I Have Even More Respect For Fairleigh Dickinson's Upset Over Purdue In The NCAA Tournament After Finding Out They Were Watching Film In An Abandoned Shower

NorthJersey.com – How do you measure the impact of the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history?

At Fairleigh Dickinson University, after the men’s basketball team knocked off top-seeded Purdue in March, online apparel sales rose 327 percent over a six-month period. The college’s webpage, www.fdu.edu, received 1.3 million views the night of the game. The analytics firm First & First Consulting reported a whopping 4 billion social media impressions for FDU over the tourney’s first weekend.

But the most tangible consequence can be found in the Rothman Center, where the Knights have a renovated locker room, a new court sporting a fresh logo, and the program’s first “team room” for meetings and film watching. The team room's location used to be a communal shower – a relic from a time gone by (nowadays players shower in their dorms).

Last season, that cinderblock shower room did serve a purpose. It was where the Knights watched film, the only place on campus they could gather in privacy. The film projector sat atop a box that rested on a Gatorade bucket, surrounded by stools. You can't make this stuff up.

With college basketball just a week away, it's a great time in sports. Pretty soon you will turn on the TV or TV's in your house and have College Football, the NFL, MLB (hopefully), NBA, NHL, and College Basketball wire to wire and wall to wall. It's an unbelievable time for gamblers and viewers. Anyway, with college hoops right around the corner, it's a great time to look back at some of the wild story lines buried in the back of our brains from last season.

Maybe the biggest of those storylines was #16 seed FDU pulling an upset over #1 Purdue. In the moment it was unbelievable as nearly everyone on the PLANET picked Purdue to roll. It was laughable to think FDU from one of the worst conferences in the country historically in terms of NCAA win percentage was going to win against a 1 seed, and a 1 seed with a 7'4 monster in Zach Edey... all AFTER having to play a play in game just 2 days before. Anyone saying FDU had a chance was crazy ... or brilliant ... or both. However, sometimes being crazy and brilliant pays off because 1 notable gambler not only proclaimed FDU would beat Purdue he did it after watching them for a half of the play in game. 

Absolutely insane bet by Dave, and insane upset by FDU. Completely legendary. As the tourney went on everyone was astonished with FDU and how true of a Cinderella they were. Including the fact that their Director of Athletic Media Relations looked like he was 12 years old and was a student at the school. 

The most remarkable thing to me was info in this article that they watched film in an abandoned communal shower. Absolutely insane. 

Obviously this is such a credit to FDU for battling through insanely tough obstacles for the upset as well as all year. This wasn't just for the game against Purdue, this team had to do this ALL YEAR. Non conference play, conference play… time to scout the other team … get in the showers … not to wash off … to watch film. Absolutely insane. Also … I hate to pile on Purdue, but seeing stories like this has to be salt in the wounds. The Boilermakers likely had 5982 different cameras, a 75 foot screen, 3-4 full time staffers editing clips, and world class comfortable chairs and still lost. Brutal. 

When people ask me why I love this sport, point this story out to them. A team with absolutely no chance of winning watching film in a god damn shower playing a 7'4 kid pulls off one of the biggest upsets in sports. Unreal. 

Also … nice to see FDU used that success to upgrade their facilities. 

All photos via Jordan Sarnoff FDU Athletics