Florida Gulf Coast University, a school open to students barely 16 years, is now the first 15 seed to reach the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16. FGCU advanced by beating San Diego State by a score of 81 to 71 on Sunday night.
"Our goal was to make history and we did it," FGCU coach Andy Enfield told The Associated Press.
FGCU is in Fort Myers, on the southwest coast of Florida, and opened up in 1997. The Associated Press reported that FGCU wasn't even eligible for postseason play until 2012. According to FGCU's website, the university includes six colleges: art and science, education, health, professional studies, business and engineering. It offers 52 undergraduate degree programs to 11,279 undergraduate and 1,376 graduate students. About 92 percent of FGCU students come from Florida.
San Diego State Coach Steve Fisher actually has a condominium in Fort Myers Beach, the New York Times reported, which is also in southwest Florida and in the same county as FGCU. The familiarity ended up not helping on Sunday.
"They play with a swagger, and they have a right to do that," Fisher said.
Sweet 16 play starts on Friday. FGCU next will face another team from the same state -- the University of Florida -- also on Friday. The winner of that game will move on to the Round of 8. Who will the state's governor root for? Gov. Rick Scott played it safe when asked on Monday, saying "I'll pick the school that has Florida in their name," the Naples Daily News reported.
Overall, the Sunshine State is having a great run in the NCAA tournament. On top of FGCU and UF's success, the University of Miami Hurricanes also made it to the Sweet 16. UM is scheduled to play on Thursday. UM will face Marquette.
