

Just the Eagles, who come from a school that only opened in 1997, became eligible for the NCAA tournament last year, laid waste to Georgetown and San Diego State, and apparently has more high-flying talent than your normal NBA Slam Dunk Contest and more chutzpah than the rest of the tournament field put together.

On Sunday, FGCU became the first 15th seed to ever move to the Sweet 16 -- and if you watched that procession of lob dunks and celebratory shimmies, you can easily imagine this trip going on and on.

So let's figure out what's left for FGCU and who's out there to try to stop them from becoming the highest seed to advance to a Final Four ... or more.

First, let's just make it clear: Florida Gulf Coast is obviously the most talented 15th seed ever and probably could match rosters with a lot of 5 and 6 seeds, to be honest. How this happened, I do not know.

But this is a great story because FGCU was 59th out of 68 teams in the NCAA's true seeding, and they're making distinguished programs look like junior colleges.

It's about Sherwood Brown, Brett Comer and Chase Fieler going full tilt on every play, it's about coach Andy Enfield orchestrating the madness, and, yes, it helps that he's married to a former supermodel.


The Eagles are what the tournament is about, especially now that the talent is so spread out, now that so many top teams can't seem to shoot or pass, and the teams with a few playmakers, guts, and total cohesion can come out of nowhere.

Even from Fort Myers, Florida.

So what could stop them? First, there's Florida on Friday in the regional semi, which would be a tense, no-win situation for the Gators, no question.

If the Gators beat down FGCU, they're ruining a dream. If Florida loses, it's an all-time party all around Eagle Nation.

Florida is an incredible defensive team that just ground down Minnesota, but San Diego State is a good defensive team, too, and FGCU turned that game turned into something ridiculous.

If the Eagles get past Florida, they'd either face Michigan or Kansas, who play in the other South semifinal.

The Wolverines put on one of the most thorough team performances of the tournament to annihilate VCU on Saturday; I think Michigan would be a tougher matchup for FGCU than Kansas would.

And Kansas has been a wobbly No. 1 seed, looking not so great against Western Kentucky the whole game and for a half against North Carolina.

Mitigating factor: If one of these teams is the last thing standing between FGCU and a Final Four berth, I think the crowd in North Texas might be wildly pro-Eagles for the first time in history.

In the Final Four, the South winner plays the East winner, and that could be Indiana, Syracuse, Marquette or Miami.

For the purposes of this column, I'll say it'll be Indiana -- and if FGCU happens to get this far, I think the Eagles are going right through the Hoosiers and into the national title game.

There's where it stops, though, even in FGCU Dream land. In the last game, if it gets that far, I think it'll be either Louisville or Michigan State as the last barrier, and the Eagles are not getting past that one.

It's incredible that we can even take it this far, and more incredible that I think it's possible. Well, now I do.

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