FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
Record: 18-2 (6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) AP ranking: 6 RPI: 5 Coach: Leonard Hamilton, 15th year, 296-189 (.610) Best win: 88-72 over Duke Worst loss: 89-86 to Temple Best stat: Over their 20 games to date, the Seminoles have outscored their opponents by a total of 148 points in the first half and 149 in the second. Best player: 6-foot-10 freshman Jonathan Isaac. Not only has Isaac produced a double-double in points and rebounds in his last three games, all against ranked opponents, but he leads the team in blocked shots – 1.5 a game – and hits 54 percent of his field-goal tries, 38.5 percent of his 3-pointers and 82.4 percent of his free throws. In short, a matchup nightmare for any team not part of the NBA. Can be dancin’ in the desert if: If they can play as well away from home as they have in going 14-0 thus far in Tallahassee. Long, athletic and ridiculously deep with a dozen players averaging 10 or more minutes and no one averaging as many as 29, FSU could become a Final Four favorite by March, though Hamilton has never coached a team past the Sweet 16. Prediction: Elite Eight Coachspeak: “(FSU is) a team that is a very talented, athletic bunch. They have depth, leadership and seem to really love playing with each other. They lived in our paint. The constant pressure and depth just wears a team down.” – Duke interim coach Jeff Capel after a 88-72 road loss to the Seminoles
The only time the Florida State Seminoles have advanced to the NCAA basketball tournament’s Final Four, Richard Nixon was in his first term as president, America’s “A Horse With No Name” topped the Billboard pop charts and “The Godfather” was beginning a very long run as box office king.
The year was 1972, then-future Georgia coach Hugh Durham was running the show at FSU and though the ‘Noles fell to UCLA in that year’s title game, their 81-76 loss was the closest anyone ever came to the Bruins in their 10 championship-game victories under coach John Wooden.
Yet despite that stirring success in only its second NCAA tourney appearance, FSU hasn’t returned to college basketball’s final weekend since.
Listen to Louisville coach Rick Pitino after his No. 13 Cardinals lost 73-68 at No. 6 Florida State (18-2, 6-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) on Saturday and it’s easy to believe all that may be about to change, however.