There’s a Kansas Jayhawks connection (two, actually) for Florida Atlantic at Final Four

Final Four weekend often brings a cast of college basketball’s greatest brands. Kansas won last year’s title among a group that also included North Carolina, Duke and Villanova.

Rarely is a Final Four contested without multiple versions of the game’s nobility.

When a program arrives at the biggest stage and talks about team bonding on bus trips and assistant coaches sharing an office, it can feel like breath of fresh air. Florida Atlantic, which plays in a tiny gym that seats just 2,900, fits that description.

The ninth-seeded Owls will meet San Diego State in front of 70,000 or so at Houston’s NRG Stadium on Saturday in the national semifinals. This makes Florida Atlantic the most unlikely Final Four qualifier since ...

Coach Dusty May prefers the Loyola comparison. The Ramblers of Sister Jean and Overland Park leaders Clayton Custer and Ben Richardson rolled to the 2018 Final Four. That team is easily recalled because it won that season at Florida, where May was an assistant coach.

They’re similar in a couple of ways. Florida Atlantic’s Conference USA this season, and Loyola’s Missouri Valley Conference in 2018, were strong leagues that rated just outside the power conferences. So there was a basis for the two teams’ NCAA Tournament success.

Also, both beat Kansas State in a regional final.

Here’s how they’re different. Loyola has a basketball history, including an NCAA championship. The list of great moments in Florida Atlantic’s Division I basketball history, which started in 1993, thus far begins and ends with this season.

“This is an opportunity for those outside the national spotlight to be on the big stage and show what they can do,” May said.

Before Loyola, programs like VCU, George Mason and Penn could be considered the most unlikely to reach the Final Four since bracket seeding started in 1979.

That George Mason team of 2006 was coached by Jim Larranaga, who has returned to the Final Four, this time with Miami. Florida Atlantic, located in nearby Boca Raton, Fla., is the first program since George Mason to reach a Final Four without previously winning an NCAA Tournament game.

“FAU’s run, yes, is very similar to George Mason’s because nobody anticipated it,” Larranaga said.

Even May wouldn’t have envisioned it after taking the job. He nearly backed out, revealing during the tournament that he believed he had made a mistake in accepting his first head-coaching position. He hadn’t seen the school’s gym or other facilities before making the decision.

During a CBS interview, he said he told his wife: “I just committed career suicide. I’m not good enough. I can’t do this.”

FAU had no track record of success. Among the Owls’ former coaches were Matt Doherty, the former North Carolina head coach and Kansas assistant coach; he stayed for one season (2005-06) before leaving for SMU.

He was followed by Rex Walters, elevated from his assistant’s role on the Owls’ staff. Walters, a former Jayhawks all-conference guard, remained at FAU for two seasons before becoming the head coach at San Francisco. Doherty (.536) and Walters (.484) had the two highest winning percentages among coaches at Florida Atlantic until May.

Two more coaches passed through the program after the KU connection, including Mike Jarvis, who had taken three other programs to the NCAA Tournament. But nothing was working at Florida Atlantic.

Even May’s first four seasons produced no championships or NCAA or NIT bids. But early recruiting successes eventually produced winning records and talented third-year players Johnell Davis, Alijah Martin and Vladislav Goldin, who started his career at Texas Tech.

This season started fast and hasn’t slowed. A 20-game winning streak began with a victory at Florida. The Owls climbed into the Top 25, rolled to the Conference USA regular-season and tournament championships and looked to catch a big break in the NCAA Tournament when top-seeded Purdue, FAU’s potential second-round opponent, was upset by Fairleigh Dickinson.

FAU survived Memphis in the first round and then won a tough battle with Fairleigh Dickinson. That sent them to the East Region in New York City, where surely the Owls’ magical run would draw to a close.

Instead, Florida Atlantic won a defensive struggle with more-physical Tennessee, then outlasted Markquis Nowell and Kansas State in a tense battle to become the most unheralded team in a surprising Final Four.

“I don’t believe anybody thought they couldn’t get here,” Larranaga said. “They have more than 30 wins.”

Thirty-five, to be precise, in 38 games, and now they have a chance to add to that total. If that happens, Florida Atlantic will become the first team seeded as low as ninth to play for the NCAA championship.

“I think it’s great for the game to have new faces, new people on the scene,” May said. “I think it’s really cool.”