indeed the order of the evening, or if the Spartans will again suffer defeat by an encore performance by the Eagles.

Notes You Need to Know

• Upstate and Florida Gulf Coast will be facing each other for the 11th time in series history, with FGCU holding a narrow 6-4 edge. 

• FGCU was picked to finish third in the preseason media and coaches' polls, while Upstate was picked to finish second in both.

• FGCU's only loss was against league-favorite Mercer, which downed the Eagles 77-70 in overtime, avenging a 2012 A-Sun Semifinal Tournament loss (62-58) to the Eagles. 

• FGCU claimed one of two wins for the league against ACC competition from the Sunshine State this season. The Eagles were 63-51 winners over Jim Larranaga's Miami Hurricanes. The other win for the A-Sun against a Sunshine State ACC foe was Mercer's 71-56 win over defending ACC Tournament champion Florida State.

• FGCU head coach has a familiarity with ACC basketball, having served as an assistant under Leonard Hamilton for five years at Florida State and helping the Seminoles advance to the Sweet Sixteen twice during his time as an assistant coach in Tallahassee.

• The Spartans are led in scoring by reigning and preseason A-Sun Player of The Year junior forward Torrey Craig (17.0, 5.9 RPG), who ranks second in the conference in scoring to Kennesaw State's Markeith Cummings and his 17.2 PPG average. In the season opener against Saint Louis, Craig became the fastest player in school history to 1,000 points, completing the feat in just 65 games.

• Craig enters Thursday night's clash with the Eagles having scored in double figures in 32 of his last 36 games. He has scored double digits in 65 of his 79 career games.

• Northern Kentucky completed the rare feat of holding Craig under double figures this season, becoming the only team to make that claim, as the Norse held the junior from Great Falls, S.C., to just six points. 

• Craig has scored in double figures in 34 of 41-career games against conference foes. Two of the seven times Craig has been held under double figures scoring have come against FGCU. The only other current conference foe to hold Craig under double figures more than once in his career is Lipscomb. Craig also established one of his two career 30-point scoring performances in the 13-point win over the Eagles last season. He established a new career high with 31 points in a win earlier this season at the Hodge Center over Texas-San Antonio.

• All-conference guard Ty Greene is the only other Spartan averaging in double figures in the starting five, posting 11.3 PPG, and his 31 triples this season rank him sixth in the league in three-pointers made. Craig ranks just behind Greene with 30 trifectas on the season, and the lethal perimeter-shooting duo have combined for 61 of the team's 97 three-point field goals through the first 15 games this season.

• Upstate junior forward Ricardo Glenn has been a monster on the boards, as he comes in averaging a league-best 8.5 RPG this season. Glenn is also on the cusp of averaging in double figures, at 9.6 PPG. Glenn has four double-doubles this season to lead the club in that category, with his top performance being a 15-point, 12-rebound game in a late December win against Coastal Georgia. Glenn also ranks second in the A-Sun in field goal percentage, connecting at a sizzling 59 percent (59-for-100) this season.

• Upstate has one of the deepest teams in the league, with the likes of Adrien Rodgers, one of the league's top sixth men, averaging 9.9 PPG. Forward Jodd Maxey (6.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG) has been the model of consistency since transferring in from South Carolina State a couple of years ago, and his athleticism and intangibles have been a vital part of the team's successes in that time. Maxey currently ranks second in the A-Sun with 22 blocked shots this season.

• FGCU counters with a talented core of players of its own, including point guard Brett Comer (6.4 PPG, 3.4 RPG) and perimeter threats Bernard Thompson (14.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG ) and Sherwood Brown (14.0 PPG, 5.1 RPG). Forward Chase Fieler (10.5 PPG, 4.9 RPG) rounds out the Eagles' trio, averaging in double figures. Comer ranks second in the A-Sun in assists, dishing out 5.9 helpers-per-game, while Thompson leads the league in steals, with 3.9 thefts-per-game.  

• Forward Eric McKnight (7.0 PPG, 5.4 RPG), who transferred into the program from Iowa State, is one of the most athletic players in the Eagles' lineup, and he comes into the matchup ranking third in the league with 24 rejections (1.4 BPG). Forward Filip Cvjetcanin (6.4 PPG, 3.4 RPG) ranks second in the league in three-point field goal percentage, having connected on 37.3 percent (22-of-59). 

• Upstate has won 12 straight wins at the Hodge Center, spanning a full calendar year, with the last home setback occurring early last January against Mercer. The winning streak currently ranks fourth in the nation. 

• Upstate and FGCU are the top two scoring teams in the A-Sun, with the Eagles leading the league by posting 71.6 PPG, while Upstate is just behind in second, averaging 70.9 PPG.

Final Prediction: Upstate 76, FGCU 72