It turns out that “mythical" Sun Belt Conference regular-season championship FAU won on Thursday isn’t so mythical after all.
 

Last week theSun Belt Conference emphatically said it did not recognize an overall regular-season conference champion and instead just awarded trophies to the division winners, and of course, the tournament champion.
 

Well, upon further review, Sun Belt Conference Associate Commissioner John McElwain just told me that the league does indeed award an overall regular-season title to satisfy the NIT’s automatic bid requirement.
 

I don’t know if it will matter to the team that it is getting a trophy or not, their celebration on the court was due to having the best conference record in the Sun Belt and winning the NIT bid. They know who the best team in the conference was this season – and apparently now the Sun Belt does, too.
 

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It’s never to early to look at possible matchups for Florida Atlantic in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and that picture became a little clearer after Saturday’s games.

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When news was leaking out that Miami AD Kirby Hocutt was on his way out of Coral Gables, I made sure I caught up with FAU AD Craig Angelos to ask him about his interest in the job.

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Once the buzzer sounded and Florida Atlantic defeated Troy and Thursday, the celebration was on – and it didn’t stop until a few minutes later when athletic department officials and security officers told a group gathered around coach Mike Jarvis to get off the court for another important event.

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Like former FAU quarterback Rusty Smith a year ago, Jeff Van Camp spent the better part of January and February tweaking his throwing motion.

Unlike Smith, Van Camp (photo by Ralph Notaro) will get to show off those changes at the NFL scouting combine.

“I talked to (Rusty) a little bit about it,” Van Camp told me earlier this week. “He basically told me it would be in my best interest to fix the to throwing arm as much a possible to let NFL teams see you were willing to work at it,”

The changes in Smith's throwing motion helped him become a sixth-round draft choice by Tennessee.

Van Camp is looking for similar success, and FAU fans may be able to judge his progress when he begins throwing at the combine on Thursday. The NFL network will televise many of the workouts.

Scouts, Van Camp hopes, will see a throwing motion that is more over-the-top, which will aid in accuracy. He had already been working on the change with quarterback coach Steve Calhoun in California prior to the Texas vs. The Nation All-Star game.

“I think that game really opened up my eyes that I need to get the elbow over my shoulder,” Van Camp said. “That's kind of the knock some of the scouts were saying was that I had kind of a low arm release. I really came back (to California) and worked  on that.”

As FAU fans know, Van Camp won't be the only Owl looking to impress NFL scouts this weekend. Wide receiver Lester Jean and tight end Rob Housler are are also going to be in Indianapolis.

“I know they are going to have  a great combine – they are just going to blow everyone away,” Van Camp said. “If I get a chance I'm going to do everything I can to throw to them because I pretty much know everything they are going to do on their routes.”

For Jean, the big test will likely be the 40 yard dash. He's been timed in the low 4.5s, but has been working with Ignition in Naples in an attempt to break into the 4.4s.

“I was just working on the drills because in the Shrine Game it was more football oriented, but in the combine it's more drills and different movements they want us to do,” Jean said. “My one goal is to be a top performer and have them talk good stuff about me. I don't want to have any negative stuff surrounding my name.”
 

Florida Atlantic athletic administrators have been told that Western Kentucky will likely be the Owls' opponent on Oct. 15 when FAU opens its new on-campus football stadium.

The Sun Belt Conference recently sent member schools a tentative schedule to review. If adjustments don't need to be made, the Hilltoppers will become the first school to travel to Boca Raton.

After playing its home games at Dolphin Stadium and Lockhart Stadium during the program's first 10 years, FAU is currently in the process of building a 30,000 seat stadium.

The tentative schedule will be finalized and announced by the Sun Belt Conference on Tuesday

FAU will begin the 2011 season on the road against Florida, Michigan St. and Auburn. The Owls will also play host to UAB  in November.

Are the Hilltoppers the ideal opponent to christen the stadium? Depends what you are looking for. They should be a beatable opponent, and it's always nice to open a new facility with a victory.

Western Kentucky is not exactly a marquee name, though. There isn't much FAU can do about that at this point without delaying the stadium opening until 2012 – and no one wants to do that. So you take what you are given.

Again, this is a tentative date and opponent, so there is still time for one or both to change. But the Hilltoppers appear likely to be the first to learn whether FAU will truly experience its first real home field advantage in program history.

