Bobby Bowden Called to Correspond (with the media) – Andrew Brady of NoleFan.org

August 27th, 2010 by Andrew Brady

A new book by Bobby Bowden hit the shelves this week, and he is currently on a book tour promoting the sale. Interestingly — but not surprisingly — half of Seminole Nation seems bothered by this. It is roughly the same dividing line between fans who wanted not to renew his contract for 2010 and those who did.

The book is entitled “Called to Coach” and is co-written by ESPN’s Mark Schlabach.

I preordered the book and received it, but have not started to read it. I have however, listened to Bowden’s interviews on the radio talk-show circuit. The Seminole fans who seem put out think that our former coach is angry at FSU and wrote the book to lash out . . . giving the program bad press at each tour stop. They say he is bitter and this is his opportunity to get revenge. Also . . . they say . . . Bowden is intentionally distracting the team as they prepare to play the first game under new coach, Jimbo Fisher.

They must not know Bobby Bowden very well.

From what I have heard, there is indeed a section in the book about Bowden’s awkward departure from Florida State University after 34 years of being the head coach. In the media lately, he freely admits that he wanted to coach the Seminoles for another year.

But that is nothing new. He made those same quotes several months ago, prior to the Gator Bowl. He is disappointed that he didn’t get one last year, but has never shown any indication of anger. At least that I can discern from the interviews. He offers details now that after the Florida game, he was given two options by then-president TK Wetherell. . . become the Coach Emeritus or not coach. Bowden’s pride led him to choose the latter. I am not sure of the particulars under the Coach Emeritus plan offered to him . . . but Bowden wanted full control of the team, or no deal.

Throughout last season, it was my opinion that Bowden should have been allowed to coach the 2010 season under the same delegating manner as 2009. If a farewell tour was ever earned by a man, this was it. But I also believed that Jimbo Fisher should have been given the authority to begin putting his coaching staff in place . . . starting with the defensive coordinator after the retirement of Mickey Andrews. After all, it would be Jimbo’s team in 2011 (in my plan) and beyond. I suspect that Bowden would have rejected my offer as well.

That is all water-under-the-bridge now. Fisher is the coach of the Seminoles, and I fully support him and his staff. I am confident that Bobby Bowden shares those sentiments.

As for distracting the team, or taking any thunder away from Jimbo and the current team . . . that is absurd. This week, I have heard Bobby Bowden on Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd, Mike & Mike, and even Dennis Miller. Surely, none of those hosts would have had that time slotted for a Florida State football discussion. That time would have been used to talk about Tiger Woods’ divorce, or maybe a fantasy football preview. Certainly not about a #20th ranked Florida State team that is opening against the Samford Bulldogs.

Bobby spent 10 or more minutes at each stop talking about the great players and teams that have come through Tallahassee. He has talked about Charlie Ward, Deion Sanders, Warrick Dunn, Derrick Brooks, and others. He has bragged about the national championships, the Heisman winners, the Dynasty, the classic matchups. He has lamented wide-rights and missed opportunities and the downfall of his dynasty. He has openly admitted that he is no longer coaching because of the lack of success in recent years . . . and the “what have you done for me lately” society of sports in modern times that none of us can dispute.

More than likely, he has drummed up some book sales. Maybe some listeners were not aware that he was forced to resign until now. But, I like to hear the national radio shows spending a lengthy segment talking about Florida State football in a positive manner.

For those who cringe when he speaks in fear that he will poor-mouth the program . . . don’t worry. Bowden is still the classy gentleman that he always was. Now, he will have more free time to offer his opinions and viewpoints . . . and I suspect that we will hear from him often in the coming college football season. Some Seminole fans are still bitter at Bowden . . . and will hate that, and criticize every word he says like they have done for several years now. Not me. I am looking forward to hearing him in a new, but familiar, role that we will relish him in . . . a media correspondent.

Time to get over the bitterness Seminole fans.

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Early, Early Picks for ACC Basketball–2010-11

May 13th, 2010 by Brandon Rink

Here’s a simulcast with my daily ACC blog at On The B. Rink…

Last couple weeks, we looked at the early entrants and the grads–but how about the ACC players coming back and how the ACC dominoes fall next season?

The News & Observer puts together an early projected starting lineup yearly with early entrants/graduation/new recruits factored in and here’s my early picks based off how the ACC is looking at this point.

1. Duke Blue Devils

2009-10: 13-3, first
G Kyrie Irving, fr.
G Seth Curry, soph. (20.2 ppg @ Liberty)
G Nolan Smith, sr. (17.4 ppg)
F Kyle Singler, sr. (17.7 ppg)
F Mason Plumlee, soph. (3.7 ppg)
Bench: G Andre Dawkins, F Miles Plumlee, F Ryan Kelly, F Josh Hairston

Outlook: Loooooooooooooooaded. They will be a unanimous choice for the ACC and one of the top teams in the country.

2. Florida State Seminoles

2009-10: 10-6, third
G Derwin Kitchen, sr. (8.1 ppg)
G Deividas Dulkys, jr. (8.7 ppg)
G Michael Snaer, soph. (8.8 ppg)
F Chris Singleton, jr. (10.2 ppg)
F Xavier Gibson, jr. (5.5 ppg)
Bench: G Luke Loucks, F Terrance Shannon, PG Ian Miller, F Okaro White, F Jon Kreft

Outlook: No Alabi, no problem? That’s what I’m saying–the cupboard isn’t bare at FSU and if there’s a year that Hamilton’s Noles make a run–it has to be this season.

