No Final Four hangover: FAU posts easy win over Eastern Michigan in home opener | D'Angelo

BOCA RATON — The banner hangs above the court at the Baldwin Arena on the campus of Florida Atlantic University.

MEN'S BASKETBALL. FINAL FOUR. 2023.

And on Tuesday, an FAU record crowd of 3,161 showed its appreciation for the most improbable run through March Madness in recent college basketball history, one that ended in the Final Four, one game shy of playing for a national championship.

The student section was nearly filled an hour before tipoff, and the energy was unlike anything ever seen or heard at an Owls home game with "FAU, FAU" chants only outdone by the singing of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA." FAU flags and big head cutouts greeted Dusty May's team as it took the floor for its home opener against Eastern Michigan, one that went as expected.

And just maybe we should have expected exactly what we got, especially after many of those students camped out overnight Monday outside the arena to get their hands on tickets. The excitement for this night has been building.

"It was impressive," May said. "There was a buzz an hour before the game. Our guys have created a heck of an environment here."

How impressive? Forward Giancarlo Rosado, a junior who starred at Palm Beach Lakes, remembered playing in front of a mainly empty gym just two years ago.

"Maybe 500 people were here," he said. "It's a testament to our culture and it's a testament to what we've built here in Boca."

It's a testament to winning, which is what FAU (2-0) continues to do early in the Year 1 A.F.F. (after the Final Four).

Vladislav Goldin's dunk gets the party started

Vladislav Goldin's dunk off a long lob pass from Nick Boyd just four seconds after Goldin won the opening tip really got the party started at "The Burrow" and FAU kept it going all the way to the 100-57 final.

As the No. 10 team in the country playing against a team coming off an 8-23 season should do, FAU ended this early. The Owls led by 15 about five minutes into the game after making all but one of their first nine shots and that lead was stretched to 24 at the half, thanks to a Jalen Gaffney 3 at the buzzer.

The second half was basically a 20-minute highlight film.

For FAU, though, the entire game was a track meet with crowd-pleasing ally-oops sprinkled in among 13 3-pointers, four each from Bryan Greenlee and Brandon Weatherspoon.

"It's like throwing a rock in the ocean," Weatherspoon said about coming down on the wing and launching a 3.

Goldin's 19 points led six players in double figures. Brenen Lorient, new to a rotation that returned all but one player from last season, had 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting, mostly dunks that had those students a lot more excited than they are about next month's finals.

"He gives us something we don't have," May said. "Last year we had a nine-man rotation and probably seven of the guys were really similar. They could shoot, they could dribble. They were all playmakers.

"He gives us something completely separate and different than all those guards and he makes a shot and he can drive."

And he can dunk, as we witnessed Tuesday.

High expectations for No. 10 team in country

That heartbreaking 1-point loss to San Diego State in the national semifinal closed the book on the greatest season in FAU basketball history but opened the next chapter, one with high expectations and national attention, unlike anything we've ever seen in school history.

After all, we now live in a world in which FAU is ranked one spot behind Duke and ahead of bluebloods Kentucky, Michigan State, North Carolina, Villanova and about 335 other Division I teams.

But the reason that Final Four banner was securely in its place before the home opener was no accident. May is doing everything in his power to make sure this team moves on from 2022-23. Not forget a season that ended 35-4 and has students fighting off mosquitos to secure a ticket. Last season will always be celebrated, not only by the team but by the entire university, its supporters and alumni.

But for May, all the parades and proclamations, throwing out first pitches and posing for pictures, was fun for a few months, but when the team returned for 2023-24, it was time to turn the page.

This is why that banner was raised and the final celebration was held during Paradise Madness, FAU's version of Midnight Madness, which officially kicked off this season.

"When we tipped the ball off in Chicago (last week), it was very, very rewarding to see a group that could have been very, very fat and content to play even harder than they did the year before," May said. "That was the first indication this team is focused and determined to do some special things."

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And now FAU has started the season with two comfortable wins, including that 75-62 victory at Loyola Chicago. After another home tune-up against Bryant on Saturday, FAU is playing in several holiday tournaments before its inaugural game as a member of the American Athletic Conference on Jan. 2.

That includes the ESPN Invitational in Orlando on Thanksgiving weekend. FAU opens with Butler and then will play either No. 13 Texas A&M or Iowa State.

"Our lives have obviously changed because of what we did," Rosado said. "But the mentality never changed. We got back to work, we serve for each other and we will compete at the end of the day."

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FAU Owls set attendance record in first home game after Final Four run