Florida Gulf Coast made history by putting Dunk City on the map

For two glorious weeks in March 2013, the 33965 zip code didn’t belong to Fort Meyers, Florida. It belonged to the hottest town in America: Dunk City.

That was moniker Sherwood Brown, Bernard Thompson and head coach Andy Enfield earned while carrying Florida Gulf Coast University to an unlikely spot in the Sweet Sixteen. The Eagles may have been making their first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament that season, but they looked every inch a composed veteran team en route to a pair of resounding opening weekend wins.

First, FGCU blew open its opening round game against No. 5 Georgetown behind a five-dunk, 21-2 second half run that left the Hoyas reeling and made the Eagles just the seventh No. 15 seed to ever defeat a two seed. Two days later, a 17-0 spurt led the Eagles to an easy victory over San Diego State -- and the distinction of being the lowest seeded team to ever advance to the Sweet Sixteen.

It wasn’t just the dunks that pushed Florida Gulf Coast to college basketball notoriety. The Eagles held All-American Otto Porter to just 13 points on 17 shots in their upset of Georgetown. The team as a whole shot a scorching 55.9% from the field in its blowout of the Aztecs. On college basketball’s biggest weekend, no team looked as good or generated more buzz than FGCU.

Alas, nothing gold can stay. Dunk City’s rise to prominence ended the next week in a 62-50 loss to Florida, but the impact of the Eagles’ Cinderella run from Atlantic Sun afterthought to media darling is still felt in Fort Meyers. The university has added conference championships in 2014 and 2016 while watching student applications grow in line with its national profile. That’s why Florida Gulf Coast University, the school that put Dunk City on the map, is a Hero of March.