3. Virginia Tech Hokies

2009-10: 10-6, fourth
G Malcolm Delaney, sr. (20.2 ppg)
G Dorenzo Hudson, sr. (12.0 ppg)
F Terrell Bell, sr. (6.1 ppg)
F Victor Davila, jr. (5.3 ppg)
F Jeff Allen, sr. (15.2 ppg)
Bench: F J.T. Thompson, G Erick Green, F Jarell Eddie, F Allan Chaney, F Cadarian Raines, F Manny Atkins, G Ben Boggs

Outlook: The time is now in Blacksburg as they return everybody. Greenberg needs to advance past simply making the ever-elusive NCAA Tourney, but win some games in said tourney.

4. North Carolina Tar Heels

2009-10: 5-11, 10th
G Larry Drew II, jr. (8.5 ppg)
G Reggie Bullock, fr.
F Harrison Barnes, fr.
F John Henson, soph. (5.7 ppg)
F Tyler Zeller, jr. (9.3 ppg)
Bench: F Will Graves, G Dexter Strickland, PG Kendall Marshall, G Leslie McDonald

Outlook: The Tar Heels are an interesting squad to watch this season because they had such a fall from grace last season. Heels are still young and Williams will have quite a coaching job to do to get UNC back to the top.

5. Maryland Terrapins

2009-10: 13-3, second
G Adrian Bowie, sr. (4.8 ppg)
G Sean Mosley, jr. (10.1 ppg)
G Cliff Tucker, sr. (5.7 ppg)
F Dino Gregory, sr. (4.2 ppg)
F Jordan Williams, soph. (9.6 ppg)
Bench: F James Padgett, G Terrell Stoglin, F Mychal Parker, PG Pe’Shon Howard

Outlook: Terps lose three of their biggest starters from last season with Vasquez, Hayes, and Milbourne, but they have a talented group coming back. Sean Mosley has to step into the go-to-guy role and Jordan Williams has to expand his role in the paint for the Terps to stay here.

6. Clemson Tigers

2009-10: 9-7, sixth
G Demontez Stitt, sr. (11.4 ppg)
G Tanner Smith, jr. (8.7 ppg)
F Milton Jennings, soph. (3.2 ppg)
F Devin Booker, soph. (4.5 ppg)
F Jerai Grant, sr. (7.2 ppg)
Bench: G Noel Johnson, G Andre Young, G Donte Hill, F Bryan Narcisse

Outlook: The Tigers are in transition between philosophies with a new coach in Brownell and lose star forward Trevor Booker, but this team still has the guns to compete in a wide-open(past Duke) ACC.

7. N.C. State Wolfpack

2009-10: 5-11, 11th
G Javier Gonzalez, sr. (9.5 ppg)
G Lorenzo Brown, fr.
F C.J. Leslie, fr.
F Richard Howell, soph. (4.9 ppg)
F Tracy Smith, sr. (16.5 ppg)
Bench: PG Ryan Harrow, G Scott Wood, G C.J. Williams, F DeShawn Painter, F Jordan Vandenberg

Outlook: Expectations should be high in Raleigh with a talented crew coming in and back. If Lowe can capture the magic of the ACC Tourney run to the semis, the Pack can go far, but I’m staying a bit skeptical on them.

8. Miami Hurricanes

2009-10: 4-12, 12th
G Durand Scott, soph. (10.3 ppg)
G Malcolm Grant, jr. (9.6 ppg)
G DeQuan Jones, jr. (5.7 ppg)
F Julian Gamble, jr. (3.5 ppg)
F Reggie Johnson, soph. (6.4 ppg)
Bench: G Rion Brown, G Garrius Adams, G Antoine Allen, F Donnavan Kirk

Outlook: Miami will be a trendy pick this season, but I’m on the fence with them. I  like Scott and Johnson, but Miami has a lot to prove right now.

9. Virginia Cavaliers

2009-10: 5-11, ninth
G Jontel Evans, soph. (2.4 ppg)
G Sammy Zeglinski, jr. (8.9 ppg)
G K.T. Harrell, fr.
F Mike Scott, sr. (12.0 ppg)
F James Johnson, fr.
Bench: PG Billy Baron, F Will Regan, F Assane Sene, G Joe Harris, G Mustapha Farrakhan, F Will Sherrill

Outlook: I had the ‘Hoos at ninth in my early, early picks last season and that’s where they finished–completely new team coming to play next season with Bennett cleaning house, but they have some talent.

10. Boston College Eagles

2009-10: 6-10, eighth
G Reggie Jackson, jr. (12.9 ppg)
G Dallas Elmore, jr. (3.9 ppg)
F Corey Raji, sr. (11.4 ppg)
F Joe Trapani, sr. (14.1 ppg)
F Josh Southern, sr. (4.4 ppg)
Bench: PG Biko Paris, F Courtney Dunn

Outlook: New system, several transfers, and a squad of mostly unproven, consistently, players at this level–hard to get behind the Eagles at this point.

11. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

2009-10: 7-9, seventh
G Moe Miller, sr. (3.9 ppg)
G Iman Shumpert, jr. (10.0 ppg)
G Glen Rice Jr., soph. (5.4 ppg)
F Kammeon Holsey, r-fr.
F Brad Sheehan, sr. (1.2 ppg)
Bench: G Brian Oliver, PG Mfon Udofia, F Daniel Miller

Outlook: The Jackets return all of their primary guards, but the problem falls with losing the three best players off last year’s team with Favors, Lawal, and Peacock in the paint. I will stay cautious on Georgia Tech because I’m not sure the Jackets’ guards can carry them.

12. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

2009-10: 9-7, fifth
G Tony Chennault, fr.
G C.J. Harris, soph. (9.9 ppg)
F Ari Stewart, soph. (7.3 ppg)
F Tony Woods, jr. (4.6 ppg)
F Carson Derosiers, fr.
Bench: F Travis McKie, F Melvin Tabb, G J.T. Terrell, F Ty Walker, G Gary Clark

Outlook: New coach Jeff Bzdelik has a project on his hands, but the cupboard isn’t totally bare. If he can get the Deacs back to the NCAA Tourney, Bzdelik did a great coaching job.

Who’s too high? Who’s underrated? Can anyone knock off Duke? Early NCAA Tourney bid predictions?

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Successful Season, Disappointing End for FSU Men’s Basketball – Andrew Brady of NoleFan.org

March 24th, 2010 by Andrew Brady

For the 2nd consecutive season, the Florida State men’s basketball team bowed out of the NCAA tournament after a single game. This year’s team lost to a tough and experienced Gonzaga Bulldog team by a final score of 67-60.

The Seminoles came alive in the second half of the Friday night game in Buffalo, New York . . . but it was too little, too late. The Noles were miserable in the first half, scoring only 19 points to the Zags’ 35. The Seminoles only made 6 field goals in the entire first half, which pretty much tells the story. They began to wear down Gonzaga in the stretch run of the 2nd half, but some costly mistakes and missed free throws sealed our fate.

Despite the disappointment of the final two games (FSU fell to North Carolina State in the second round of the ACC tournament), the season was an overall success. The Seminoles finished in a tie for 3rd place in the final ACC standings, going 10-6 in conference play, 22-10 overall. These accomplishments come after losing an ACC 1st team performer and Defensive Player of the Year, Toney Douglas, from a year ago.

The Seminoles can build on the success of the 2009-10 team, as only one scholarship player is expected to leave. Ryan Reid, who was the workhorse of the team, is the lone senior and will move on. Solomon Alabi and Chris Singleton may test the NBA waters for the draft, but I expect them both to return to campus for the 2010-11 season. If they do return, FSU would have two of the ACC’s 3rd team all-conference players, and the top two vote-getters for the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Since there is not much more to say about the NCAA tournament loss against Gonzaga . . . and since it frustrates me to recall the game at all . . . let me use the remainder of this blog to grade my Men’s Basketball Preview blog, published on November 13, 2009.

Here is the link.

Let’s start with the big guy. I actually overestimated the progress of Solomon Alabi. Saying that he would be the go-to man on offense was accurate enough, but I used all-ACC first team as a possibility (though I did qualify by saying “if he can bang with the bigs of the ACC). Solomon was found on the 3rd team, so he did have a decent season . . . just not as good as I had hoped and expected. Alabi led the ACC in blocked shots as predicted in my preview, but not by the expected large margin. He out-blocked Georgia Tech freshman, Derrick Favors, 75 to 74. The third place player in blocks had 54.

Chris Singleton was an easy player to preview based on his style of play and his statistics from last year. My assumption that Singleton would create havoc in the passing and shooting lanes for opponents was spot on as he easily won the Defensive Player of the Year in the conference, and led the league in steals (Singleton finished with 71 steals compared to 58 for Iman Shumpert of Georgia Tech). I misjudged Singleton on offense by predicting that he would impose himself more this season. I thought he performed about the same as last year offensively. He did average 10.2 points per game this year compared to 8.1 in 2008-09, so there was some improvement. But, I expected him to be closer to 14.

I predicted in my preview that Dulkys would start the season as the starting shooting guard, but that it wouldn’t take long for Snaer to crack the starting five. Snaer was very good at creating shots near the basket and that enabled him to have the 3rd most average points per game on the team.

Other player predictions were pretty good as well: I predicted that our “secret weapon” Xavier Gibson would be a threat from three . . . he was 40%, 6 of 15 for the season. Also, I noted that Luke Loucks should be much improved. Sadly, I was correct that Jordan DeMercy would not see the court much if he didn’t improve his worth on offense. DeMercy ultimately left the team because of a lack of playing time.

As for season standings and record, I will pat myself on the back here as well. Here were my predictions in November:

I think that FSU should finish 9-7 in conference, 10-6 if the ball bounces right. We could find ourselves as a 4th or 5th seed in the ACC tournament. The Noles should top the 20-win plateau again this season overall, somewhere in the neighborhood of 21-9 when the brackets are announced. That should be good enough for an invitation as a 6-seed in the tournament.

I consider the ball bouncing right by the fact that UNC was down. Winning at Chapel Hill was the unexpected victory for me and took us to the lofty 10-6 mark. We did better than I expected on ACC tournament seed (we were tied for 3rd in the conference, and received the 3-seed), but we were looking at a 5-seed until Wake Forest beat Clemson in the conference finale. FSU’s high seed was also attributable to UNC’s decline . . . I expected the Tar Heels to finish in second place behind Duke in the conference standings. Oh how we were all wrong on that one.

FSU’s record when the brackets were announced was 22-9. Unfortunately, our NCAA seed was lower than my prediction. But, had we not faltered in the ACC tournament, we probably would have been a 6-seed. I think we should have been a 6 anyway, but those are probably sour-grapes.

