A.c.c. basketball preview: Virginia Tech @ Florida State:

#97 R.P.I. Virginia Tech @ #27 R.P.I. Florida State:

TV coverage: 7pm, ESPN2, and ESPN3
Vegas line: VT+8.5
o/u=126
$-line: FSU is a 5.75:1 favorite and VT is a 1:4.38 dog

Any trip to any 20^th ranked 17-7 overall and tied for first-place inside the A.c.c. (8-2) opponent is no walk in the park out on their court. Any trip to the same opponent who just holds a massive frontcourt edge and just beat your on your own floor in your backyard is dicey at best.

Home team=93%
Road team=37%

Yah; it is really difficult to say with a straight face what all of you wanna hear. That Virginia Tech is the rightful favorite in this one. Their not; and this just in: “rain is rumored to be wet.” However, this one is still a race to 60 points as the one thing that has held Coach Leonard Hamilton’s team(s) back for years is offense. If they had any we could even analyze it for you. That attempt at arid-humor aside, this is basically an epic Seminole defensive hoops squad (see: at a glance below). This is a very long ‘Nole basketball team down in the paint. Although they are chasing a bit when it comes to backcourt play and that is the one match-up in which Seth and company do hold the advantage.

So yah; this one is indeed a race to 60, and it may even be a race to double-nickels (55) –first one there wins.

Florida State at a glance:

• 7^th best in defensive FG percentage allowed (37.5%)
• 9^th best in blocks per game (6)
• 16^th best in 3-point FG percentage defense (29%)
• 22^nd best in steals (8.7)
• 46^th best in offensive rebounding
• 326^th best in turnover (16.8)

Florida State Frontcourt:

• N.B.A. pros= at least 2, maybe one more on the cusp
• Injuries=1 (Terrance Shannon, 6`8“ 240 lbs. of junior year P-F, 8.8 ppg and 4 boards. Long athletic and energetic defender who had showcased bursts of scoring off the ‘Nole bench earlier this year. Now done with a nasty shoulder separation –God Bless
  

  

Bernard James (no relation to ‘bron’bron) is a 6`10“ 240 lb. human pogo stick of a power-forward down-low on the inside and his senior year game is totally dunkulicious spank you very much. Benard (back row) may technically be second in scoring (10.6 ppg), although he is number one in: boards (8.4), in blocks (2.2), in FG percentage (59.9%) in FTA’s (82), and in offensive rebounding alone with 75 offensive boards already on the year. James is a vertical one-man-explosion just begging for a place to happen that that tends to happen at or near the bucket where he routinely slams home sky-scraping dunk after dunk down-low. Mr. James has been on an offensive tear of late increasing his activity level near the hoop as he nears the end of his contract season in division-one terms. The only foible I see to his game is his brickish 51% from the charity stripe as you’d better box-out when he is shooting his ‘throws. Not bad work from the 27 year old former Air Force Staff Sergeant that you may or may not call “Sir” and who did not begin playing basketball until he joined the Air Force in 2003.

Xavier Gibson is a F-C frontcourt combo player who is likewise large and in charge at 6`11“ 248 lbs. outta Dothan Alabama. Xavier has more of a stop-unit reputation as a shot-blocker and low-post man-to-man stopper or defending savant. X does get you 7.5 points, 4.8 boards a couple of blocks and a steal; which is none to shabby Atlantic Coast work from a true big-body if you can get it. Helping out down-low is Michael Snaer, the Seminoles top returning scorer from a year ago who is now something of a 6`5“ 200 lb. junior year Swing with a play-making nose for the ball as his front-running 13.8 points per game and 3 boards and change suggests. Snaer is a good all around player who can slide back into the 2-guard role if need be making him one of the more flexible ‘Nole’s this season. The Seminole frontcourt is a little thinner no thanks to the injury to Terrance Shannon (see above shoulder hurt + a knee injury). His 8 points, 4 rebounds and stellar defensive prowess would be missed by any front-line. Chipping in during Mr. Shannon’s absence is Okaro White, a 6`8“ 204 lb. leaner sophomore power-forward who has played better since we last saw him and now gets you 8 and 5 per nite off the Seminole bench along with 81% from the FT-line and a unexpected 32% from beyond the arc. Okaro has yet to live up to his scoring hype, though most believe that this is a kid with a very high production based ceiling.

