How much longer can FAU basketball extend historic win streak? | D'Angelo
What do basketball bluebloods Indiana, Connecticut, Duke and North Carolina each have in common?
All are looking up at Florida Atlantic in the Associated Press basketball rankings.
That's not to mention Kentucky, Villanova and Georgetown, none of whom is worthy of receiving even one vote.
Who is worthy? FAU. The Owls landed at No. 19 this week and were listed as high at No. 16 on two ballots.
That also makes FAU the highest-ranked team from the state, four spots ahead of No. 23 Miami.
These are the rewards when you have, at 20 games, the nation's longest winning streak.
“As we get more attention, as we win, you have a tendency to think ahead and focus on the wrong things, then you get shocked,” coach Dusty May said Saturday following a 70-63 victory over Western Kentucky. “We have to resist temptation to feel good about ourselves and stay hungry and humbled.”
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More Coverage:The longest winning streak in men's college basketball belongs to the Florida Atlantic Owls
That winning streak is on the line Thursday as FAU (21-1, 11-0 Conference USA) travels to UAB (15-7, 6-5) for a game that poses a real threat of FAU walking out with its first loss in 83 days. The Owls held off the Blazers one month ago for an 88-86 home victory.
Here are some facts about this historic run:
Streaking
For weeks, FAU was chasing Charlotte, which always was a game or two ahead. But on Saturday, the Owls knew if they took care of Western Kentucky they would take over the top spot after Charlotte lost to Hofstra, 85-81, snapping its 20-game winning streak.
FAU's streak includes 11 wins against C-USA teams, two each from the American East (Bryant, Albany) and Horizon (Detroit Mercy, Northern Kentucky), one each from the SEC (Florida), Sun Belt (South Alabama), Mid-American (Eastern Michigan), ASUN (Florida Gulf Coast) and one NAIA school (St. Thomas).
Poll position
The Owls first appeared in the "others receiving votes" on Jan. 2 when they were 12-1. They had three 25th-place votes.
The climb started, and two weeks later, FAU made history, being ranked inside the Top 25, a first for the program. The Owls were 16-1 when they landed at No. 24.
FAU climbed to No. 21 the next week before its current No. 19 spot.
Every voter had FAU in the Top 25, which can be said of just 16 teams.
Spreading it around
The Owls' core is nine deep, including seven players averaging at least 20 minutes per game.
Seven different players have led the team in scoring during the streak, paced by the team's leading scorer, Johnell Davis, who topped the scoresheet six times. He is followed by Alijah Martin (five), Nick Boyd (three), Michael Forrest (two), Vladislav Goldin (two), Jalen Greenlee (one) and Brandon Weatherspoon (one).
Davis is averaging 13.2 points.
Bench marks
FAU leads the country in bench scoring, averaging 38.2 per game, more than three points better than South Carolina State. Three of the Owls' top four scorers typically come off the bench, including Davis, who has started just four games.
Martin, the second-leading scorer at 12.1 points per game, has started five games and Forrest, the No. 4 scorer at 9.3 points per game, has yet to start a game.
A few close calls
FAU is outscoring opponents 74.3-60.5 during the streak. The Owls had one overtime scare, a 77-73 win at rival FIU in which they trailed by seven points with just more than four minutes to play.
Otherwise, FAU's closest games were that home win against UAB and the one that started the streak on Nov. 14 when the Owls overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to win at Florida, 76-74.
The biggest blowout in the streak: 85-53 over Florida Gulf Coast.
Looking ahead
FAU has nine conference games remaining in the regular season. UAB is one of three remaining against the four teams just below FAU in the C-USA standings. The Owls already have defeated second-place North Texas twice.
FAU hosts Rice (15-6, 6-4) on Feb. 9 and plays at Middle Tennessee (13-9, 6-5) on Feb. 16.
Let's have some fun and stretch this out.
Win out in the regular season and the streak is at 29. Win the C-USA Tournament and it stretches to 32.
Bring home the national championship and the season ends on a 38-game winning streak.
Hey, we can all dream.
Tom D'Angelo is sports columnist for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Historic FAU basketball ranked ahead of Indiana, Duke, North Carolina
