HOUSTON — The first adjective that came to mind was incredible.
Then miraculous followed by amazing.
“Maybe that’s the best word,” Mike Jarvis told The Post, when asked to describe Florida Atlantic’s stunning run to The Final Four.
The former St. John’s coach understands better than most how difficult a job Florida Atlantic is, and how shocking it is for the ninth-seeded Owls to be among the last four teams standing.
Jarvis coached Florida Atlantic for six seasons, from 2008-14.
He was the last man to win 20 games in a single year at the Conference USA school before Dusty May guided the Owls to a program record 35 wins this winter.
“The reasons why Coach May [should be] be the National Coach of the Year is it’s an incredibly difficult job, as are most jobs at that level,” Jarvis said. “With the budget that you have, with the facilities that you have, with the fact that usually you have to play a lot of buy games, which means you get a lot of losses because you’re playing against teams you probably have no business playing against, and that in turn destroys a lot of kids’ confidence.”
Living now in Boynton Beach, Fla., the 77-year-old Jarvis still follows the program and goes to a few games each season.
The biggest change he has noticed since his time there is the leadership at the school.
Athletic director Brian White has engineered the Owls’ upcoming move to the American Athletic Conference and has made facilities upgrades with much more on the way.
He also hired May, an assistant at Florida at the time, in 2018, and the two sides are expected to agree on a new long-term extension after this weekend, May said.
“Now they have a guy who I think understands what it’s all about,” Jarvis said, referring to White. “I think he understands what it’s all about. He hired a really quality young coach who has come in and done an amazing job.”
May hasn’t had a losing season yet, though he hadn’t won more than 19 games before this year.
He has been able to keep his entire core together, no easy feat in the transfer portal era.
This winter, Florida Atlantic broke through in a major way. It was nationally ranked for the first time in program history and beat in-state powerhouse Florida on the road.
A lot has gone right in this run. Purdue became just the second No. 1 to lose to a No. 16 when it fell to Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round, setting up Florida Atlantic with a much easier second-round game.
It took advantage, then outplayed No. 4 Tennessee in the Sweet 16 and No. 3 Kansas State in the Elite Eight.
“Purdue lost, and that in itself was huge,” said Jarvis, who coached at St. John’s from 1998-2003. “You have to be good, you have to be playing well, you have to be healthy and you have to have luck on your side. All of those things went FAU’s way.”
Even so, it’s an incredible story.
Before this March, Florida Atlantic had never won an NCAA Tournament game.
Now it is two wins away from what would be the most unlikely national championship in college basketball history.
“If someone said this could happen,” Jarvis said, “I wouldn’t have believed them.”
Three keys: Florida Atlantic vs. San Diego St.
Dealing with pressure
Neither program has been to this point before.
This is all new.
The hype, the media obligations, playing under the microscope that is the biggest stage of college basketball in a monstrous dome such as NRG Stadium.
The team that handles that the best, and doesn’t need time to adjust once the ball goes up, may be the one that moves on.
Battle in the middle
The unsung hero of Florida Atlantic’s Elite Eight upset of Kansas State was Vladislav Goldin, the 7-foot Russian who produced 14 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks and two assists in controlling the paint.
It won’t be nearly as easy against San Diego State’s Nathan Mensah, the two-time Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year.
The 6-10 Mensah anchors the Aztecs’ fourth-ranked defense in terms of efficiency.
Matt has to be the man
San Diego State has survived despite leading scorer Matt Bradley’s shooting woes.
The team’s lone double-figure per-game scorer, he is averaging just six points on 22.2 percent shooting over the last three NCAA Tournament games.
It’s hard to see the Aztecs advancing to the national championship game unless the senior guard finds his stroke.
