The Florida State Seminoles and the Virginia Cavaliers faced off today in the quarterfinals of the prestigious ACC tournament. This was a vital game for both teams; Florida State needed to win to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive, and Virginia is trying to win their second ACC tournament since 1976. Virginia breezed past Florida State, and won 64-51, in the third round of the ACC tournament. The Cavaliers are set to play the Pittsburgh Panthers in the semifinals this Sunday, at 1:00 est.
The Seminoles kept things close in the first half, with a five point lead by Virginia at halftime; however, in the second half, Virginia's offense--led by senior Joe Harris--shot over 47% from the field as the Cavaliers ran away with the game.Virginia, led by Tony Bennett's stifling defense, created problems for the Seminoles as they forced 14 Florida State turnovers at Greensboro.
For the second time in two weeks, the Seminoles faced a top 10 opponent with the same results. Florida State could have padded their resume with a win against # 6 Virginia that would have guaranteed the Seminoles a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Seminoles were completely out-coached and outplayed against the top ranked team, the Cavaliers. 40 of the 51 points that Florida State scored came from Okaro White (17), Ian Miller (10), and Arron Thomas (13), who seem to always be the major contributors to the scoreboard for Florida State; with only 11 points scored by the rest of the Florida State basketball team. A Florida State victory against a primer ACC team like Virginia was obviously out of reach.
Although Florida State’s coach, Leonard Hamilton, provided the Seminoles with an ACC Championship in 2012 with a win over North Carolina, fans have to wonder if Coach Hamilton is really the future of Florida State University’s basketball. With the ACC being the strongest conference in college basketball, and the Noles potentially missing the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year, one has to question the teachings of the FSU coach. Florida State 19-13 (9-9) will head back to Tallahassee with their post-season chances in the hands of the selection committee who will decide their fate March 16th on Sunday. If the Seminoles are not selected they will play in the NIT for the second straight year.
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theolympian for the picture
Edited by: Heather Ahles
Very disappointing performance by the Noles. Virginia showed the Noles what a good defense is supposed to look like. Hats off to the Cavaliers who pulled away in the second half and never looked back. They are a strong team that earned their number one seed in the tournament. Noles fans can at least be proud that they hung in there for the first half but they are going to need some true athletes and a deeper bench if they are going to try and compete in the ACC.
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