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FSU is Two-And-Through in NCAA's

by Bill from Tampa

So Florida State's season comes to an end after losing to Cincinnati in the round of thirty-two by the score of 62-56.

It wasn't for lack of trying though.

This was a contest of two pretty evenly matched teams and if you look down the score sheet you can see that it was. For the game, there were 19 lead changes and 9 ties. Neither team led by more than six points.

The low score should not have been a surprise to anyone.

As the game wore on, you just could sense that it would come down to which team made the crucial plays or errors late in the game. And that is exactly what happened as Cincinnati made the key plays and Florida State made the crucial mistake at the worst possible time.

This was a game of two teams that slugged it out and slugged it out hard. No doubt ice packs were in demand after the game. That was expected from the Bearcats as they have played that way all season. Florida State was no slouch in that area either. Both teams beat on each other all game long and the referees let them.

Bill from Tampa says FSU didn't play down to St. Bonaventure

After a rocky first half in the round one game against St. Bonaventure, many fans are wondering if the Noles underestimated the Bonnies. Bill from Tampa believes that its the fans who didn't expect the team from western New York to put up such a fight.

I really think a lot of FSU fans are not understanding just how good St Bonaventure is. I think that perception comes from the seeding. They see a 14 and think to themselves that it is a lesser quality team. That is simply not the case in the large majority of the teams that are in the NCAA. They are in there for a reason ... they are good. And the Bonnies were no exception to that.

While we didn't exactly play the best defense we could in the first half you have to credit the Bonnies for a lot of that. What they did with Nicholson was a nice move. He had made just 26 threes all season and goes out and makes 4 of 5 against us. Why? Because they ran screens for him and then popped him outside. They identified a weakness in our big men -- namely they don't defend well out at the perimeter. It was the very same strategy (executed differently) that Wisconsin used against us in the second half of the NCAA three years ago.

To our credit we pulled it together through defense in stopping what was an unexpected transition game the Bonnies unveiled. They ran out of gas somewhat (notice the number of point blank shots they missed in the second half) and we made it tougher for them to makes shots.

This was NOT a case of FSU playing down to an opponent. Not at all.

But what about all that sloppy play and those first half turnovers?

Everyone thinks we turned the ball over left and right. We had a total of 6 by the half. Two of them we got in the first couple of minutes. What every FSU fan seems to forget is the Bonnies were turning it over early as well and had 7 by the half.

We didn't play as badly as the perception seems to be by many. Was it our best game? No, not at all. It was a far cry from the really bad games we had this season i.e. at Clemson, Princeton, Harvard, etc.

Noles nearly one-and-done, saved by miraculous finish against Saint Bonaventure

by Bill from Tampa

Update: FSU plays Cincinnati @9:40pm Sunday.

Earlier in the week Leonard Hamilton said "these guys are good," referring to St Bonaventure.

He reiterated that comment in his post game comments after his Seminoles came from behind by as many as 10 points to beat the Bonnies, 66-63.

Remarkable in the win was that Michael Snaer did not score a single point. While Snaer struggled with his shot (0-7 FG, 0-5 three pointers), Florida State did it almost all on the back of Bernard James.

The 27 year old scored 19 points, 11 in the second half, to go along with 9 rebounds. Add to that 3 blocked shots, the last one coming with just a couple of seconds on the game clock as Da'Quan Cook attempted a put back.

The game could not have started off much worse for the Seminoles, falling behind quickly 7-0, that included two turnovers as well. To make matters worse, Snaer picked up his second foul just 2:22 into the game, obviously affecting his offensive production.

A quick and aggressive St Bonaventure was running circles around and through the FSU defense, which at times looked confused, scoring often in transition. It was somewhat out of character for the Bonnies who generally rely on more of a half court offense.

Hamilton contradicted that assessment saying after the game "we were not confused, we just did not do a good job of defending."

