Put on Your Dancing Shoes Seminoles

While nothing is official just yet and I'm sure the NCAA committee will look for a reason, any reason to keep FSU out, it would appear that the moons have aligned and FSU is headed back to the tournament for the first time since 1998. FSU defeated Clemson 73-66 clinching just it's second winning ACC record in 16 seasons.

Deja Vu set in for a moment towards the end of the second half as Clemson closed and 18 point FSU lead to three.

Once again Toney Douglas was the star for FSU with 23 points and a crucial block at the end of the game as Derwin Kitchen turned it over with 22 seconds left and a four point lead.

Despite the late tournament Kitchen was impressive, he played over 30 minutes in his second consecutive game and extended his double figures scoring streak to four games.

Chris Singleton also scored double figures for the first time in what seems like an eternity. With Uche Echefu limited in his minutes due a back injury Ryan Reid had an impressive game adding eight points and five rebounds from the bench, although I wish he would shoot less.

FSU now travels to Duke next weekend without the weight of a two game losing streak and the feeling that they need one more upset to be considered tournament worthy.

There was a player on Clemson's bench wearing Rec Specs and unfortunately it wasn't Horace Grant's Nephew.

Ron King's jersey was retired at halftime and dude looked like a Pimp!

FSU baseball faces first test.

This weekend's series should allow FSU fans to gauge where this young team is at. While they are ranked 5th in the  country there are still some questions about how many runs this offense will be able to put up. Also how long can FSU expect these young pitchers to dominate and not feel the pressure?

The first two games of the series will be played Thursday and Friday in Tallahassee and Saturday and Sunday's games will be played at Auburn.

The Seminoles are trying to replace Buster Posey with a variety of players. Rafael Lopez hopes to replace him behind the plate defensivley. In the first series he threw out three baserunners and tagged out another at the plate after he tried to score on a snap throw to first from Lopez.

Geoff Parker takes the mound for the 'Noles tonight at 6.

I haven't had a chance to watch Deion's new show Prime U yet due to a week full of tests but I did DVR so I'll let you know how it is when I get a chance to check it out later this weekend.

"Nole of the Week

This week's winner is none other than Prime Time himself. It's a bit of a slow week with sports I had to go with the NFL Networks TV personality who has a new show premiering on wedensday.

The description on the networks website for wednesday's show reads this:

Chronicles the journey of NFL hopefuls Darius Butler (Connecticut), Emmanuel Cook (South Carolina), Lendy Holmes (Oklahoma), Captain Munnerlyn (South Carolina), and Lyndell Sargeant (Penn State) as they train under Deion Sanders' tutelage for the NFL Scouting Combine

Anytime there is more Deion on the Tube, I'm a happy man. For more Neon Deion check out this video on his time at FSU.

Great Weekend for the 'Noles

Well you might be tired of reading it, I know I'm tired of writing it but Toney Doulgas carried the 'Noles to another victory last night against Virginia Tech. Finally they broke threw with an end game situation. 

Douglas, who dribbled around for what felt like an enterity at the end of the UNC game didn't wait this time, he took it to the hole and hit a floater to give FSU a two-point lead with 6.2 seconds left. Virginia Tech missed a good look at the end to become the latest guests on the Toney Douglas show. Douglas finshed the game with 22 points

Derwin Kitchen continued his impressive play scoring 19 points. He credits his play as of late to the extra conditioning he has been doing in the mornings before class and after practice.

Echefu also scored in double figures for the 4th straight game with 12 points.

FSU improves to 21-6 overall and 8-4 in ACC, good for 2nd overall in the conference (shouldn't the number two team in the ACC be in the top 25?).

The Baseball team also got off to a great start on the season, sweeping Hofstra in a four game series.

A Few quick observations, Rafael Lopez has emerged as the team's starting catcher and he has a cannon. Mike McGee looks to put up big offensive numbers this year, and he wasn't too bad on the mound today getting the W. Freshman pitcher Sean Gilmartin looked like the starting pitcher that FSU always seems to be lacking come tournament time.

The Woman's hoops team continues to rack up the victories in hopes of perhaps winning the ACC title. If they win the remaining 3 games of the season they will win the school's first ever regular season ACC basketball title.

Threat Eliminated

It's Toney Douglas' world and the ACC is just living in it. Douglas scored 24 points tonight extending his streak of scoring in double figures to 20 games in a 80-67 victory over rival Miami.

