• Tweet
• Share
• Email
• Print

ALICO ARENA - The FGCU Eagles have left the nest.

Fox 4 Rising's Colleen Hogan was with the mens basketball team as they took off from Alico Arena, heading to Philly, where they'll play in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

--

"Really excited," senior standout Sherwood Brown said. "This is the first time that our program has made it to the NCAA tournament."

"Tell me what it took to get to where we are right now." Hogan asked Brown.

"It took a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication to get to the point where we are today," he said.

Before the sun came up Wednesday, coaches, players, cheerleaders and staff hauled their bags and loaded them onto the two buses. The buses will take the players to their charted plane ride to Philadelphia in advance of their Friday night game.

"What's your strategy going to be heading up to Philly?" Hogan asked Eagle star Chase Fieler.

"We're not gonna change too much," he said. "We're just going to continue to do the same thing that got us to this point, play hard, share the ball and play good defense."

But the most important factor to the team's success isn't just something they're doing on the hardwood. 

"We all love each other," Brown said. "That makes the chemistry that much better."

The Eagles take on the Georgetown Hoyas in the first round of the tournament Friday night at 6:50.

The game will be shown on TBS.

Colleen Hogan, reporter
chogan@jrn.com