Owl Links

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We have team coverage of FAU's 7-4 victory vs. No. 20 Miami. You can check out video highlights, a recap and post-game analysis by clicking here.

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The Sun-Sentinel, Miami Herald and University Press were also at the game.

The score wasn’t what FAU baseball fans would like to see, but even the outnumbered Owl supporters couldn’t find too much wrong with the atmosphere Tuesday at Roger Dean Stadium.

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It didn’t take long for the baseball season to get going.

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After leading Florida Atlantic to a three-game sweep of Hosfstra, Owls senior shortstop Nick DelGuidice was name the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday.

Delguidice, Grimmett Earn SBC Baseball Players of the Week Honors

NEW ORLEANS - Florida Atlantic’s Nick Delguidice and UALR's Nick Grimmett have been respectively named the Sun Belt Conference Player and Pitcher of the Week the league office announced on Monday afternoon.
 
DelGuidice was the leading catalyst during Florida Atlantic’s three-game season opening sweep of Hofstra as the senior shortstop went 9-for-12 with eight runs batted in and four runs scored. The Miami, Fla. native posted a .750 batting average in the three-game set, highlighted by a 5-for-5 showing with 5 RBI’s in Friday’s win. DelGuidice had an impressive 1.250 slugging percentage and reached base on 69 percent of his plate appearances.
 
He had two RBI’s as part of a 3-for-4 performance during Sunday’s series finale. Four of his nine hits went for extra bases and he drove in six of his eight runs with two outs.
 
In 7.2 innings of relief work in UALR’s 6-4 victory at Stephen F. Austin on Saturday, Nick Grimmett allowed just one hit while striking out three batters en route to his first win as a UALR Trojan. The Beggs, Okla., native entered the game with a one out and a runner on second in the bottom of the second inning, trying to preserve a 6-4 Trojan lead. Grimmett was able to get the Trojans out of the jam; forcing the third batter he faced into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
 
The junior struck out three and allowed just one hit over the next seven innings, doing his part to help the Trojans to their first win of the 2011 season.

Thanks to an unexpected result on Sunday, Florida Atlantic’s road to winning the Sun Belt Conference regular season title can be summed up simply.

If the Owls win, they are in – at least in the NIT should they lose in the Sun Belt Tournament.

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Even after Florida Atlantic lost two consecutive games coach Mike Jarvis didn’t want to hear any comparisons to last year’s team which ran out of gas at the end of the season.

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Middle Tennessee’s 62-58 loss to UALR gives Florida Atlantic the Sun Belt Conference East Division Championship regardless of the outcome of tonight’s game between FAU and FIU.

Could the champagne be popped or the nets cut down tonight in Miami vs. FIU?

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One of the reasons we enjoy sports is that the game provides participants with a respite from the happenings of their every day life.

For Ryan Garton the break from reality might be more welcomed than ever before.

Garton's aunt Florence, “Flo” Massaro, died unexpectedly shortly after the Owls opened their pre-season camp.

“She was like my second mom,” Garton said. “She's been there all my life. She's been to all my games. Every Friday she would drive down from Tampa. It's going to suck not to see her, but I know she'll be here for me every game - everywhere I go.”

Garton, who will be the Owls' opening-day pitcher tonight against Hofstra, has missed some practice time while attending funerals and memorial services in Florida and Pennsylvania.

FAU coach John McCormack has juggled the Owls practice schedule a little to try and accommodate Garton's baseball and familial needs.

“The support from my teammates and my coaches – I couldn't have asked for anything more,” Garton said last week, before heading to Pennsylvania. “Right now, I'm kind of not in reality after everything that happened.”

Garton has been back with the Owls all this week but he's still a little behind schedule. McCormack said on Wednesday that he expects Garton to be on a pitch count of around 50.

Left-handed JUCO transfer Josh Gonzaga will likely follow Garton in relief. Gonzaga was originally slated to start Sunday's game.

The Owls enter the weekend unsure of who their Sunday starter will be. Hugh Adams, Jake Meiers, Ahmed Garcia or Taylor Everist could get the ball. McCormack wants to see how many pitchers he uses in the first couple games before making a decision.