He also was part of a defensive rotation that finally put an end to Jack McClinton's streak of scoring 30 plus. McClinton had scored 30 plus in three straight games, and he didn't do it against the likes of Virginia or NC State, no he did it against the big boys. He scored 32 against Wake, 34 against the Dukies, and 35 on the Tar Heels. FSU face guarded him much of the game and he struggled to get open looks. The Seminoles rotated Douglas, Jordan DeMercey, and Devidas Dulkys on McClinton with Derwin Kitchen also covering him at times. 

"They face guarded the whole time" McClinton said after the game, he also said it was the best a team has done defensively on him all season.

Miami was in it until FSU went on a 10-3 run which was exclimated by an electric dunk by DeMercey which should be on SC's top 10 tonight.

It was the sixth time this season that Florida State was able to bounce back from a loss and avoid creating a losing streak. It was the 'Noles 20th win this season and while it is impressive history has shown that you can't leave it up to the committee when it comes to Florida State.

"We need 22 wins before I think we can be considered a lock" Toney Douglas said.

They travel to Blacksburg, VA. on Sunday to take on Virginia Tech at 8:00p.m.

Uh-oh another story involving FSU and McDonalds. Don't worry though this one doesn't involve anyone falling asleep while waiting for their Big Mac. FSU commit Michael Snaer has been named to the 2009 McDonald's All-American team. Snaer is a 6-4 shooting guard who could help fill the void that will be left by Toney Douglas after this season. Rivals.com rates Snaer the 11th best player in the country.

Douglas vs. McClinton

Toney Douglas and Jack McClinton not only will be competing against each other tomorrow night on the court, but they're also both competing for ACC player of the year honors.

Both senior guards are tied for second in the league in scoring average at 20.3 points a game behind Tyler Hansbrough who averages 21.1. 

McClinton scored 35 points sunday against UNC. The third straight game in which he has dropped more than 30 on an opponent. He leads the league in made 3-points shots(79) 3-pt fg percentage (.479). In their first match-up this season McClinton dropped 28 on the 'Noles, the highest total for an opposing player this season in their 75-69 win. The victory snapped a five game losing streak to FSU.

ouglas dropped 30 on the "Canes in the first go round (that's two more that McClinton ACC voters).  Doulgas has an advantage over McClinton in that FSU is 19-6 and could essentially clinch a berth in the tournament if they can win at least 3 of their remaining 6 games. He also is a tremendous defender, he has the second most steals in the ACC with 51 behind just Ty Lawson. He also averages the 3rd most minutes a game in the conference, FSU really seems to struggle when their leader is not on the floor. 

My vote would be for Douglas but I might be just a tiny bit biased. As I am writing this I'm watching Clemson-Maryland and Mike Patrick just agreed with me that it should be Douglas for POY over McClinton, America chose McClinton over Hansbrough. Unfortunately the tobacco road bias will kick in when its time to vote and Gerald Henderson of Duke or Ty Lawson or Hansbrough from UNC will likely walk away the award.

It should be a great match-up to watch tomorrow and the first 500 fans to the game will recieve rally towels. I predict 30 for Toney, and 24 for McClinton.

Seminole of the Week

In an effort to perhaps to make my content a little more regular each monday I will name an ex-Seminole of the week.

This week I have chosen  Al Thornton who played in All-Star weekend's Rookie-Sophomore challenge. Thornton scored 10 points in just 22 minutes, he also had two rebounds and two assists. Thornton was snubbed from last year's game but this year the wrong was righted. 

Thornton hopes to return to All-Star weekend next year, but it would have to be as a regular All-Star sine it will be his 3rd year in the league.

Perhaps he will be joined that weekend by former teamamte Toney Douglas who would be hopefully be a rookie in the league and be asked to participate in the rookie-sophomore challenge.

P.S. Myron Rolle is smart (which is good because he kind of sucks at football, there I said it) But he's not the only T.J. Henderson on the team he was joined by teammates Christian Ponder (Who like Rolle graduated in just 2 1/2 years and is currently working on his MBA), Andrew Datko, and Kendrick Stewart.

Labor Day Plans: BBQ and the 'Canes

Here it is the long awaited release of 34th FSU football schedule in the Bowden Era:

Date                 Opponent                           Location   

Sept. 7              Miami                                  Tallahassee, FL

Sept. 12            Jacksonville State                 Tallahassee, FL

Sept. 19            BYU                                    Provo, UT

Sept. 26            USF                                     Tallahassee, FL

Oct. 3                Boston College                     Chestnut Hill, MA

Oct. 10              Georgia Tech                       Tallahassee, FL

Oct. 17              OPEN

Oct. 22              North Carolina (Thurs)          Chapel Hill, NC

Oct. 31              NC State                             Tallahassee, FL

Nov. 7               Clemson                              Clemson, SC

Nov. 14             Wake Forest                        Winston-Salem, NC

Nov. 21             Maryland                             Tallahassee, FL

Nov. 28             Florida                                 Gainesville, FL

 

FSU has won the last two games against Miami played on Labor Day, but lost two years ago when they played Clemson.

