Florida State was feeling good about itself after a strong non-conference showing, a national ranking and a win over North Carolina. Since then however, the Seminoles have fallen from a sure thing as far as the NCAA Tournament goes to near being a bubble team.
All four experts we examined last week still had FSU in the dance, but in three of the four cases, it dropped at least one seed. In one case, it dropped two. The Seminoles are currently 13-5 and 2-4 in ACC play.
Projections
ESPN: East Region No. 9 seed vs. (8) Rhode Island in Pittsburgh (Jan. 18)
CBS Sports: Midwest Region No. 9 seed vs. (8) Texas (Jan. 19)
SB Nation: Midwest Region No. 8 seed vs. (9) Alabama in Omaha (Jan. 16)
NBC Sports: South Region No. 10 seed vs. (7) Kentucky in Pittsburgh (Jan. 19)
Summary
None of the four experts had Florida State playing the same opponent, but both Joe Lunardi of ESPN and Dave Ommen of NBC Sports had the Seminoles in Pittsburgh. Ommen had FSU as a No. 10 seed — the lowest among the four experts — and facing seventh-seeded Kentucky.
The teams last met in March 1993 during Florida State’s last trip to the Elite Eight, where it lost to the Wildcats. Four of the eight prior meetings have come in the NCAA Tournament. Ommen listed FSU among the last four byes.
Both Lunardi and Chris Dobberteam of SB Nation had FSU as No. 8 seeds — the highest seed among the experts. A match-up with Rhode Island, as Lunardi projects, would be the fourth match-up between the schools, but the first since the Great Alaskan Shootout in November 2000.
A contest with Alabama — as Dobbertean currently has it slated — would be the 17th ever and first since a 60-51 FSU win in the Old Spice Classic on Nov. 25, 2009. Dobbertean’s bracket was unveiled on Tuesday morning, which means three days of games could have changed things.
CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm lists FSU as a No. 9 seed facing eighth-seeded Texas. FSU is 2-0 all-time against the Longhorns, but the teams haven’t met since December 1970.
Coming up this week for FSU will be a visit to Blacksburg to face Virginia Tech on Saturday and a home contest against Georgia Tech on Wednesday. Neither team appears in any bracket, but the Hokies are among Lunardi’s “Next Four Out”.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
Mike Olivella/FSU athletics
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