#133 R.P.I. Virginia Tech @ #44 R.P.I. Florida State:  

Virginia Tech men’s basketball returns to the court down in Tally, FLA on a Saturday afternoon matinee.

The Hokies just got buzzer-gutted when the Hurricanes swamped them with a Cat-V last-second shot upon which the ‘bank’ was open indeed, in spades in actuality. With no word yet on hommie calling: “glass” or not? Less was c.Moore on a k.Kong-sized gut-punch; below the O&M beltline. Now the truly snakebit Gobblers must sojourn 641-miles So-by-So-West to take on fellow sunshine stater Florida State itself. The Seminoles enter this one at a respectable 13 up against 6 down on the season. Good for 4th place in the All Championship Conference at 6-3 in interleague play. And likely making post-season reservations as we type. Nonetheless, what you wanna know is… who is gonna win and by how much, rights? So, read on, to finds… out!

Florida State Head Coach: James Leonard Hamilton: age=73, 613–443 (.58o) overall, 413–233 (.639) at Florida State.
$2,250,000.oo

Baller Hamilton played college basketball at the University of Tennessee at Martin; where he had the tag of an outburst scorer (55 max’, their all-time single-game mark).

After this Leo’ went into coaching and won the 1978 NCAA Championship under old-school Coach Joe B. Hall at Kentucky. He is a two-time A.c.c. Coach of the Year (2oo9, 2o12) and he is also the first coach to be named coach of the year in both the Big East (Miami Hurricane, 1995, 1999), and the A.c.c. His teams have qualified for seven NCAA tournaments and eight N.I.T.’s. He was the old-school U.P.I. National Coach of the Year in 1995 for da U; and he has won two conference championships (1 B.E., 1 A.c.c.).

Coach Leo’ is the Winningest Coach in Florida State History (27o wins) and the 8th all-time Winningest Coach in A.c.c. History (27o wins). He also coached one season for the Washington Bullet’s, though was un-retained by #45 M.J. himself. Leo -a Master’s degree holder his ownself- is an ace coach in the FSU.edu and former classrooms as more than 94%t of his players have earned their degrees. Bravo Leo! And the Coach Hamilton coaching tree has already sired eight other D-1 men’s head coaches. Very Pat Riley ‘esque; as Coach Hamilton teams’ have enjoyed a stinging defensive rep’ for many years.

Hamilton’s induction into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame marks the fifth Hall of Fame he will be a member of during his illustrious career. He is also a member of the Austin Peay State University, the University of Tennessee at Martin, and the University of Miami Athletic Hall of Fames.  Hamilton received the 2015 Alumnus of Distinction award from Gaston (N.C.) College at its 50^th Anniversary Gala on May 16, 2015.

Leo.edu earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education from Tennessee-Martin in 1971 and received his Master’s Degree in Physical and Health Education from Austin Peay State in 1973.

As to me… this is an underrated all-’round roundball coach here, men.
Prolly fair to say F.s.u.’s very own hooping f.Beamer.

Daddy Leo’ is married to Claudette Hamilton. Claudette is a volunteer tutor, and they have two children: Lenny, 26, a musician; and daughter Allison, 11.

Florida State at a glance:

• 15th in Swipes!!
• 75th in offensive-rebounding.
• 76th in Swats.
• 292nd in 3-point-percentage allowed D!
• Everything else grades: C to C+ to lowest possible B— straight across. Nothing epic, tho’ nearly nothing below average either. A ‘solid’ hoops squadron to be quite sure.
• 1 injury listed: (Coach God Bless) … now, 2; Twice Bless!

Returning Starters=Zilch! Zero. Zip.