The FSU women’s team won a thrilling overtime game on Monday night in Tallahassee to advance to the sweet sixteen of the NCAA women’s tournament. They will face the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon for a chance at the Elite Eight and a 99.999% chance of a rematch against Connecticut. The UConn women haven’t lost in their last 74 games.

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Dancing Shoes On, Going to New York – Andrew Brady of NoleFan.org

March 16th, 2010 by Andrew Brady

With a first round (well, first game) loss in the ACC tournament to an inferior conference foe, the Florida State Seminoles did little to help themselves in the eyes of the selection committee. And, the seed that was assigned reflected it.

FSU will return to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season as expected, but the road to make any noise is daunting. The Seminoles are a 9-seed and will face the #18 ranked, 8-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs in Buffalo, New York on Friday night. Should the Noles prevail in that game . . . it would be their first NCAA tournament win since March 13, 1998 . . . and they would surely face the #4 ranked, 1-seed Syracuse Orange in their own backyard in round two.

If the Seminoles are intimidated by the task, they are not showing it. And, why should they be intimidated? The Noles have one of the best defenses in the nation and that alone will keep them in any game . . . as it has all year. If they can get hot on offense, and we have seen glimpses of that this season, FSU can do some damage and bust a lot of brackets.

Against the North Carolina State Wolfpack on Friday night, the Noles were far from hot and even farther from efficient. Florida State committed 20 turnovers and only dished out 8 assists on 20 made buckets. They made only 20 of 52 shots (38.5%), and a putrid 3 of 18 from three point distance. Free throw shooting was also lousy . . . 9 of 17.

FSU led at halftime by a score of 28-25, but fell completely flat in the second half. They committed costly turnover after costly turnover in the game’s crucial situations. Though they had 9 steals and 7 blocked shots, FSU’s defense lapsed at times, and again allowed freshman guard Scott Wood to light it up from three-point territory. Wood followed his 31-point performance (7 of 11 three-pointers) on January 12, 2010, with an 18-point night on Friday. All ten of his shots against FSU in the quarterfinal round of the ACC tournament were from behind the arch, and he dropped 6 of them.

The bright spots in losing their only game in the ACC tournament are that the Seminoles are well-rested and extra-motivated to redeem themselves in the NCAA tournament. However, both Gonzaga and Syracuse have also lost their most recent game in their respective conference tournaments and will have similar motivations.

FSU has fared well this season in must-win situations. The Seminoles finished the regular season by winning 5 of their last 6 games to earn the 3-seed in the ACC tournament. The Noles have only lost back-to-back games twice in the last two years. The first was the ACC Championship game and first round of the NCAA tournamnet in 2008-09, and the second was a Sunday-Tuesday quick-turnaround set at Maryland and then in Tallahassee against Wood and the Wolfpack.

The Seminoles will try to avoid a repeat 1st round NCAA exit by defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Friday at 7:10. Similar to FSU, Gonzaga returns several players with NCAA tournament experience. The difference is that the Gonzaga players won two games in last year’s tournament.

The Bulldogs loss in the West Coast Conference championship game dropped them in the seeding, similar to the fate of the Seminoles. Both teams are probably good enough for a 7, or even a 6-seed . . . and likely would have been had they performed up to their potential in their conference tournament. Instead, they will do battle in the 8-9 game with the winner to face powerful Syracuse.

The Zags are often crowd-favorites, playing to the role of Cinderella. I suspect that the Orange crowd — who will buy the majority of the tickets in the Buffalo regional — with no clear-cut favorite in this game, will probably choose the side of the team from Spokane, Washington for their rooting interest. This will not bother the FSU players, who were an impressive 5-3 on the road in the difficult arenas of the ACC.

The Florida State women’s team also received an invitation to the NCAA tournament. They landed as a #3 seed and will also face the Bulldogs . . . the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs . . . in Tallahassee on Saturday afternoon. A win, and the Noles will take on either St. John’s or Princeton on Monday night. If FSU lasts until the final 8, and barring an upset of historic magnitude . . . the Seminoles will rematch the Connecticut Huskies with a trip to the final four at stake.

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Florida State Looks Forward to the ACC Tournament as the #3 Seed

March 9th, 2010 by Andrew Brady

The Florida State University men’s basketball team bounced back from the heartbreaking loss to Clemson on February 28th with a pair of clutch victories to close out the 2009-10 regular season. The Seminoles won 5 of their final 6 games, including a perfect 3-0 on the road to claim the #3 seed in the upcoming ACC basketball tournament.

It is FSU’s highest seed in the tournament in 17 years . . . and bests last year’s 4th seed. The reward for a 10-6 conference record is a bye in the first round. In fact, by the time Florida State plays our first game of the tournament, 7 teams will already be on their way home. The Noles will gladly wait until 9:00 on Friday night to play the winner of the Clemson/NC State game that is scheduled for Thursday at the same time.

The brackets in the ACC tournament present an interesting challenge for FSU. Every round potentially brings a revenge game. The Noles lost to NC State on January 12th and were swept by Clemson this season. Should FSU advance in that matchup, it would likely face Maryland . . .a team that also swept us. If we win there to make our second consecutive ACC championship game appearance, it would likely come against Duke . . . who defeated FSU in Cameron Indoor Stadium back on January 27th. Those 4 teams represent the only 6 conference losses on our record. FSU was 10-0 against the remainder of the conference.