Jon Kreft is a bona-fide 7` 262 lb. lumbering true-Center senior season Pivot monster for Coach Leonard Hamilton at Florida State. Kreft is a Chipola Community College juco transfer who gets you 3 points, 3 boards and a block off the Seminole pine in frontcourt relief. Kreft also has what I can only describe as a low-rent reputation for trouble on and off the court alike. Cocaine and marijuana charges in addition to team suspensions dot Mr. Kreft’s sorted resume at this stage of his college game that actually began way back in 2006. Kreft is a wanna be enforcer; and in all fairness that’s all well and good; if you are an effective and sporting enforcer who simply plays damn hard right up until the echo of the whistle. There are allowances for such if you walk the talk on a team that mandates über physical-play. However, “…all the world’s a stage” and Kreft’s lip-service is posing at best. Nevertheless and in frontcourt summary, as you can see this is a vertically gifted F.S.U. frontline that clearly is the strength of the 2011-2012 Seminole basketball team this side of Ian Miller at Guard.

Florida State Backcourt:

• Association pros=possibly 1
• Hurts=zero

  

Senior year #3 Luke Loucks, who stands in a 6`5“ and goes 201 lbs. on the Toledo’s leads F.S.U. in assists with 4 is second in steals (1.3) and gets you 7 points per game the hard-way, despite rather limited shooting range for a point-guard. As anomalous statistical quirks go, I give you the fact that Luke is the most experienced Guard in the entire A.c.c. with 125 total career games played. Pitching in, in the ‘Nole backcourt is Jeff Peterson, a 6` 192 lb. senior year baller with no jersey number in the Lindy’s pre-season guide thanks to having been a Larry Brown ‘esque playing vagabond who has nomadically transferred from Iowa, to Arkansas and now to Tallahassee. This itinerant Guard has a reputation for shooting the rock well despite his 41% start to the season from the floor and his 26% range from beyond the arc this campaign. Jeff has shot has high as 39% from 3-point land since he broke in as a freshman way back in 2007. Right now Jeff nets you 4 points and is second in assists with 2 and not much else thus far in his sixth year of D-1 basketball. #30 Ian Miller is back and in just half a season the 6`3“ 183 lb. super-sophomore is third in scoring at 9.9 points per game after suffering the always uncomfortable “groan” I mean groin-injury earlier this year. Miller is a pure scorer who had a prolific high school career doing just that, putting the biscuit in the basket. Penetration and mid-range are the names of his game and he has been a real shot in the arm boost(er) to an otherwise borderline anemic F.S.U. backcourt since his return. That said Miller has cooled of by nearly 4 ppg since we last saw him just a hair over a month ago.

Terry Whisnatt II did round out the ‘Nole’s backcourt rotation at 6`3“ and 174 lbs. worth of pure if not wire looking shooting-Guard. Terry is said to be the best pure shooter on the Seminole roster this season in spite of having chilled all the way out to 23% from downtown. Terry gets you 3 points and a couple of assists as a sub off the bench (along with Miller). At least he did as Terry has not played in 2 of the last 3 Seminole games and his playing time was cut to 4 token minutes or less in every game not named Wake Forest since we saw him last. Now chipping in, in lieu of Terry II, is #4 Deividas Dulkys (see: right) a final year Lithuanian imported baller who has seen his contributions rise all campaign long as this is one streaky offensive player who is either quite pedestrian or nothing short of sizzling hot. Just ask UNC how Deividas “I’d like to buy a vowel” Dulkys 32 point outburst tastes. Double-D has had 6 nifty scoring eruptions this season as the 6`5“ 195 lb. lockerrom antidote of a fun loving shooting-guard nets you 7.3 points on 38% shooting from 3-point land when he is not busy igniting  like offensive kerosene. Bonus points are hereby awarded to Double-D that his favorite basketball player is none other than Earvin “magic” Johnson.