Owl Links

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Baseball season is upon us and we previewed the season-opening series against Hofstra by looking at the development of Garton.  ....We also provided this follow-up to Monday's Women's Professional Soccer blog, noting that the league released its schedule which officially stated that there will be a team playing its games on FAU's campus.

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The Maimi Herald had this story on Boca Raton's new soccer team. ...The Sun-Sentinel had this preview

Here's a quick update to the story we first told you about on Monday.

The Women's Professional Soccer league released its season schedule on Thursday and it contained this little nugget:

“The home venue for magicJack’s Washington Freedom will be Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. The team might play one or two of its home games in the Washington, D.C. area. “

The magicJack part of the name comes from a product invented by new owner Dan Borislow and is a change from the magicTalk name previously listed. It also appears the the club will be keeping the “Washington Freedom” part of the name – at least for now.

Judging by the schedule, which is listed below, the first opportunity for FAU fans see the team could be Saturday, April 23. The site for most of the magicJack's games is listed as TBA, so apparently there are still some details to be worked out.

FAU Athletic Director Craig Angelos told FAUOwlAccess.com over the weekend that is was likely the magicJack will play their home games at the FAU Soccer Stadium, which is located next to the football practice fields behind the Oxley Center. FAU will handle ticketing and game operations.

If all goes well, Angelos hopes to be able to build a larger stadium – one that could hold 5,000 fans – near the on-campus track.

2011 magicJack Season Schedule

Florida Atlantic’s basketball team mercifully gets a break tonight with a much-needed day off before playing its next game on Saturday against FIU.

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Florida Atlantic, picked to repeat as Sun Belt Conference champion, will have two of its games televised this season on the Sun Belt Network, which is carried on CSS.

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Sometime over the weekend, FAUOwlAccess.com reached another milestone.

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Florida Atlantic may be about to become the new home site of a professional football team. Actually, it's more like futbol. And this could turn interesting quickly.

FAU Athletic Director Craig Angelos told FAUOwlAccess.com that a team owner from the Women's Professional Soccer league is exploring the possibilities of having his team play its home games on FAU's campus.

And we're not talking next year, when the new football stadium is complete. He wants to play in Boca Raton for the upcoming season, which begins in April.

Dan Borislow recently brought the Washington Freedom and seems to have received permission to relocate the franchise to South Florida. Judging by the WPS schedule page, Borislow, a Palm Beach County resident who invented the MagicJack internet telephone connection, has apparently already renamed the franchise the magicTalk SC, after his company's latest product.

Borislow reportedly showed interest in playing at Lockhart Stadium, but has also met multiple times with FAU officials. Angelos said the plan would be to bring in additional seating to FAU's main soccer field (located next to the Oxley Center football practice fields), raising the capacity to the neighborhood of 3,000.

FAU would provide turnkey services, including ticket sales and event staffing. Angelos said he hopes the first season goes well enough to allow the creation of a new soccer stadium on campus - perhaps over near the track - that would seat about 5,000 and allow the magicTalk SC to consider FAU more of a permanent home.

If that happens, the FAU campus could become a major player in the South Florida soccer scene, providing a home for various youth and perhaps college tournaments. Along with raising FAU's prestige in the soccer community, the move could being added funds to the athletic department down the road. The plan sounds like it could be a winner for both parties, so we'll keep FAUOwlAccess.com readers updated on the progress.

Now, if Angelos could find a minor league baseball team willing to play in the Owls' current ballpark, the baseball team may finally get the much needed upgrades to their stadium, too.

Florida Atlantic may be on a losing streak for the first time since November and has lost three out of its last five games.

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There are plenty of signs on campus highlighting an upcoming basketball game at The Burrow.

It seems if Saturday’s game between FAU and Louisiana-Lafayette has been forgotten.

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It's far too early to panic, but it's not too early to at least worry about the way the FAU basketball team is playing.

Sure, the 10-2 conference record is best in the Sun Belt, but the team that has taken the floor in the past couple weeks isn't representative of the Owl squad that posted the majority of the 18 wins the Owls garnered so far.

Greg Gantt has struggled with the 3-pointer for much of the year, and it seems to be getting worse. I realize he's the reigning Sun Belt Player of the Week, but his job is to score. Last night he only took three shots – missing both attempts from behind the arc. His 3-point percentage on the season has dipped below 34, after connecting on 39 percent last year.