Regardless of what happens in the conference tournament this week, FSU can rest comfortably knowing that their season will continue as a part of the Big Dance. That was assured on Saturday afternoon in Coral Gables. By most accounts, FSU had actually assured the bid the prior Wednesday against Wake Forest. In a huge game for both teams, Florida State prevailed by a score of 51-47.

The 47 points scored by the Demon Deacons tied the lowest points scored by an ACC conference opponent in Florida State history. That mark was established two weeks earlier in the season when FSU hosted the Boston College Eagles. Against Wake Forest, the Noles were held to only four 2nd half field goals themselves, but made enough free throws to hold off the Deacons, who were frustrated by the suffocating Seminole defense all night. In fact, the leading scorer for Wake Forest this season, Al-Farouq Aminu, was held scoreless for the first time in his career.

The Noles followed up that crucial win with a bid-solidifying victory against our chief conference rivals, the Miami Hurricanes. Against the Canes, FSU built a huge advantage and looked to run away with the game on several occasions. But, Miami fought back and actually took the lead with 2 minutes remaining on the clock.

FSU’s sophomore point guard, Luke Loucks, hit a clutch 3-pointer with 1:52 left in the game to regain the lead for good. The Seminole defense locked down the Canes for the remainder of the game, including a heart-stopping effort on Miami’s last possession, which ended in a futile jumper at the buzzer.

The bench for Florida State finished with 33 of the 61 points, and they helped FSU to a season sweep of the Hurricanes.

Some ACC honors were handed out on Monday and Florida State was represented. Chris Singleton received the most votes by the media for the all-defense team, followed by his teammate, Solomon Alabi. It is expected that this will be the order of finish in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. Assuming that Singleton wins this honor later today (Tuesday), it will mark the second consecutive season that a Seminole was the conference’s defensive player of the year. Toney Douglas won last year, and was two votes away from that honor in 2007-08.

Both Singleton and Alabi made the 3rd-team All-ACC squad. Freshman Michael Snaer was one of 5 ACC players on the all-rookie team.

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84 Excruciating seconds Later & FSU Falls Back on the Bubble

March 2nd, 2010 by Andrew Brady

It wasn’t pretty, but with 84 seconds left on the clock Sunday night, it looked as if the Seminoles would win their 9th conference game and virtually lock up a bid for the NCAA tournament. With Wake Forest and Virginia Tech losing on Saturday, the Seminoles were on the cusp of moving into sole possession of 3rd place in the league, with an ACC tournament bye all but secured. The Seminoles held a five point lead (47-42) over Clemson and Chris Singleton was at the line shooting 2. What could go wrong?

Everything.

Singleton missed both free throws, and Andre Young made a jumper to cut the lead to three. With under a minute, Ryan Reid saw an opportunity to counter the Tiger basket, but was cut off and turned it over with plenty of time on the shot clock. Derwin Kitchen fouled Demontez Stitt on the transition, and Stitt closed the gap to a single point by sinking both free throws with 54 seconds remaining. FSU called timeout to set up the final minute. That was wasted when Michael Snaer fumbled away the in-bounds pass, and that led to a back-breaking three-pointer by Young . . . giving Clemson a 2 point lead.

With 23 seconds left, FSU called another time-out to set up an attempt to tie the game. That worked as Solomon Alabi was fouled with 14 seconds left trying to make a high-percentage shot after the ball was worked inside. Alabi made the first, but missed the second after a Clemson timeout. Trevor Booker was fouled immediately and the Tiger senior calmly made both attempts to increase the margin to three.

FSU brought in their three-point specialist, Deividas Dulkys, and called a timeout with 7 seconds on the clock to set up a play for him. Clemson was aware of the strategy, and Booker worked through a screen and easily blocked the attempt. He came down with the ball and was fouled again. Two more freebies by Booker and the game was out of reach. Kitchen made a garbage bucket at the buzzer to cut the final margin to 3 points.

Until allowing Clemson to score 11 points in the final 72 seconds, the Seminoles played solid defense. In fact, Clemson did not score their first points until Booker made two free throws (go figure) with 13:17 left in the first half. That is nearly 7 minutes of scoreless basketball. With 4:10 left in the first half, the score was 19-6 in FSU’s favor. At that point, Clemson was on pace (1 point every 2:30) to score 16 total points.

But, like the fate of the 2nd half . . . Clemson put together a run to end the first half. They outscored FSU 13-2 in the final 4:10 (including a desperation 3-point heave by Young) to make the halftime score 21-19. The Tigers quickly gained the lead and extended it to 27-21 in the first 3 minutes of the second half . . . so the 7-minute run was a total of 19-2 in Clemson’s favor.

FSU refocused on defense and looked to have regained control of the game . . . until the fateful final 84 excruciating seconds of the game.

The win by Clemson moves them up to the NCAA tournament bubble, and moves FSU down to the bubble. Joining those two are Wake Forest and Virginia Tech . . . all tied for third place at 8-6 in the ACC. Georgia Tech is also a bubble team at 7-7. I suspect that Duke and Maryland are locks, and the NCAA selection committee will not take more than 4 of the 5 ACC bubble teams . . . and could take as few as 2 of the 5 depending on how the last week of conference play shakes out.

FSU hosts Wake Forest on Wednesday night in basically a must-win for both teams. The winner could take it out of the committee’s hands with a subsequent 10th victory this weekend. For FSU, their finale is at Miami. The loser of the FSU/Wake must win this weekend, and then it would likely need at least one conference tournament win to remove doubt.