Conclusion(s), illation, OPT digits:
In burnt orange & Chicago maroon terms it shall be most fascinating to see how Seth’s “simplified” offensive sets work vs. a downright salty Florida State defensive squad that swatted a stunning 17 Hokie shots last time out. That plus the powerhouse Seminole corporeal style of defensive play vs. the low voltage Hokie offense that is a year or two away from physically filling out and throwing the switch makes this one sketchy on paper.

It is fair to say that Florida State could very well be the best stop-unit in the entire A.c.c. right now. Their offense however needs some kick if not some outright punch, and Tech must take full advantage of any and all easy baskets that Seminole turnovers will likely generate in this one. (For a change) I’m not gonna go binary and make this one more sophisticated than it already is. So here goes … simply put, you have just gotta beat any team this large and in charge in frontcourt terms, and this vertical and athletic out on the Wings down the floor as often as humanly possible. The last thing you want is for Leonard Hamilton’s boys to get set-up and ready to play halfcourt defense where so much Seminole length down in the key prohibits drives to the basket and offensive rebounding by Virginia Tech. Finally, keep in mind that F.S.U. is +1 on rest/reps having played on last Saturday whereas VT ran at home on Sunday night. That’s really more like +1.5 to +2 when you factor in VT having to make one of the longer Atlantic Coast roadtrips of the year.

Seth’s good buddy Len Hamilton has lead Florida State to their best A.c.c. start in school history this season. The ‘Noles are 5-zip at home in A.c.c. play and 13-1 overall down on their own floor in Tallahassee. So this is already something of a banner Seminole year indeed and F.S.U. does need to win tonite to keep pace with U.N.C. and Duke.

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 And yet there is something spurious (see the sporting pun?) about F.S.U. that reminds me of a younger Johnny McEnroe way back in the day. Just like Johnny Mac’ this Seminole team has a perplexing tendency to play to its level of competition. As Chris Coleman just sagely pointed out to me, just ask U.N.C., Duke and hooVa how that tastes. All are nationally ranked basketball squads and all have been beaten by Len Hamilton’s team this year. Then we come to the matter of 2 Ivy League L’s and two more lowly looking Atlantic Coast L’s to Boston College and Clemson who are just not epic basketball teams no matter how you slice it. See the pattern? And does said pattern remind you of anyone? It should, as Seth’s younglings have done the very same thing this season. We’ve been way way up for ‘Cuse, U.N.C., virginia, and Duke. Even though we have not always won, we have anted-up and kicked-in a notch if not notches plural and given 3 of those 4 a fit and we did win once vs. nationally ranked france.

“We’re just trying to find one thing that can help us redefine ourselves.”
-head coach Seth Greenberg on Virginia Tech-

Hmmmmmm, that’s a curious thing to say is it not men? All the more so during a punchy 14-11 season that is on the brink of finishing south of .5oo and this coming from a program that if filled with talented, puerile, if not precocious youth that could benefit from more work indeed. And yet this is also from a program that just announced it will decline any potential C.B.I. or C.I.T. post-season bids. Yah; I’d say some redefinition is in order – every bit as much as I’d say the future is now. As in Virginia Tech must win right now in order to secure the freebie hosting bid from the ESPN backed N.I.T. or else.

So those two factors have conspired to force me to lower my tomahawk chop fueled margin of a Seminole victory for tonite. As F.S.U. is prolly looking forward to dates @ State and at home vs. #4 ranked Duke; and Virginia Tech has tended to rise to this kinda nationally ranked and nationally televised occasion in the past during this regular season smartly enough. Unfortunately, “where you stand is where you sit” and F.S.U. is standing much taller in the paint via someone’s epic dating blast of: “You kan’t coach height.”

VT keeps this one closer for longer than they should, though in the end the enhanced Seminole home-court shooing (48.5%) and the salty F.S.U. home-court defense (36.9% allowed) will prove too tall for Tech. Home is where the heart is and I’m siding with the A.c.c. home team in this one.

Virginia Tech=58, Florida State=74

“LETS GO!”

“HOKIES!”

bourbonstreet**