Kore White is playing more like Snow White – he's scored six points total in the Owls' past four games.

And as stagnant as FAU's offense has become, FAU coach Mike Jarvis seems to think the defense is worse.

I realize a loss to Denver, all-be-it by 27 points, is nothing to be ashamed of. The combination of their unusual offense and the altitude have helped the Pioneers win 15 straight at home. And FAU could have been suffering from a hangover following the emotional win over FIU on Saturday.

But the Owls didn't play very well against FIU either, needing to overcome a seven-point deficit in the final 1:10 to beat the Golden Panthers. FAU obviously didn't play well in its loss to Western Kentucky, and the victory over Middle Tennessee prior to that game wasn't worthy of a bookmark.

Which means the only noteworthy performance in the past five games might have been against North Texas, and even then the Owls needed a lockdown defensive effort late to seal the deal.

Yes, Denver, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee and North Texas are four of the top five teams in the Belt (FAU is still No. 1). And FIU is a rival. Any one of those could have been tight. The concern, though, is not that FAU lost two, it's that they haven't played well in five.

Now the Owls have a long flight back to Boca Raton before Saturday's game against Louisiana-Lafayette, which enters The Burrow as one of the hottest teams in the Sun Belt.

Is all of the travel over the past half year finally having a cumulative effect on the Owls' legs? Are thoughts of last year's late-season collapse sneaking into some players' heads? Did the Owls peak too early?

FAU has four games remaining in the regular season – all against teams the Owls have already beaten. Facing ULL, FIU, Troy and South Alabama could be exactly what FAU needs to get rolling again heading into the Sun Belt tournament.

Until that happens, there will be reason for concern.

Owl Links

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We had the latest edition of our podcast, Owl Talk with Brian Rowitz with an interview with QB Jeff Van Camp. ...Needless to say, we also stayed up late to give readers coverage of the loss to Denver.

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The Sun-Sentinel had this take on the game

The construction site really is amazing – in the sense that it's beginning to look like a real FAU football stadium.

Snapped some shots while on campus today. Some of the framework for the south end zone bleachers, which I believe might be the student section, is now in place. It's kind if a “between a palm” look, but it works.

Here's a view from the other side:

The site is crawling with activity, as different parts of the stadium are beginning to take shape:

And those two towers continue to grow higher:

Construction on the new FAU football stadium continues to take gigantic steps each week. At the rate they are going, it's understandable why everyone is optimistic it will be read for next season.

Florida Atlantic's football team has been undergoing its voluntary workouts for about a month, so that’s enough time to see how the offseason program is going under new strength and conditioning coach Brian Remington.

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Zero, four, zero. That's not a new area code I'm representing. That's Kore White's point totals in the past three games. For the math challenged, that's a 1.3 average, which is much closer to a great golf handicap that the stats of even a decent basketball player.

Twenty five games into the season, FAU sits atop the Sun Belt at 10-1 (18-7 overall). As well as the Owls are playing, the recent poor stretch of play by White (right) should do more than worry FAU fans – it should frighten them. It's hard to believe come tournament time the Owls will be able to win three games on consecutive days with White failing to show up.

I suspect the coaches are taking notice, too.

White already had one stretch similar to this earlier this season. He combined for seven points against Hofstra and Siena during the first two games of the Owls' five game road trip.

For the third game of that trip Jordan McCoy replaced White in the starting line-up. Had McCoy not come down with an illness shortly thereafter, his stint in the starting line-up could have lasted.

Could McCoy find himself back in the starting lineup on Thursday at Denver? Sure. He's given the Owls big minutes over the past three games and has certainly out-played White during that stretch.

Should the ballots be checked today, McCoy would easily be the Most Improved Player. That's certainly a positive for the Owls.

This break-through season has FAU followers seriously talking about NCAA Tournament possibilities. Rightfully so. There has never been this kind of energy and optimism in The Burrow. Make no mistake, though, FAU needs White if it is to fulfill the promise of this season.

If sitting White somehow snaps him back into the player who scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds against Arkansas-Little Rock a couple weeks ago, it could be the most important personnel move of the season. That Kore White could make the Owls unstoppable in Hot Springs.

Until that player returns, the current Kore White's ineffectiveness should have FAU fans starting to worry about another zero: tournament wins.

