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Florida Atlantic have won eleven straight. Naysayers – and there are always naysayers – looked at the quality of opponent. Sure, they said, they beat Florida but what of it? Well, the Owls went to Denton and beat North Texas at their own game. It was a rugged, ugly basketball game that had a lot of defense, a lot of bad shots, ugly calls, questionable refereeing, and clutch buckets.
Dusty May’s squad are real. They can compete with the top of the league. They proved it again. On a night where UTEP took UAB to double OT, and WKU and Middle dropped games against mid-tier league teams (CLT and Rice are not necessarily the top of the contender list) beating holders of three partial championships on their own court at heir own style has to mean something.
Last year in Boca Raton Mike Forrest missed something like three straight go-ahead buckets late in a show-us-something type of game. In this one he made clutch buckets. He hit a clutch free throw. It wasn’t easy – and NT’s Rubin Jones nearly ate him up and won a free throw one-and-one to possibly tie it but missed badly.
This was never about style, it was about result. FAU overcame a 9-point deficit with about four minutes left. In North Texas points, that is something like a 20-point comeback. North Texas it all the right notes until they couldn’t hit the closer type shots they have been known for. Is it the offense? Is it over-reliance on style or on Tylor Perry? It does not matter. FAU won, and they are feeling real good.
Elsewhere:
WKU lost to Rice at home, continuing a three-game losing streak. Things are dire.
UAB overcame an ugly performance that saw them get out hustled by UTEP, but KJ Buffen came up huge – scoring with 5.9 seconds left in OT and getting a block on the other end.
CLT put a clinic on vs Middle and look very good so far. (It is very early)
Way too early in the week power ranking:
- FAU 2-0 in league play, and slayed a Mean Green demon
- UAB 2-0. Look like they might get caught napping and that is concerning.
- NT 1-1. Looked good until they didn’t. Hard to see most of the league overcoming that defense, though.
- CLT 1-1. Good win vs Middle
- Middle 1-1. I like this team, but they aren’t shocking anyone anymore
- Tech 1-1. Good win vs a bad UTSA squad.
- Rice 1-1. Look at Rice stealing a win on the road!
- UTEP 1-1. It will take some getting-used to seeing an entirely new cast of Miners out there. They played hard but didn’t have the quality to end it in Birmingham.
- WKU 0-1. What is going on, y’all?
- FIU 0-1. They hurry up and lose.
- UTSA 0-2. Every game plan should be “no shots from outside 5-feet and we should win by 20”.