Coach Dusty May not focused on FAU's historic win streak: 'It's lost on me' | D'Angelo

BOCA RATON — If you're wondering when the college basketball world will catch on to Florida Atlantic and the best start to a season in program history ... Don't.

Because not even Owls coach Dusty May is getting caught up in what has been a magical run.

The Owls have won a school-record 14 consecutive games, which is the second-longest winning streak in the country — not the state, not Conference USA, but the more-than-350-programs in Division I — behind Charleston's 16 in a row.

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This week, after that streak was put in jeopardy Wednesday at FIU before FAU rallied from a seven-point deficit late and pulled out a 77-73 overtime victory , May needed some confirmation.

"I said, 'We really won 14 games in a row?'" May said Friday about his team that is 15-1, 5-0 in C-USA. "It's lost on me. It's so unimportant to me right now and to the staff. We feel good about the performance of our guys, and then we turn the page to the next opponent, and it keeps you grounded."

A few other things that will keep May grounded:

A Saturday home game against North Texas, which is looking to avenge a 50-46 home loss to FAU in late December. The Mean Green (14-3, 5-1) have won four straight since and clearly are the biggest threat at this point to FAU in C-USA.

And this program's past has not been a source of pride for this athletic department, despite a parade of such recognizable coaches such as Sidney Green, Matt Doherty, Rex Walters, Mike Jarvis and Michael Curry.

Owls are not used to winning

May took over a program five years ago that had five winning seasons in its 25-year history and none in the previous seven.

FAU has not had a losing record since.

May started the rebuild with a 17-16 record in 2018-19 and improved to 19-15 a year ago. Those four years have led to this: a winning streak in year five that started when the Miami Dolphins were leading the AFC East.

"We felt like a lot of things went wrong for us last year to lose some games," May said. "When you win 19 and you dropped three or four you probably deserved to win, now you're looking at a 22-, 23-win season.

"Now this year, there's probably even greater expectations. But what happened was it caused our guys to be more determined and focused to have a special season."

May mostly has stuck to a nine-man rotation that includes transfers from Connecticut, Texas Tech, Minnesota and Holmes Community College in Mississippi; three players from Florida high schools, including former Palm Beach Lakes standout Giancarlo Rosado; two players born in Mississippi; and leading rebounder, 7-foot-1 Vladislav Goldin, who was raised in Nalchik, Russia.

"The right mix of guys," said Michael Forrest, a fifth-year guard from Pompano Beach's Blanche Ely High School where he was the Broward County Player of the Year. "Everyone's bought into the system. Everyone loves playing with each other and everyone trusts they are going to make the right plays."

Forrest is the glue. FAU was not his preference before his parents talked him into visiting the school after May was hired. "Loved it," he said.

"He was really genuine with everything he was saying," Forrest continued. "He told me straight up he had some players coming in and we're trying to rebuild the program. I just believed in him in what he told me. Other coaches weren't as genuine as he was."

Now Forrest sees that coming to fruition after what he said "took some patience." And he's the one player May credits with helping develop the culture and belief that something like this would happen.

Forrest started every game last season. This year, he's come off the bench in every game he has played and is one of seven players averaging at least 19½ minutes.

Forrest is third in scoring with 10.6 points per game, behind Alijah Martin (13.2) and Johnell Davis (11.4).

"Mike is extremely unselfish," May said. "There's no one that that's had a bigger, I guess, fingerprint on our success than Mike."

May coached for AD's brother at Florida

Brian White had good intel on May when he was looking to make his first significant hire after taking over as FAU's athletic director in March 2018. May was on Mike White's staff at the University of Florida for three years. Mike is Brian's brother.

May, 46, had never been a head coach but was an assistant at four schools before joining Mike White's staff. Just as important to May's basketball development was spending four years as a student manager for Bob Knight while he attended Indiana University.

May was asked what kind of influence Knight had on his coaching career.

"I can't even put it into words because of his presence in the state of Indiana when you're growing up," he said. "He is a bigger-than-life figure."

Despite the winning streak, FAU remains a mystery nationally. This team is all over the board when it comes to metrics.

The Owls are 14th in the NCAA Net Rankings, 55th in the Basketball Power Index (BPI), anywhere from 107th to 255th in strength of schedule, 17th in strength of record.

The Owls made school history a week ago when they appeared under "others receiving votes" in the Associated Press poll for the first time. They were 25th on three ballots. This week they were on 19 ballots and as high as No. 23, and came in at No. 28 overall.

And the students are starting to notice. The largest home crowd during the May era was a year ago when the Owls drew 2,772 against Miami, losing 68-66 to a team that advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before being eliminated by eventual national champion Kansas.

The Owls came close to that number a week ago when 2,561 witnessed an 88-86 victory over Alabama-Birmingham that was played before all the students returned from winter break.

The showdown with North Texas could set a new mark in the May era.

"It feels good we're getting recognition and to be one of the best teams in the country, but it's about the next game," Forrest said. "We got to continue building on what we have."

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dusty May has FAU basketball on cusp of first-ever Top 25 ranking