PHILADELPHIA – Before he excused himself, Bernard Thompson felt he needed to make a public service announcement:
“Dunk City is coming to Arlington so everybody be ready.’’
Yup, hide the high seeds because Florida Gulf Coast is coming to Texas, bursting into the Sweet 16, aiming to do to in-state powerhouse Florida what it did Sunday 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 stunning second-half burst to devastate poor San Diego State 81-71 in a South Regional 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 15 seed is headed to the Sweet 16, as FGCU (26-10) gets a shot at knocking off No. 3 seed Florida at Cowboys Stadium.
The Eagles, in Division I only 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 they waved and exhorted the crowd with joyous abandon.
Thompson led FGCU with 23 points and 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 resulting in the lob-pass 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.’’
At the finish, when San Diego State (23-11) was buried under the avalanche of a dynamic 17-0 second-half run, the Eagles erupted in one of the most spontaneous and emotive on-court celebrations this tournament has ever seen. They waved their arms to the fans, danced and hugged. Christophe Varidel, who came off the bench to nail a pair of 3-pointers in the first half and then scored five points with Brown on the bench in the second half in foul trouble, bounded into the stands and the native of Switzerland draped himself with a Swiss flag. Only the presence of Creighton trying to form layup lines for the second game of the night nudged FGCU off the court.
“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 don’t merely thrive on the run, they bask in the glow of putting on a show, waving to the crowd, spinning in delight, acting as if this was a summer league game and at stake were a few cold ones for the winners.
“I call those ‘blank moments,’” Varidel said. “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 them “Florida State’’ after the game — loaded with players few other programs wanted and a coach who made millions in a startup company and married a blonde supermodel. Now the nation is seeing that 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.