Coach Hamilton: "Don't buy into that St. Bonaventure as a Cinderella cliche"

Thursday the coach and a few key players met the media in Nashville. Hamilton tried to argue against sympathizing with St. Bonaventure as a poor underdog in today's game -- and echoed by Bernard James -- saying that with a talented guy like Andrew Nicholson the Bonnies could compete in the ACC .

Check out a few more highlights from the presser below, and you can read all the comments here.

"They're in a tournament for a reason. They earned their way here. These guys can play. I don't buy the whole Cinderella story thing. That's a little ploy to get people's guard down, having people thinking it will be an easy game and they come out and hit you in the mouth." -Bernard James

"They're going to penetrate and kick and create for each other. We're going to have to guard them and contain the dribble. That's been our weakness a couple games we lost this year." -Deividas Dulkys

"These guys seem to have maintained the same
level of focus that we had going into the ACC tournament...They're holding each other up, lot of communication, lot of talk. I think that's the benefit of some of the guys being here before and not feeling like we came out of the tournament playing in the last game that we lost (because we weren't) as sharp as we could be." -Leonard Hamilton

"I think everything we've done right over the
past four, five games, it's been because of communication...we've reached another level of closeness. We're talking all the time on the court...the mindset we're in now of talking constantly, just letting your teammates know every single thing you're doing, where you're at
on the court." -Bernard James

The skinny on FSU's Friday opponent from a St. Bonaventure insider

Ryan Lazo covers St. Bonaventure basketball like nobody else (there's no major media anywhere near the school). As Co-editor in Chief of The Intrepid, the campus newspaper, he's there every game and knows the players. Being the go-to guy for everything about the Bonnies (follow his coverage here), we asked him to give you a preview of the team with questions by Bill from Tampa.

What is the strength of the team?

A: The strength of the team is on defense and the offensive and defensive glass. Defensively, they were one of the best in the Atlantic 10 Conference, a remarkable improvement from last season which also coincides with a new point guard. Charlon Kloof is a great on-the-ball defender, keeping the ball in front of him which helps the defense rotate better. Demitrius Conger, the small forward stands at 6-foot-6, and grabs a ton of offensive boards and gets subsequent put backs. If a team does not allow the Bonnies to have second-chance points, then it hinders them dramatically.

What’s the weakness?

A: A weakness is our depth in the front court with only three forwards with legitimate talent. The starters are both seniors, one is the A-10 Player of the Year in Andrew Nicholson, 6-foot-9, and the other Da'Quan Cook, 6-foot-8. Off the bench is a raw, but talented freshman in 6-11 Youssou Ndoye. Also, during the course of the season turnovers have plagued them, hence the inconsistency earlier this year. But come the final stretch of games, including the A-10 Tournament, the turnovers have been dramatically reduced.

What style of play are they most comfortable playing on both offense and defense?

A: They are first and foremost a half-court offense with the starters on the court. They run almost the entire play clock off as they run a play in order to get the ball to Nicholson who dominated because of his footwork in the block. But when he is on the bench and they go "small" with Conger playing the four then they use their athleticism to push.

Defensively they are a straight man-to-man defense. They rarely switch it up, but if they do it's only for a few possessions. They are somewhat vulnerable in transition which UMass exploited to creep back into the game during the A-10 Tournament, but yet again, they have improved since the start.

Who are some of the key backups?

St. Bonnie's coach tells why he took over a tainted program and how he built a winner

There's no football at St. Bonaventure, so basketball means everything to its fans. But there was little to be proud about when the school owned up to a recruiting scandal in 2003. The guy who pulled the Bonnies out of the ditch is Mark Schmidt, who talks about the ordeal here on ESPN Radio's Doug Gottlieb Show yesterday.

The video above shows Schmidt's handiwork in rebuilding the Bonnies. And in this video, watch the smooth moves of number 44, Andrew Nicholson. He's the guy FSU needs to neutralize in Friday's opening round. The 6-9 senior hit 7 of 13 shots from the field in the Atlantic 10 title game against Xavier, plus all 10 of his free throws. He's also the kind of player Leonard Hamilton would no doubt love to have on his team, as evidenced by Nicholson's eight blocked shots versus Xavier.