This schedule is extremely tough with the only real "off"  game coming against Jacksonville State who is still dangerous with former LSU quarterback and 2007 SEC Championship MVP Ryan Perrilloux. The 'Noles trip to BYU will be no walk in the park.  And you don't think USF would love to come up to Tallahassee and earn some respect from their in-state peers.

Thursdays nights game against North Carolina on the road will be an extremely tough test with Butch Davis recruiting more talent than ever at UNC. He brought in the eighth ranked class according to Rivals.

How sweet would it be if FSU was able to knock off the Gators in the Swamp, leaving Tebow with a home loss in his final game in Gainesville.

Don't Throw That #11 Jersey Away Just Yet

Hopefully last year when senior quarterback Drew Weatherford was over taken by Christian Ponder before the season you didn't throw away that #11 FSU jersey. Sophomore linebacker Vince Williams was told earlier this week during Mat drills that he could wear number eleven next season if he so pleased. Williams wanted to wear 11 because fellow sophomore linebackers Nigel Carr and Bradham are 12 and 13 respectively. So if you really want to pull the trigger on that #11 FSU jersey you saw at TJ Max earlier this week, but didn't because you were afraid of owning a Weatherford Jersey, go ahead because in my opinion Williams will be a terrific linebacker in the years to come.

Last night Florida State took yet another step towards the big dance in March by not dropping a home game against lowly Virginia. Toney Douglas as always led the way with 19 points, but he had support from all over the court. Uche Echefu had 17 points, Alabi had 13, and Devidas Dulkys knocked down 3, 3-point shots. While they didn't have eye popping stats Jordan DeMercy and Luke Loucks played key minutes and did all the gritty things a basketball team needs.

Hopefully FSU coaches are keeping track of which flavor of Vitamin Water their players are drinking since some contain banned substances.

Tomorrow you should be able to plan out your fall, because the ACC is expected to release the 2009 football schedule. So to any of you who plan on getting married or doing anything important this fall take note of the schedule first.

Clemson Comeback puts 'Noles back in the Polls.

For the first time since 2003 the men's basketball team is in the top 25. They are ranked 25th in both polls. It's the latest in the season they have been ranked in the AP poll since 1993 and  first time since 98 to be in the AP poll at all.

The ranking comes following an unbelievable comeback saturday night against Clemson. Trailing 57-42 in the second half FSU refused to be blown out the way Duke was just days earlier in the same arena by the same team. Toney Douglas(like always)  put the team on his back and scored 12 points during a 23-4 run that put the Seminoles up for good.

Once again the role of second scorer rotated for the 'Noles. This time RS freshman Solomon Alabi filled the roll scoring 17 points with nine rebounds, five blocks and two steals. He was named ACC rookie of the week for his performance against the Tigers and Georgia Tech earlier in the week It was almost as if for the first time in his career he realized how much taller he was than everyone.

Beating Clemson is huge for this team. So far they had competed with, but come up short against top ten teams now they have a signature win to hang their hats on come March.

They have to be careful though to make sure they win their remaining home games because they they face stiff competition the rest of the way on the road. They have to play at Wake Forrest, Virginia Tech, Boston College, and Duke. Those games make the remaining home contests with UVA, Miami, VT, and Clemson that much more important. If they can win their remaining home games and steal one or two on the road combined with their non-conference resume and it would be safe to say that Leonard and the Boys would need some new dancing shoes.

FSU Men's Hoops Avoids a Big Sting

Yesterday's win against Georgia Tech was not pretty. It wasn't entertaining to watch.  But they came away with a must win game. GT was fresh off an upset of Wake Forrest and they were determined to bust the 'Noles Bubble. They did everything they could to keep the ball out of Toney Douglas' hands. They frustrated him early and he was just 1 of 6 from behind the three point line. With his shots not falling like they usually do, Toney made sure to get to the free throw line at the end of the game and managed to get his usual 21 points. He also had a career high six steals furthering the talk that he should be in the mix for defensive player of the year. Derwin Kitchen added 13 points to help take the load off toney. 11 of those points were scored in the second half. The role of second scorer has rotated continuously  throughout the season, but if FSU is truly going to compete for the ACC then Derwin is going to have to be able to help take the load off of Toney every night.