Florida State Strengths:

• Did love the 1st-school, old-school team bio’ pics. All in matching blazers and garnet-gold cravats. Sharp yesteryear Together Everyone Achieves, More; look!
• Nobody can (still) put a practice together like F.s.u., and their 19-ballers who punch the hoops clock here! XXL sized or stockpiled roster itself 1o1.
• #SizeMatters… wimminz species rejoice… these hommies is looooong in the low-post!
• Ditto very athletic team in kinetic terms… these long-legs can actually move/run a bit.
• r-Soph., Caleb Mills, is your alpha ‘nole this season after having been the ceti or C-side Cougar last year. As this H-town (Houston) transfer baller has come up a bit down in Tallahassee. The team lead at: 13.4 ppg with 2.7 rpg and apg, and the likewise team-lead at: 1.7 spg says so. That’s not epic, tho’ that is a pretty reasonable all-’round roundball swagg.  All-American Athletic Conference second team and A.A.C. (preseason) Player of the Year two seasons back showcases the potential here. So, there is that… after that, things have underwhelmed a bit here. The book here says that Mr. Mills comes to town with good length and as the fastest player on the court. Real speedster in T&F terms. Listed as a Pt.Guard outta high school, seems mo’ parts fearless slasher on breaking tape to me. Rivals no.199 ranked baller in scholastic terms. Has grown 2″ since H.S. and found 5 lbs. to now go 6′5″, 180 lbs. Real string-bean lowest B.M.I. build. Like, spindly Jenny Craig poster-child thin. Listed as a lowercase **** recruit, had a lotta southern schools (including a few S.E.C.’s) after him. Has a really tight handle on his jab-step foreshadowing crossover. Twinkletoes typa footworks. Hard guy to check once he feels his flow and catches his sexxy. More of a lead-One and not a pure Qb1 at the helm. Good player— 86% free-throwing hints at this; every bit as much as 35% long and 43% overall hint at this One needs to be less me-1st. Runs about 2:1 good nites to chilly nites, tho’ the recent warming trend is on-trend indeed. Does have a history of dings/dents to boot; Coach God bless on dat. (UPDATE: …has some kinda what they are calling: ‘throat infection’… St.Blàise bless… and is QUESTIONABLE for Saturday as of Friday nite… dang).
• 6′7″, 2oo lb., Matthew Cleveland, is a Shooting-G or Two by way of the ATL, Ga. Matty antes you: a 2nd-best: 10.4 ppg with 4.9 rpg on 1.2 apg. That said, Mat’ appears to have had the rug-pulled-out-from-under-him and hit the proverbial rookie or nugget year wall of late. As he has only logged one game of overall shooting north of 40% in the last couple of weeks of runs.  VERY streaky baller, prolly not your alpha pick to paint your house in the off-season for it. ***** or penta-star recruit and the crown-jewel of F.s.u.’s 6th ranked national recruiting class last year. The whispers say: ‘elite transition’ player who thrives in the open court. F.S.U. Academic Dean’s List shows you he can thrive off-court as well. .edu proppers on dats. Consensus National Top-22 baller, Rivals #14 baller overall. Rarified 3-level scorer (closer, mid-range, deep). As Mr. Cleveland is a very explosive athlete with outstanding body control. A Jack the Ripper or slasher who specializes in making tough shots; a versatile guy who can even chip-in and backcourt rebound a bit as well. 48% from the floor just does not make any sense next to: 50% from the charity stripe and a near abysmal 16% from long. All my preseason mags say Cleveland is experiencing (unexpected) lake-effect snow for that. As does his pretty competitive AA Pace H.S. Peachtree state championship bling. Did come from and remained at a smaller or lowercase high school program, so at least he has a sense of loyalty. Won back-to-back Ga. State Titles in fact; seemed to raise his scholastic post-season game as well. Had a buncha Big-10 and P.A.C.-10 offers. Good player; and this kid is prolly a Pro’, only calculus is… domesticated or exported?
• Malik Osborne, is a: 6′9″, 22o lb., P/F for F.s.u. r-Senior and de facto team leader or at least Floridian elder-statesman for it all. Third leading scorer at: 10.0 ppg and the first-leading rebounder at: 6.9 rpg. 41% from the floor and 35% from behind the are serviceable and 83% from the FT-line is more than that. The book here says: ‘efficient scorer’ and ‘defensive worker’. Not that there is anything ‘rong with dat… likewise being named to the: Florida State University President’s Task Force on Anti-Racism, Equality & Inclusion for the 2o2o-2o21. Mr. Malik has already pocketed one u.grad’ (Criminology) and is getting his second u.grad’ (Humanities and Communications) as I type. Good on dat. Rice Owl transfer baller… where he started out at 10 ppg and 8 rpg and has tailed off every year until this year ever since. Said to be a good bodying post-defender. Had a VeeTee transfer offer or so the vibes said… good H.S. digits tho’ not great. Seems to have done a lot with himself as the lack of remaining headroom goes. Bra-vo @this Black Sabbath for that. (UPDATE: was listed as: “DOUBTFUL” with an ankle injury… St.Philip bless! Tho’ when Eye re-Googled this… he has opted for surgery. OUT for the duration… dang!)
• …recall… the Leo’ system does NOT lend itself to heavy box score individual-centric numbers as you peruse all of this… some of these guys surely tear down bigger digits at other schools.

