The Florida Atlantic University Owls, the surprise team playing in the NCAA Men’s Final Four basketball tournament on April 1, has a few things in common with its feathered mascots: They flock together—and they are underdogs.

As FAU point guard Bryan Greenlee told ESPN: “It's probably the first team I've been on where really nobody cares about their stats. I feel like across the board, any game it's just a whole bunch of selfless guys just trying to get a win."

Efforts such as those at FAU, designated as a burrowing owl sanctuary by the Audubon Society in 1971, have made a difference for local populations of the species. In a January 2023 assessment, 53 burrows were counted on campus, with