It sounds clichéd to talk about “March Madness” and “Cinderella” candidates. But it’s what makes the NCAA basketball tournament worth watching for so many of us. And Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers has to be the ultimate Cinderella. It opened in 1997 and only began playing at the Division I level last year. Five of its home games drew less than 1,000 fans. Now the Eagles are the first 15 seed ever to make the “Sweet 16.”
And one more Cinderella touch for FGCU: During the regular season it lost to Lipscomb University, a 4,200-student, private Christian school in Nashville. Moreover, it wasn’t a fluke. FGCU lost to Lipscomb twice. But then the Eagles knocked off Georgetown and San Diego State in the first two tournament rounds and play the Florida Gators tonight on national TV in front of millions of basketball lifers and incorrigible Cinderella fans. Sorry, Gators; go, Eagles.