LOOKING GOOD: Florida Golf Coast’s Chase Fieler throws down a highlight-reel dunk, much to the pleasure of FGCU coach Andy Enfield’s wife, former supermodel Amanda Marcum (inset). (
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CHASE-ING A DREAM: Chase Fieler shares a warm embrace with Sherwood Brown after Florida Gulf Coast’s win over San Diego State sent the Eagles to the Sweet 16, becoming the first No. 15 seed to make it that far in the NCAA Tournament. (AP)
PHILADELPHIA — Before he excused himself, Bernard Thompson felt he needed to make a public service announcement:
“Dunk City is coming to Arlington, so everyone get ready.’’
Yep, hide the high seeds because No. 15 Florida Gulf Coast is going to Texas, bursting into the Sweet 16, aiming to do to in-state powerhouse Florida what it did last night to San Diego State, what it did two nights earlier to dazed and confused Georgetown.
Thompson and his merry band of hoopsters had just put the finishing touches on another dazzling display that busted brackets, stunned the basketball establishment and might have bent a few rims. Taking this NCAA Tournament by storm, seemingly out of nowhere and actually coming out of Fort Myers, Fla., Florida Gulf Coast University used a second-half burst to devastate poor San Diego State 81-71 in a South Region game at Wells Fargo Center.
“As everyone has seen, we’re doing something special out here,’’ Eagles do-everything guard Sherwood Brown said. “We’ve been told this is what college basketball is all about.’’
Actually, this has never been done before. For the first time ever, a No. 15 seed is headed to the Sweet 16. Now FGCU (26-10) gets a shot at knocking off No. 3 seed Florida at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The Eagles, in Division I just six years, routed No. 2 seed Georgetown and then did the same to San Diego State, running and gunning as their delirious fans chanted “Dunk City’’ and the players waved and exhorted the crowd with freewheeling abandon.
Thompson led FGCU with 23 points. Brown, despite foul trouble, had 17 and played like a man around the rim. Brett Comer, the feisty point guard, had 10 points and 14 assists, several of them lob passes for slams that turned FGCU’s two games here into a freewheeling festival.
“It’s like they get upset when we just get layups instead of dunks,’’ junior high-jumper Chase Fieler said. “We don’t want to dunk every time — the rims aren’t that sturdy.’’
“We don’t take ourselves too seriously,’’ coach Andy Enfield said. “Coming into this tournament we knew no one knew who we were.’’
The game was seized in a breathtaking span of 5:36, started harmlessly enough with one free throw by Brown and ended with one Thompson foul shot. Those were the bookends of a 17-0 run that featured some of the most entertaining offensive fireworks this side of the old Runnin’ Rebels or Showtime Lakers. The Eagles seem to bask in the glow of putting on a show, acting as if this were a summer league game and all that was at stake were a few cold ones for the winners.
“I call those ‘blank moments,’ ’’ said Christophe Varidel, who had 11 points. “You’re just rolling and your mind just goes blank.’’
By now, the legend is growing of this largely unknown 21-year-old school in Fort Myers — San Diego State coach Steve Fisher called it “Florida State’’ after the game — loaded with players few other programs wanted and a coach who made millions on a start-up company and married a supermodel. Now the nation is seeing these guys can play.
“I want all our players to take a couple of deep breaths and say ‘Wow, we’re in the Sweet 16, we’ve accomplished a lot,’ ” Enfield said.
More than anyone could have possibly expected. And the show rolls on.
“We just want to make history, really,’’ Thompson said.
They already have.
paul.schwartz@nypost.com