While GT may have been 1-6 in ACC play and will not be looked as an impressive win by the tournament comitee, it certainly would have been seen as a cripiling loss. Usually this is the type of game that FSU drops. They then have to spend the rest of their conference schedule trying to pull off an upset to make up for the loss. The pressure continually mounts against FSU as they fail to pull off the upset needed to be tourney worthy. This season however FSU has been able to avoid those types of loses which will enable them to play more freely against the bigger conference foes.

Now FSU has to turn around and prepare to face a stiff press from the 10th ranked Clemson Tigers. Clemson will be flying high after embarrassing Duke earlier this week 74-47. FSU has had their trouble holding onto the ball this season but in the second half against GT they only turned the ball over twice. That is the type of ball control they will need if they are going to be successfully in Little John Arena Saturday night.

Signing Day Finally over

Well I know that Signing Day is important to a program's future, you can't win if you don't recruit talent but I think that the hype on signing day has gotten a bit out of hand. I think that it's an exciting day for the players as they choose were they are going to play, but now so much focus is on who team's don't get and how much better another tea,'s class is. Yesterday Coach Bowden said he didn't think that anyone in Florida did a bad job. He's right, yeah maybe one or two of those school's targets got away but I think that you have to be positive about the kids your school brings in and not worry about other programs. 

That being said I think that FSU brought in a very solid class and filled their needs well except for linebacker. With a thin secondary they brought in 5 solid defensive backs plus the possibility of Willie Downs playing some defense. Jacobbi could be the run stopper that FSU has been missing in the middle.  So here is a small breakdown on the class, because you can't put too much into them until they are on campus and actually practicing in my opinion

Biggest Impact: DT Jacobbi McDaniel, First one to commit and has been doing more recruiting for FSU than Chuck Ammato the last couple of months and was a big part of DB Greg Reid choosing the Noles over Bama and UGA. He also looks to be a pretty solid DT in the middle.

Biggest Surprise: Grey shirt DE Dan Hicks, Hicks is the son of former Nole Dan Footman. He played some TE but is expected to play DE. FSU pulled him away from Arkansas State to add to next year's class. Kind of came out of nowhere and he lookes to be what Coach Andrews called a bit of a loafer so I'm not sure how he'll fit in in 2010.

Biggest Wast of Time: Cj Mizell, after MikeN posted about this kid earlier this week I did a little research and found out that he his a tremendous linebacker but has more off-the-field issues than the New York Yankees. Also it looks like he might not even qualify so why give this kid a spot? Willie Downs is a similar situation although he claims he only needs two online classes to be all squared away, but I have heard that there is community college track coach in Kansas who believes that there is no way he makes it into FSU and the coach expects Downs to be on his track team in the fall.

Now on to Players already enrolled in FSU

The women's team sure put my foot in my mouth on monday after I wondered if Leonard should go take notes on end game situations, The women lost to Maryland on almost and identical play to the one that UNC beat the men with last week. Hopefully they will avenge me against Boston College tonight (Ya sucks to be in Boston right now cause I'm freezing in Tallahassee).

Tonight's matchup with Georgia Tech should be interesting, You'll get to see two teams coming from the opposite end of the emotional spectrums. GT is coming off an emotional win against Wake Forrest to give them their first ACC win of the season. How did they beat WF? The same way UNC beat FSU, with a buzzer beater. If FSU wants to be in the tournament they can not afford to have a let down after their emotional loss against UNC tonight. Georgia Tech is not a loss the Noles can afford to have on their resemue come march if they want to put on their dancing shoes.

Did Somebody Say McDonalds?

Well it's been awhile since I posted and I apologize for that. I have been pretty busy with school and battling a serious case of lack of motivation. But I'm back and since we spoke last as I predicted things have taken a bit of a sour turn for the Seminoles. However the Hamburgerler was behind it not the NCAA.

Early saturday morning WR Preston Parker was arrested for a DUI after falling asleep at the drive through for twenty minutes. Personally I think he was just waiting  until Mickey D's began serving Mcgriddles but apparently Tallahassee Police aren't buying it. Then earlier today Bobby Bowden dismissed the dynamic playmaker from the team. The loss of Parker could prove costly but FSU returns plenty of other playmakers at the position.

No word yet from the NCAA regarding the impending sactions from last year's academic scandal.

Maybe Leonard Hamilton should take some notes at the lady Noles game tonight on how to handle end game situations. Hamilton and the men's team let a 3 point lead turn into a 3 point loss in the final 72 seconds of the game last week against North Carolina. The Women's team battled back to defeat Duke in overtime last week. The Lady Noles take on Maryland tonight at 7 in Tallahassee.