The turnaround that led to Florida State's tournament trophy

Back on January 7, after FSU was embarrassed in its conference opener -- losing by 20 at Clemson -- what Nole fan wasn't ready to kiss off the season and call for Leonard Hamilton's head. A tall and talented team with high hopes was choking early, losing pre-season games it was a cinch to win. Princeton? Harvard? WTF!?

Hard to believe this was the team that took no prisoners in the ACC tourney. So what and when was the quantum leap that turned the Noles around? Thanks to a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, now we know. It begins in the visitors' locker room at Clemson's coliseum after the disheartening loss to the Tigers:

The conversation stared with the usual post-game remarks from Hamilton. It continued well past when he had to leave for his media interviews and was still going strong when he returned. It heated up after one of the coaches suggested senior forward Bernard James hadn’t played with great effort. And it got down right intense after James spoke up in response.

“I played my [expletive] off,” he said.

His comment could have been taken as defiant and started a rift, but what it did was open the floor for conversation. One by one his teammates began to speak up, feeling comfortable to follow his lead. Coaches did, too. And rather than bash each other, they raised concerns. The conversation became constructive.

“A lot of the guys, we were confused with the coaching staff sometimes,” James said. “They would tell us what they wanted us to do, but we didn’t know exactly how to go about getting it done.”

Noles clinch ACC, St. Bonnie next

by Bill from Tampa

Florida State had been beaten badly on the boards all day. Especially on the offensive boards where the differential was 19-6.

In fact with just thirty seconds left in the game, North Carolina controlled the ball for close to one minute due to five offensive rebounds. It culminated in a well defended three pointer by Kendall Marshall to pull North Carolina to within one point, 83-82, nearly erasing a 14 point FSU lead.

FSU defended the Tar Heels on those possessions very well. The Seminoles just could not get the rebounds, however.

But when the Seminoles really, really, REALLY needed the board, Devidas Dulkys came through, leaping high to snag a three point miss by Marshall.

His heroics weren't over though. Fouled on the play by Tyler Zeller, Dulkys calmly (at least he looked calm) walked to the line and sank both free throws.

85-82.

Noles outwrestle Duke for title showdown

by Bill from Tampa

62-59.

Letting that sink in for a moment.

Florida State 62, Duke 59.

Has a real nice ring to it doesn't it.

Florida State held off the Duke Blue Devils and their "will to win" as Dick Vitale called it during his color commentary to earn a shot at North Carolina in the ACC tournament title game on Sunday.

It seems Vitale forgot the Seminoles have a will to win as well.

There were seven ties in the first half with FSU holding a 33-31 half time lead (FSU is now 21-0 when leading at the half). The 'Noles built that lead to ten, 43-33 with 14:40 to play in the game.

But you just knew Duke was not going to go away. In fact you could sense it would come down to the last possession.

It took nearly ten minutes but Duke chipped away at that lead, eventually taking a 54-53 advantage on Seth Curry's free throws on Ian Miller's fourth foul and 5:03 to play.

Payback: Noles down Canes when it counts

by Bill from Tampa

Coming into the game, it was speculated that Miami needed a win over Florida State to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Hurricanes did not get that win. Despite numerous runs in the second half by Miami, FSU held off each one with timely shooting, key stops, and stellar free throw shooting down the stretch giving the 'Noles an 82-71 victory.

It marks the third time in school history Florida State has reached the semifinals of the ACC tournament.

The Seminoles built a nine point lead at the half, 36-27, on the strength of seven three pointers and 43% from the floor. Defensively the 'Noles held Miami to just 28%.

But you knew that would not last. As Leonard Hamilton said after the game, Miami is just too good of a shooting team.

And they proved it connecting on 52% of their shots in the final period.

But even after Miami closed the gap to 43-40 less than four minutes into the second half and later trailed just 50-46, FSU kept its composure. Even a charge called on Okaro White that negated a Jon Kreft basket did not unravel the team.