  

F.S.U. Weaknesses:

• see above and below… this is one nearly overnite a suddenly hurtin’ hoops squad… Coach God Bless!
• Six, that’s (6) different kids just up and went Exit Stage Left. As did their combined ≅55 ppg and ≅20 rpg if you need ’em.
• Obviously… Experience and Learning Curve Effects here may or may not be effective as they well-seasoned erstwhile could be.
• Did Eye mention the 2o2o-2o21 personnel Turnover, yets?

‘Nole Bench: (depth=8’ish, very deep team here)

Towering Tanor Ngom, true-C, is back after a denting earlier this campaign. Also back would be his senior season… 7′2″, 237 lbs., by way of: Dakar, Senegal, then by way of: Ryerson University (Canada). As this kid is indeed an emerald in the N.A.F.T.A. tall-grass, ‘eh‘. And this seemingly part-time starting caliber guy is just getting back in the lineup… as are his truncated: 4.3 ppg on 2.0 rpg and 1 bpg. This on an astonishing 83% overall, however!  As you now clearly know where this kid lives and goes to work relative to the rack itself. Career near 80% FT-shooter, so there could be a raw or uncooked skill-set to marinate here. Does have a legit 15′ feathery J or mid-range itself. Quick lateral guy who covers/anchors a lotta ground, and frankly it looked like he could still add at least a 10-lb. plate or two to his floor game to me. Holds several Canadian shot-blocking collegiate records and program rebounding records and nearly went 2o19 pro’ for it. Does have a history of hand injuries (St.Jullia bless), which have retarded his O development a bit. Only began basketballing at age 15, in Germany; did I mention the rawness, yet? As who knows what this kid is on a full hoopology life-cycle at Center? As Tanor may just be a fringe overseas pro’ for his D and rebounding as is.

Additionally, F.s.u. brings: “The Big Duke”, 7′5″, 235 lb Naheem Yamma McLeod C and 7′, 244 lb., Quincy Ballard C attcha off the pine. McLeod (see: pic) is a Philly inner-city baller from: Chipola College prior to F.s.u. Ballard is a Syracuse, N.Y. escapee. Both look the physically developed part with man’s-game ‘son’, to me. Combined they net you: 6 ppg with 5 rpg and 2 bpg. On 62% and 66% shooting respectively. Lindy’s said that McLeod is something of a point-C or Sabonis passing/table-setting big-man. McLeod also led Chipola to the NJCAA Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas in 2o21. And was 247’s 24th ranked Pivot or Center prior to that. His mom is 5-5 and his dad is 7-5 his little sis goes 6-8! WOW. With Ballard being more of a sh0t-altering defensive ace; who honestly may have been something of a big-man ‘reach’ (pardon the pun) as he was not VHT (very highly touted) outta high school. This does not even include likewise 6′13″, tho’ lean, leaner, leanest 19o lb., Four or P/F, true-Fr., John Butter: who caddies for 5.4 ppg with 2.6 rpg and plays more so for his kinetics, springiness, and surprising 43% from 3-point-land. As this is one big, bigger, biggest Gigantopithecus team folks.

r-Sr., RayQuan Evans is an off-G, who checks-in at: 6′4″, 2oo lbs., as a North Idaho College transfer baller. 7.1 ppg with 2.0 rpg on 2.9 apg and 1.7 spg is not the worst composite work from the pine if you can get it. Evans is said to be a ‘glue-type guy’ who did start 18 times last season. Has his degree and surprisingly made the All-A.c.c. Tourney team, so he is clearly not spotlight shy. Rare Indian or Native American hoopsters as well. Came up down the street from where Gen.Custard was killed (no bleep). Has an associate degree from: Nor.Idaho as well. Makes clutch FT-attempts or game-winners on the reg’. Did cut down the nets and garner a championship bling for helping North Idaho to the 2o19 NWAC Championship. That counts. Good locker-room kid with plenty of experience coming to your local Y to school you for years to come.