If FSU cannot tally 2 more wins, their tournament fate is again in the hands of the committee . . . and that has not ended well for the Noles in recent Selection Sunday history. FSU was rejected by the committee in 2007-8 (19-14 record, 7-9 ACC), 2006-07 (20-12 record, 7-9 ACC), and 2005-06 (19-9, 9-7 ACC). Last year, FSU removed any doubt (25-9, 10-6 ACC) when it capped a very good season by defeating the eventual national champions, North Carolina, en route to the program’s first ACC championship game appearance.

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FSU wins consecutive league games, Otto Petty named as an ACC Legend

February 23rd, 2010 by Andrew Brady

Florida State took advantage of a weary and reeling Virginia Cavaliers team in the Seminoles only game of the week. For Virginia, they had lost road games to Virginia Tech on Saturday, February 13th; and to Maryland on February 15th. The Seminoles handed the Wahoos a 4th consecutive loss (they began the streak with an overtime loss to Wake Forest on February 6th) . . . this one a hurtful loss in Charlottesville on February 17th.

It was the third game in 5 days for the Cavaliers and that difficult stretch had clearly taken a toll. However, the Seminoles put together one of their better games of the year, so UVA may have fallen at home even with fresh legs.

For Virginia, they have since lost a 5th consecutive conference game to go from a tie at the top with a 5-2 mark, to fighting for their bubble lives at 5-7.

Florida State, on the other hand, has now won consecutive conference games and collected an important road victory . . . their 3rd road win of the season. As of February 23rd, FSU is tied with Clemson in 5th place in the ACC standings at 7-5, only a half-game behind Wake Forest . . . and one-game behind Virginia Tech, whom the Seminoles defeated at home.

FSU rested this past weekend and should be ready for their upcoming games against North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Wednesday, and Clemson on Sunday in Tallahassee. With four regular season games remaining, the Seminoles are in position to make a case for a tournament berth and even seeding advantages should they perform well in this stretch.

Today, the ACC announced that Otto Petty will represent Florida State University as a 2010 Legend.

Otto was the point guard on some very talented Seminole teams in the early 70’s under Hugh Durham. In 1970-71, Petty dished out 227 assists, which remains as the FSU record for most assists in a season. Fourth place on that list is Petty with 202 in 1972-73. In his other year as a Seminole —1971-72 — Petty logged the 9th most assists in a season with 173.

1971-72 was the year that FSU played in the championship game, falling to Bill Walton and John Wooden’s UCLA team by a score of 81-76. Along the way, the Seminoles defeated Eastern Kentucky, Minnesota, Kentucky (Adolph Rupp’s final game), and North Carolina.

Against UNC, Otto Petty was the driving force in the final four victory to vault FSU into the championship game. The following excerpt was from Bill McGrotha of the Tallahassee Democrat on 3/23/72:

Sparkplug Otto Petty scored only 10 points but losing Coach Dean Smith said Petty single handedly took away the Tar Heels’ main weapon – the full court press.

“Mr. Petty acted like a road runner through our press and that press was what got us here. We’d double team him and he’d get through and make the play at the other end. We had to take the press off halfway through the first half.

“I think this game shows there’s still room for a 5-7 guard in the game.”

Petty had 602 assists in his 3-year career, which is 2nd all-time at Florida State (Delvon Arrington dished out 688 assists from 1999-2002. Petty has numerous entries among the most assists in a game . . . twice with 16, twice with 15, twice with 14, and three times with 13.

Here is my ballot for this week’s Raycom Power Poll:

1 Duke
2 Maryland
3 Wake Forest
4 Virginia Tech
5 FSU
6 Clemson
7 Georgia Tech
8 Virginia
9 Boston College
10 UNC
11 NC State
12 Miami

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Florida State Splits Again, Moves into Critical Stretch Run

February 16th, 2010 by Andrew Brady

For the 4th time this season, the Florida State men’s basketball team split their two-game ACC slate of the week. Calculate in the 2-1 record in weeks that only one ACC game was played, and we reside in the middle of the conference standings at 6-5. This week marks another single game week . . . and it is a big one for our tournament resume. Win or lose, we will not be talking about another ACC split next week. More on that game later.

On Wednesday of last week, FSU traveled to Clemson to face a desperate Tiger team, full of preseason hype, but so far . . . short on results. The game was crucial for Clemson and they prevailed by a score of 77-67.

It was an ugly game, with the officials dictating the action from start to finish with very active whistles. In fact, 48 fouls were called in the game, many of which did not affect the flow of the game and probably should not have been called. But, it was obvious that the referees planned to keep the game from getting physical and both teams were forced to adjust.

Clemson did a better job of that, hitting 44.4% of their field goals (52% in the first half) and making 29 of 38 free throws. FSU made only 37.9% from the floor in the game, and only 25% in the critical first half when Clemson extended a lead to 13 points going into the break. Solomon Alabi, Derwin Kitchen and Luke Loucks combined to make 16 of 18 free throws, but Chris Singleton was only 1 for 5.

The Seminoles refocused during the week, and dominated Boston College on Sunday night. Actually, it was the second half that FSU dominated.

At halftime, the game was tied at 30 and the statistics were mostly even for both teams. But, check out the disparity in the second half:

Points: FSU 32, BC 17
FG %: FSU 43%, BC 26%
Rebounds: FSU 20, BC 13
Turnovers: FSU 5, BC 10
Points off turnovers: FSU 16, BC 1
2nd Chance Points: FSU 13, BC 2
Points in the Paint: FSU 20, BC 4

All of that led to a comfortable 15 win on Valentines Day. FSU held Boston College to only 47 points in the game . . . the fewest points allowed to an ACC foe in FSU’s history. Also, it was the fewest points recorded by Boston College this season.

