Dusty May downplays pressure of Final Four stage for Florida Atlantic

Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May downplayed the pressure of the Final Four as the Owls get set to take on San Diego State.

For the first time in school history, Florida Atlantic made it this far. In fact, the Owls never made it out of the first round until this season.

May was honest about the pressure surrounding Florida Atlantic in the Final Four.

“I think these two days are important just to get comfortable,” May said. “Any different environment or surrounding you want to acclimate yourself and feel more comfortable when it’s time to perform. I still don’t think our guys are going to be fazed by the 70-plus-thousand the lights, the attention, because they love ball. They love to compete. And they have a lot of faith in their teammates. I think it’s what’s gotten us to this point.

“We have a lot of guys who are really good players, and some of them are exceptional on given nights. So I’m very confident they’re going to show up and do what they’ve done for the last, I guess, close to 40 games when you consider exhibitions and scrimmages.”

May is in his fifth season with the program. Based on these results, he could very well be poached by a blue blood at some point.

Dusty May keeps Final Four in perspective

May reflected on his time at Florida Atlantic from when he first arrived on campus.

“Well, I’ve bought a lot of homes in this profession,” May said. “I’ve had buyer’s remorse before. I don’t think it was buyer’s remorse. It was a lot that went into it. Number one, I was incredibly happy at Florida working with the staff I was working with, coaching the players we were coaching. My family was ingrained in that community. I had moved my kids all over the country.

“So there were a lot of external variables. And then the people, the area, the campus at FAU, it blew me away how impressive it was. And then when we went to the other side of the campus, at that time, it was the complete opposite end of the spectrum. I think it’s just a lot of raw emotions and variables went into that moment. And fortunately my wife is tough as nails and she said, You’ll figure it out, get to work, or something along that. You made the decision, it’s now time to live with it. At that point it was take a deep breath, refocus, figure out what was next.”

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Florida Atlantic hits the court Saturday at 6:09 p.m. ET against San Diego State for a spot in the national championship.