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of Seminoles who could scalp @Tech=8.

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is…

…is that you (now) gotta serially wonder if anyone is gonna wanna take our Spring Break business?

Or, if menz hoops is teetering right on the brink of being proven to be ’22 Spring… Broke?

---

I mean, we are a .5oo hoops program right now who is a lowly looking .222 in inter-league play.

Yes, and thanks to Commonwealth Commissioner/Commissar Mark R. Warner, we are in the P5 and signature shiny A.c.c. Tho’ just how often does the Atlantic Coast Chump or doormat team get any post-season love?

As it seriously is getting close to now or never for Mike Young and Co.

What with two whole entire W’s since the week b4 December 25th!

 ***

Our handy-dandy friend the so-called Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is calling for a mere 22-point VomitT down @Tally. The caveat being… as Recency Effect or horns/Halos goes and it is only calling for getting beat by a couple of shots. It was really skewed in F.s.u.’s favor earlier on in A.c.c. scrums. Tho’ pro-rata and this (still) works out to a much more manageable looking 2.5-point Seminal moment.

The annualized year-to-date vitals say that… VeeTee is up just north of +2% in shooting percentage margin (nearly equally O & D split); with V.P.I. up +11% in 3-point percentage margin (just a little mo’ per D than O), and F.s.u. is up +2 Windex Wipes in rebounding margin year-to-date. (Tough to fight all that length on the o-Glass).

The most recent 5-game metrics say that… the Hokies are now up +3% in shooting percentage margin (all on very decent shooting of late); the Gobblers are now up +6% in 3-point percentage margin (all D less one-percent on O), and yet the Seminoles are now up a useful looking +6 in rebounding margin as caroms go off the fiberglass. (Nearly all of which is F.s.u. plum gettin’ after recent misses; with Vah.Tech nearly breaking even).

Armchair Pt.Guard’s:

WAGNER POWER PAINTERS:
Florida State ranks third in the A.c.c. with 32.7 points per game in the paint! Led upfront down-low by Matthew Cleveland averaging 6.6.

WHAT ROAMING CHARGES?
Virginia Tech is the top team in the A.c.c shooting 39.4% from downtown!

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS!
Florida State has not been beaten @home in a whopping 56-days and counting!

SAY: “AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Coach Hamilton said there has been an outbreak of tonsilitis on the team! Yikes!!! St.Blàise bless-bless-bless!

Leading scorer Caleb Mills suffered through it on Wednesday night and barely played in the second half, and now sourcing says that multiple Seminoles have come down with it.

F.s.u. is a .889 host; whereas  VeeTee is .375 as a guest.
VeeTee is up +4% at the charity stripe for the year.
F.s.u. is up +7 in R&R in the last fortnight.

The Call...

No.63 Net Ranking Virginia Tech @ no.7o Net Ranking Florida State:

Well, Eye sure was gonna call for a tomahawk chop to the po’ Hokiebird’s neck here…
…then I ran the maths and not my mouf, see?

And dangnation if we/VeeTee are not catching a wobbly. insalubrious and partially lame-O (Godspeed) F.S.U. hoops team at just the right exact time.

–oOo–

That sickbay science fact plus the objective F.s.u.’s lack of 3-point D is our one lifeline here. Besides that, we is prolly pretty well D.O.A. vs. the Seminoles at full war chant strength.
Granted. Mea Culpa. Fair-n-square, rights?

This one however has that oddball roundball rhomboid look-n-feel to it…
…and shooters do shoot. (Hint: F.s.u. is allowing over 41% on 3’s of late…)

Or in other words… our shooters have gotta be due to put in work at some point in time… and pinching this one with three consecutive or threepeating lowercase A.c.c. teams on tap after that?

Could just final-2nd-chance the whole 2o22 shebang.

I’ma not terribly sure how… tho’ I’ma gonna go for the upsetting gusto here.

The good-guys teepee on F.s.u. and (somehow), nick this one late.

🦃 >>> 🏀 >>> 🏹

 

(41% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=78, Florida State=74

please support the VT F.C.A.!

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**