The star for Florida State was a freshman, Michael Snaer, who scored 18 points by slashing the lane time after time in the second half. He also hit a long-distance three pointer that ripped the hearts out of the Eagles. On defense, Singleton shined with 5 steals and 6 defensive rebounds (8 total). Alabi had a career-high 7 blocked shots.

The win sets up Florida State for a great opportunity on Wednesday night. In the only game of the week, the Seminoles will travel to Charlottesville to face Virginia . . . who has lost three straight games, and fallen from the top of the ACC standings down to the middle at 5-5 in the conference. A win by FSU would move the Noles to 7-5 in the league and comfortably ahead of some direct competition for tournament bids. Our “feel-good” goal is 9 wins and a victory on Wednesday would move our magic win number to 2. A loss would be a big hit to the tournament chances, moving FSU back to even and essentially requiring 3 wins in the final 4 regular season games.

The Raycom Bloggers mid-season awards were announced. The list can be found here:
Mid-Season Awards

Here was my ballot:

1st team
G Malcolm Delaney-VT
G Jon Scheyer-DU
F Tracy Smith-ST
F Kyle Singler-DU
F Trevor Booker-CU

2nd team
G Sylven Landesberg-VA
G Greivis Vasquez-MD
F Landon Milbourne-MD
F Al-Farouq Aminu-WF
F Gani Lawal-GT

Defense
G Ishmail Smith-WF
G Andre Young-CU
F Chris Singleton-FS
F Jeff Allen-VT
F Ed Davis-NC

Freshman
G Michael Snaer-FS
G CJ Harris-WF
F Derrick Favors-GT
F Scott Wood-NCS
F Jordan Williams-MD

Player of the Year: Jon Scheyer
Defensive Player of the Year: Chris Singleton
Freshman of the Year: Derrick Favors
Coach of the Year: Tony Bennett

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Florida State University Moves On After Unfair Punishment by the NCAA

February 9th, 2010 by Andrew Brady

FSU basketball team is mired in middle of the ACC pack, but it sure beats the bottom

The FSU men’s basketball team continued their 1 step backward, 1 step forward pace in the ACC standings by splitting games against Maryland and Miami last week. The downside this time was that both games were at home, thereby increasing the pressure to pick up another road win down the line.

As of today, FSU has home losses against Maryland and North Carolina State, evened out with road wins against Georgia Tech and Boston College. The conventional thought in Tallahassee is that a 9-7 regular season conference record would be enough to feel good about our NCAA tournament chances. 8-8 might be enough, but FSU’s non-conference schedule was not overly challenging . . . and there are no signature non-conference wins on the tournament resume. So, 9 conference wins is the target.

FSU’s current ACC record is 5-4, with 7 games remaining. That means, FSU will need to find 4 wins among: Clemson (away), Boston College (home), Virginia (away), North Carolina (away), Clemson (home), Wake Forest (home), and Miami (away).

NCAA rules unfairly, denies reasonable appeal by FSU. With no options left, the University will accept it and move on.

On Super Bowl Sunday, FSU released the list of vacated wins as a result of the NCAA penalties, thus ending the saga that has dragged on so long that it hardly seems conceivable that it involves technology as modern as an online test. Nearly all Florida State fans disagree with the NCAA’s ruling, but most were ready to accept the penalty so that the programs affected can move on.

The football team will forfeit 12 victories (five from 2006, seven from 2007), and those will also be deducted from Bobby Bowden’s “official” win total. The men’s track team will be stripped of their 2007 national championship. The women’s basketball team will lose 16 wins from the 2006-07 season, including 2 NCAA tournament wins. In total, 10 sports were punished by this decision.

All of these forfeited games and championship are events that took place with at least one of the 61 affected student-athletes competing while ineligible. The athletes were deemed ineligible for accepting assistance on an online exam . . . the famed academic misconduct scandal.

In my opinion, had the coach of any of the 10 sports known that a player had cheated and thus was ineligible, they would have certainly not played them in a game. The player is deemed ineligible at the moment that they are proven to be guilty . . . or at least suspected of guilt. How could anyone be deemed ineligible prior to being suspected of guilt?

The timeline of events in the FSU academic misconduct case:

1. Athletes cheated on exam.
2. One (or more) athlete(s) blew the whistle.
3. An investigation was launched by FSU and it was determined that many athletes in various sports were involved and they were led by corrupt tutors, who were fired immediately.
4. FSU turned themselves in to the NCAA.
5. FSU, under the advisement of the NCAA, self-imposed penalties . . . including probation and scholarship reductions, among others.
6. One penalty agreed to by both FSU and the NCAA was that involved athletes were to be suspended from competition. For football players, this suspension was 4 games (including the Music City Bowl, as well as a loss against Wake Forest in 2007 that arguably cost FSU an ACC Championship Game berth). Basketball players were suspended for 9 games. Baseball players for more.

The NCAA, in their absurd follow-up ruling several months ago (unsuccessfully appealed by FSU) went back in time . . . between steps 1 and 2 . . . and imposed the additional penalties, essentially altering history. At least on their own books.

