Will the FAU Owls Make it to March Madness?

We’re a little under a month away from the biggest tournament on the College Basketball calendar. March 14th will see the beginning of “March Madness” the epitome of competition for NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball. Only 64 teams will have the honor of duking it out and trying to make a run for the NCAA D1 basketball trophy. While the bracket hasn’t been finalized, a few teams are staking a heavy claim to their slot already!

This is the trophy that every team will be fighting it out for during March Madness.

Source: Sports Illustrated

Today we’re going to be taking a look at one team in particular, the Florida Atlantic Owls. The Owls have been having a pretty solid season so far and currently find themselves sitting on a 24-2 record, which includes a 14-1 conference record. With their closest rivals, the North Texas Mean Green sitting with a 12-3 record in the conference, it is looking pretty likely that the FAU Owls will win the Conference USA. So theoretically, we’ve answered the subject of this article already, if they win their conference they claim one of the automatic bids based on that win. But is it going to be that straightforward?

Before we look forward, we must look at how the Owls are performing. Prior to their 86-77 loss at UAB Blazers, the Owls were on a twenty game winning streak, they found themselves comfortably top of the Conference USA and more importantly, in the top 25 overall. Prior to this season, the Owls had never been a top 25 team, this season they have found them in and around the top 25 for most of the season which must be a fantastic feeling for everyone involved with the program. 

The Owls have 5 more games to play in the regular season, next up they have a game at Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders who are 4th in the Conference USA right now but have an overall record of 15-11; MTSU have lost their last 2 games and haven’t been looking particularly great. Next up the Owls host the UTSA Roadrunners who have been massively struggling this season, they’re 7-19 overall, propping up the rest of the C-USA with their 1-14 conference record. This one should be a cakewalk for the Owls. So far I have them 2-0 through their remaining 5 games.

Following this, they host the UTEP Miners who are 12-13, 5-9 in the conference with only UTSA performing worse than them in the division; again, this one should be pretty straightforward but it could be a game like this that causes the Owls to slip up when it matters most. But realistically, they should be 3-0 here. Their second last game of the regular season sees the Owls travel to the Rice Owls… Confusing, Owls vs Owls. The… Rice Owls are 5th in C-USA with a record of 7-7 but they’re 16-9 overall. The Rice Owls are a super mixed bag, and they were on a 4 game loss streak before winning their last game but, will they have enough to beat FAU? This could see FAU go 3-1 through their remaining 5 fixtures.

Finally, they travel to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. The Bulldogs find themselves sat 7th in C-USA with a record of 6-8 in the conference, 13-12 overall. I can’t particularly see them having enough to beat the Owls, especially if the Owls are still fighting for the top spot in the conference. Perhaps they’ll take their foot off a little and they could slip up at the last hurdle? But in my opinion, the Owls go 4-1 through their final 5 games, this would see them finish with a 28-3 record and more than likely top C-USA, this should grant them a guaranteed spot in March Madness!

FAU Owls kept their perfect home record which now stands at 15-0 after they beat Louisiana Tech 90-85 last time out. Impressive.

Source: PB Post

Now, with that being said, it’s time to take a look at some of the bookmakers’ favorites for the upcoming March Madness tournament. While it’s true that due to gambling laws in some states, the odds aren’t available for every single college that could potentially qualify, most of them are represented across most sportsbooks, and some of the missing ones will be added in should they make it to the big show due to how gambling laws work in some of the newly legalized states.

So taking a look at some of the best March Madness 2023 betting odds from around the internet for the FAU Owls, it would seem that across the board, they’re somewhere around the middle of the pack, a couple of months ago, they were +40000 to win the tournament, but right now they’ve dropped as far as +20000, those odds would see a return of $1005 from a stake of $5. Considering how well they’re doing I kind of expected them to have shorter odds really, but hey, a good team with odds like that isn’t the worst thing in the world!

While we’re here we may as well take a look at the top 5 favorite teams in the eyes of the sportsbooks. Starting with a 3 way tie for fifth place, we have Tennessee Volunteers, UCLA Bruins and the Arizona Wildcats who are all on +1400, returning $75. Then there are the Kansas Jayhawks at +1200 returning $65 in fourth place. Third place sees the Alabama Crimson Tide at +1000 returning $55. Second place are the Purdue Boilermakers at +900 returning $50 and finally in first place we have the Houston Cougars at +650, returning $37.50. All returns based on a stake of $5 and odds will be subject to change based on how teams are performing in the moment!

So Owls fans, how have you enjoyed this season so far? The team seems to be flying high right now but with 5 games remaining in the conference, including one against UTSA Roadrunners who are currently 1-14 in the conference right now, it’s looking increasingly likely that the conference will be theirs and if that ends up being the case, then the Owls will have more basketball to look forward to in March as they prepare for March Madness and the chance at naming themselves the best College Basketball team of the 2022-23 season!

As for the rest of you College Basketball fans, how are your teams doing this season? Are they looking like they will claim one of the automatic bids? Or are you going to be hoping and praying they get through in one of the remaining 32 slots? Even if your team doesn’t make it, will you still be enjoying March Madness as a neutral? Just under a month to go and we’ll have 3 weeks of the most competitive College Basketball we can feast our eyes on. Until next time folks, take care!