FSU basketball lost several top
weapons from last year’s NCAA Tournament team – but the latest bracketology
prediction has them still dancing in 2018.
After
their 2017 NCAA Tournament run came to an end with a thud in the second round,
there was a thought among many – including this writer – that FSU basketball
had wasted their best chance at a deep March Madness trip based on the amount
of talent that was thought to be leaving (and did end up leaving with Dwayne
Bacon, Jonathan Isaac and Xavier Rathan-Mayes all declaring for the NBA Draft).
The
general consensus was that Leonard Hamilton’s team, one that finished second in
the ACC regular season for the first time in nearly a quarter century, was
going to take a step back and maybe head back to the NIT this coming season.
Well, it appears that not every expert thinks that way.
In
his latest ‘Bracketology’
predictions for
the upcoming season, ESPN’s tournament insider Joe Linardi not only has the
Seminoles dancing, but he has FSU basketball with a pretty respectable seed:
South Region (Dallas, TX)
No. 6
FLORIDA STATE vs. No.
11 Rhode Island
No. 3
Wichita State vs. No. 14 Florida Gulf Coast
If
this were to play out and both the Seminoles and Eagles advance, it would be a
rematch of this year’s first round game in Orlando that Florida State escaped
with a five point win for their first tournament victory since the 2012 edition
of March Madness.
Linardi
had some familiar names in the same region, as both Virginia Tech and
Louisville were in the South Region. FSU basketball, the Hokies and Cardinals
were part of the eight teams from the ACC he has dancing, tied for the most of
any conference – including top seed Duke in the East Region and hated rival
Miami seeded sixth in that group.
Linardi
also is really high on another hated rival of the Seminoles, as he has the
Florida Gators seeded second in the Midwest Region where they would open
against Long Beach State.
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