Prior to the season, the primary goal for Florida State was just to get to the NCAA Tournament. With that scratched off the list, the Seminoles are trying to get the highest possible seed and as close to home as they can.
The obvious desired destination for FSU is Orlando. That’s only about a 4-hour trek from Tallahassee and with a large fan base, would likely serve as a home court advantage for the Seminoles. In that state of Florida this season, FSU is a perfect 19-0.
For that to happen, Florida State needs to capture a No. 4 seed or higher. FSU still has the regular season finale against Miami and the ACC Tournament to try and lock up that position.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports and ESPN’s Joe Lunardi each have the Seminoles sitting on the No. 4 line. USA Today’s Shelby Mast surprisingly has FSU as a current No. 2.
While experts or as they’ve come to be known, “bracketologists”, tend to be pretty good at what they do, they’re far from perfect when filling out projected brackets. Lunardi is the most well-known of the bracketologists, but last season, he still missed pinpointing seven of the 68 teams by more than one spot in his final bracket.
When it all comes down to it, every team vying for a spot in the NCAA Tournament is at the mercy of the NCAA Selection Committee. Using measures such as the outdated RPI and head-to-head results against common opponents among others, the committee tends to get a lot wrong both in terms of who gets in and seeding.
Once the brackets are unveiled, pundits (until they’re blue in the face) seem to make a point to express what an arduous and unenviable task committee members have and how they do an outstanding job year in and year out, despite what conventional wisdom and bracketologists may say.
Fortunately for the Seminoles, they don’t have much to worry about when it comes to getting to the dance, but getting to Orlando is far from a given. The best thing the Seminoles can do before Selection Sunday is to win as much as they can.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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