Betting line

[hoosiermuskie]

FSU BY 6. Take the Muskies. I'm biased

[mumuskie87]

Ken Pom has FSU winning 78-74.

[X-Expert]

This is a bad matchup for X. FSU is much bigger, much faster, and way more depth. I hope X can pull this out somehow but just don't see it happening. SOM had a great game against MD but not sure how he will do against these bigs. I'm comforted by a few years ago when Baylor beat X with our zip em up crew but Frease (who was much slower than their bigs) had a huge game. Need to hit from outside, rebound, and limit turnovers because they turn them into points. Hate to say it but...

FSU 82
X 68

I really hope I'm wrong here

[Anti-Homer]

As I posted after the drawing on Sunday, as talented as FSU is, they were the most preferred 3 seed, b/c of how disciplined and inconsistent they often are, as evidenced by their record away from home. Their 4 best wins were against: Lou, Duke, ND, & VA. However, 4 of their losses were against non- tourney teams: Temple, Syr, Ga Tech, & Pitt. Other than Temple, the other losses referenced occurred after their greatest wins. They were 6-4 in their last 10.

All their starters have length, but have no big “boddied” (tall, not wide) post players. They have a 7 foot, 300 lb center named Obo, but he plays sparingly. Their shooting statistics are almost identical to X’s. They play best in transition, as does X, but they have greater athleticism and talent. For X to win:

- They’ll have to limit their turnovers, especially ones which lead to breakouts. Many of Tre and JP’s early shot clock 27 footers are as good as
- a t.o.
They have to win the battle of the boards. (love clichés)
- The bigs will have to score like O’Mara did against Maryland, because FSU will pressure them on the perimeter aggressively.
- Gates will have to play a lot of meaningful minutes, and be much more aggressive than normal.
- Stated again, X cannot take 27 footers early in the shot clock. They need to work the clock until they get a good look.
- I don’t expect Blueitt to have a great game offensively, because they’ll obviously key on him, and similar to Nova, most of their starters can guard 1-4 (decreasing the usual advantage which can be created with switches for tre) , so I suspect most of his shots to be heavily contested. O’Mara stepped up last game, as did Gates. X will need more of the same, and a greater output from Macura.

I expect X to play a lot of zone. FSU can create a lot of mismatches, and X is not a very good defensive team, especially in man defense. I hope I’m wrong, but I think the score will be 79-70 FSU.

[X-lucidity]

Nice recap Anti. agree. Q will need to attack rim more to then soften up their D for later kick-out passes to our shooters. Hey, will come down to X needs to shoot a better than normal %, reduce TO's and hope FSU plays a B+ or below game. However, from where X was two weeks ago, playing with house money now...

[mumuskie87]

FSU is 8-8 on neutral/opponent venues.
X is 10-9.

Last game stats for FSU -
16 TO's to opponent's 11
3 pt shooting - 2 for 13
Rebounds 46 to opponents 26.
Looks kind of similar to X's stats for many of their games - outrebounding their opponents, more TO's and bad 3 pt shooting.
Homer's cliches are on the mark - Limit TO's, Win the battle of the glass and make more 3's.
JP can't go 0-4 from 3 for X to win. For JP, it seems it is either feast or famine from 3.
Agree..playing with house money.
Not expecting a W but hoping and rooting for one.