Fla. Gulf Coast makes history

PHILADELPHIA – Florida Gulf Coast went from shocking the college basketball world to downright impressing it. And the Eagles were smiling the whole time.

Playing relaxed, little-known FGCU beat San Diego State 81-71 on Sunday to become the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

"We don't take ourselves too seriously," said Florida Gulf Coast coach Andy Enfield, whose players tossed him in the air and poured water on him in a raucous celebration before his postgame interviews. "We try to have fun, get serious when we have to. Our goal was to make history, and we did it."

The next opponent for the upstart state school will be the main campus, third-seeded Florida, on Friday night in the South Regional semifinals in Dallas.

"We tried to scrimmage them early in the season in the preseason," Enfield said. "Now we get our shot."

Bernard Thompson had 23 points and Sherwood Brown 17 for FGCU (26-10), a 16-year-old school in just its second season of eligibility for postseason play.

In its first NCAA Tournament game Friday, the Atlantic Sun Conference champion busted brackets everywhere with an upset win over No. 2 Georgetown, a game the Eagles took control of with a 21-2 run in the second half. It went much the same way against San Diego State (23-11).

This time the run was 17-0, and Brown, who was saddled with foul trouble early in the second half, scored eight of the first 10 points.

When it was over, the Eagles led 71-52 with 4:19 to play, and the only decisions left were how the players and fans were going to celebrate.

Brown stuck out his tongue after every big basket, often in the direction of the hundreds of Eagles fans jammed into one section.

Even when the game was tight, he and his teammates looked as if they were glad to be on the court. The Eagles waved their arms and played along with a lively crowd that came to see an upset. There were big smiles and high-fives.

Kansas 70, North Carolina 58 in Kansas City, Mo. – Kansas got the best of 'ol Roy and his Tar Heels once again.

Behind the impassioned play of Travis Releford and Jeff Withey, the top-seeded Jayhawks (31-5) shook themselves out of a first-half slumber and blitzed the No. 8 seed Tar Heels (25-11) down the stretch.

Withey had 16 points and 16 rebounds, and Releford finished with 22 points for Kansas, which also knocked former coach Roy Williams' team out of the NCAA Tournament during the Jayhawks' 2008 title run and again last season, when Kansas marched to the Final Four.

Florida 78, Minnesota 64 in Austin, Texas – Mike Rosario scored 25 points, and the Gators (28-7) used an overpowering first half to roll past the Gophers (21-13) and into the round of 16 for third consecutive year.

Florida shot a blistering 65 percent in the first half and led by 21 by halftime.

• Read more articles by Jim O'Connell

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