Certainly, cheating cannot be accepted and there was just cause for punishment . . . no doubt. But, the NCAA essentially levied jail time for a parking ticket in this case. How many collegiate athletes have committed far worse crimes (including actual crimes) yet have received relatively minor punishment . . . such as suspension for a game (usually a cupcake), or maybe they sit out the first half? It happens every year across the country at every level. It has happened here. Has the NCAA ever gone back in time and vacated wins between the point that a player commits a crime and the point that they were proven guilty?

The FSU athletes involved . . . some of whom testified that they did not know the procedure for completing an (open book) online exam and thus were only doing as instructed by the tutor . . . were punished far more harshly than fair.

Furthermore, it is a fact that the vast majority of FSU athletes during this time period had no involvement whatsoever in the cheating scandal. But, they too are being punished . . . just as harshly as the guilty . . . by having their wins taken away. The track team had one athlete involved (who maintained a 3.0 GPA at FSU according to the coach, Bob Braman). But, the national championship was stripped from all innocent athletes and coaches as if they too were guilty.

Is the lesson here that Universities should never perform step #4? Based on the severity of the punishment in this case, there can be no other conclusion. How could FSU have been punished any worse had it not self-reported? This is clearly not a good message that the NCAA is sending.

As for me and my non-NCAA-approved Raycom opinion blog, I will not vacate any wins earned by FSU athletes during this time, and I am seriously considering changing the results against Kentucky (Music City Bowl) and Wake Forest from losses to wins. Yes, I have that kind of power here on my opinion blog.

Seriously though, FSU still has back-to-back-to-back track national champions if you ask me or anyone else who is reasonable. And if you want to know who won the FSU-Colorado game on September 15, 2007 in Boulder, I can tell you because I was there and I took this picture:

Does this look like an FSU loss?

Does this look like an FSU loss?

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Florida State Splits Two Games on Road Trip, ACC Standings are Murky

February 2nd, 2010 by Andrew Brady

Since my last entry, the Florida State men’s basketball game completed a two-game road trip . . . losing at Duke by a score of 70-56, and then beating Boston College in another tight ACC game, 61-57.

The Seminoles had opportunities against Duke — the lead was only 4 with about 10 minutes to play. But turnovers, missed layups, and empty trips to the free throw line doomed the Seminoles. The Blue Devils heated up late from the perimeter to pull away for good. With the win, Duke appears to be establishing itself as the team to beat in the ACC. They are alone in first place at 5-2. But in this crazy ACC season, even their lead over the last place teams is only 3 games. Miami and NC State, two decent teams by anyone’s standards, are 2-5.

FSU is in the middle at 4-3 after the big bounce-back win at the Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The Seminoles, in fact, have two road victories (Georgia Tech, Boston College) on their resume. The first half of ACC play concludes at home against Maryland in a revenge game. Greivis Vasquez and the Terrapins shimmied their way past the Seminoles on January 10th by a score of 77-68.

As it stands in the conference (before the games on Tuesday night), Maryland and Virginia . . . having played only 6 conference games . . . are tied for second place at 4-2. FSU, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest are log-jammed at 4-3. Clemson has played 8 conference games and have split them.

I have mentioned 7 teams in the conference standings and have not typed the words North Carolina. In fact, you have to go past Virginia Tech (3-3) and Boston College (3-5) to finally arrive at UNC, who sits at 2-4 in conference play and all alone in 10th place.

For a while on Saturday afternoon, it looked like the Seminoles were destined to be swept on the road trip, and positioned in the bottom half of the standings alongside the Tar Heels. The first 20 minutes were about as ugly as FSU has played. Eleven turnovers were committed, and the Noles were shooting only 32.3% from the field, including a miserable 0-8 from behind the three-point arch. They trailed to the BC Eagles by a score of 27-22 at the break.

Something clicked at halftime and the Seminoles came out scorching hot. They made 15 of their 22 shots, including 14 of 18 from inside the arch. The only made three pointer in the game for FSU came with 44 seconds on the clock and the game tied at 54. Derwin Kitchen picked a clutch time to sink the 21-footer. Michael Snaer followed a BC turnover with 2 free throws and the Seminoles held on for the huge road victory.

For FSU, four players scored 10 or more points with three of those hitting exactly 10. Solomon Alabi led the way with his usual 16 on 8 of 13 shooting. Chris Singleton, Ryan Reid and Michael Snaer had ten apiece. Singleton also had 11 rebounds and 4 steals to lead the way defensively. Snaer is beginning to shine as a freshman. He has scored in double figures in consecutive road games, and has begun to garner starter-like minutes off of the bench.

Snaer’s minutes will increase as the team learned after the game that junior forward, Jordan DeMercy, has left the team. That leaves only Derwin Kitchen in the junior class for FSU. With Ryan Reid as the team’s only senior, the Seminoles are obviously very young.

Florida State now has 2 consecutive home games . . . Maryland on Thursday, and Miami on a quick turnaround game on Saturday night. I expect the biggest crowds of the year for those two contests. Wins in both could move the Seminoles to second place in the ACC standings by the end of the weekend. Two losses, and we could find ourselves with North Carolina near the bottom of the standings. That is how close . . . and bizarre . . . we find the current makeup of the ACC standings.

Here is my ACC power poll ballot, submitted to Raycom Sports on Monday afternoon:

1 Duke
2 Clemson
3 Maryland
4 FSU
5 Georgia Tech
6 Virginia
7 Wake Forest
8 Virginia Tech
9 UNC
10 NC State
11 Miami
12 Boston College

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