Owl Links

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For the second time this season, an FAU player earned Sun Belt Player of the Week honors. Congratulations to Greg Gantt.

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The Sun-Sentinel also noted Gantt's honor

FAU announced Monday that season tickets for the 2011 football season are now on sale.

With Florida Atlantic still boasting the best record in the Sun Belt Conference, Thursday’s game at Denver is certainly looming large.

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Ever since FAU coach Mike Jarvis went after the athletic department for failure to properly market the basketball program, there has been increased scrutiny on the crowds at FAU Arena.

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Florida Atlantic basketball players are finding themselves in plenty of new situations this season. Some, like the recent eight-game winning streak, are exhilarating. Others are more comical.

At one point on Thursday, the Dallas ice and snow nearly claimed the Owls as a victim. While dropping the players off following their morning shoot around, the bus the Owls were using managed to become stuck on the icy curb outside of the hotel.

At one point, several players and coaches tried to push the bus out of its predicament.

“I've never been in a situation like that before - it was funny,” Greg Gantt said. “You see everybody, even coaches, struggling to move the bus. We actually thought we could move it, but at the end of the day, it's a bus.”

After providing about an hour's worth of comic relief, pool salt managed to give the bus enough traction to drive its way to freedom. A few hours later it delivered the Owls to the Super Pit, where FAU ended North Texas' 17-game home winning streak.

Snow messed with the Owls again on Friday, delaying their travel back to Boca Raton. FAU players and coaches finally made it back to The Burrow after 6 p.m., but that still left FAU with more than 24 hours to prepare for tonight's FIU game.

The color of the day is red. Don't let Mike Burdman catch you in anything different.

As for the on the court action, Jarvis said the Owls would like to follow a simple script.

“We have to control the pace,” he told me on Friday. “Just like (against North Texas), we controlled the pace of the game. If we can control the game and get ahead, then we will be in great shape.”

Even though the game will be televised on CSS, I expect most FAU fans will want to be in The Burrow for this one. Let us know your tailgate plans. We'll see you there.

Football pre-game: This could be a pretty interesting sports day for FAU fans. Start the party early by watching the Texas vs. The Nation game, which will feature FAU QB Jeff Van Camp and tight end Rob Housler. It will air on CBS College Sports, which is channel 744 on Comcast. Kickoff is at 2 p.m.

Owl Links

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We were at The Burrow for the basketball team's return to Boca, and included some photos in this blog.  And here is the preview of tonight's game against FIU.
 

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Game Previews: Palm Beach Post / Sun-Sentinel
 

Dallas snow and I-95 traffic did their best to stymie the celebration, but a decent-sized group of Owl fans showed up at The Burrow to welcome the Owls back from their victory over North Texas.

Depending on who's counting, the win in Denton marked the 400th victory of Mike Jarvis' career. Judge for yourself whether Jarvis is holding up four fingers - one for each 100 wins - or simply giving dual peace signs as he walked off the bus.

To celebrate, student government printed about 200 shirts commemorating the milestone. They managed to give most of them away, although nearly all of the shirt takers left before the team actually arrived home.

Hard to blame them. Many showed up at 4:30 p.m. – more than an hour and a half before the team arrived back in Boca. Hey, not everything goes as planned.

This turned into a pretty grueling one-game journey for the Owls, who sat in the airport today for about six hours waiting for the snow to stop. The depth of the morning snow had Jarvis wondering whether Saturday's contest against FIU would be played as scheduled.

“If we got home late tonight or tomorrow, we were going to play on Monday,” Jarvis said. “I was not going to play tomorrow, so I was glad we got back.”

Saturday is red-out, which might be a word. Friday's shirts were gray, which, fashionably speaking, were the most appealing I'd seen, yet.

In the photos on the right you'll see AD Craig Angelos and broadcaster Ken LaVicka modeling them.

The players simply seemed pleased to be back in Boca. I'll have more about the craziness of this trip tomorrow.

Florida Atlantic quarterback Graham Wilbert was throwing passes and cornerback Keith Reaser was defending routes far away from the Oxley Practice Fields on Thursday.

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The Denton-Record Chronicle provides this report on the game...Here's the Sun-Sentinel's take

National Signing Day 2011 has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean FAU is finished recruiting for this year.

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National Signing Day is always a major undertaking and there probably will be a surprise or two before today is through.

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