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GameNight: North Carolina at Florida St

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January 28th, 2009 by Jeff Borzello
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Your rating: None Average: 4.2 (1 vote)
Jan 28 2009 - 9:00pm

Preview & Prediction: By Jeff Borzello

Season:

3-2

 

With just about a month and a half until Selection Sunday, it is time for bubble teams to start making a name for themselves. Not surprisingly, Florida State (16-4, 3-2) will likely be teetering on the fence come mid-March. The Seminoles have a chance to enhance their resume on Wednesday, though, as they take on #6 North Carolina (17-2, 3-2) in Tallahassee. Florida State has won three of its last four, including two road games. The Seminoles have wins over California and Florida this season. North Carolina has won three in a row since its loss at home to Wake Forest. The Tar Heels’ only other loss was against Boston College. They have wins over Kentucky, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Clemson and Miami (Fl.) so far.

 

North Carolina is widely considered to be the most talented team in the country, and is the odds-on favorite to win the national title come April. Ty Lawson is one of the best point guards around; he is the key to this team’s success. Wayne Ellington is starting to assert himself as a go-to scorer, averaging almost 20ppg over his last four games, while Danny Green is as versatile as they get. Deon Thompson has showed that he is a talent in his own right, and Tyler Hansbrough is an All-American down low. Ed Davis makes an impact off the bench, averaging a solid 7.7 rpg in less than 20 minutes of action.

 

Florida State is led by guard Toney Douglas, the team’s lone double-figure scorer at 19.6 ppg. He does it all for the Seminoles, and takes twice as many shots as anyone else on the club. Leonard Hamilton has gone away from his biggest lineup, inserting the 6-9 Uche Echefu and 6-4 Derwin Kitchen into the starting five, removing 6-7 Jordan DeMercy and 6-8 Ryan Reid. Freshman Chris Singleton has plenty of potential (2nd on the team in points and leading in rebounds) and 7-1 Solomon Alabi is solid defensively. Deividas Dulkys and Luke Loucks are gunners. 

 

Florida State always seems to get up for big games, and this game will undoubtedly be no different. The Seminoles have the inside depth to contend with Hansbrough and co. down low, and Singleton is likely to pose a major mismatch for the Tar Heels defensively. However, it will interesting to see if FSU can get enough (or any) offensive punch from players outside of Douglas. UNC has had trouble defending scoring point guards in ACC play (ie, Tyrese Rice), and Douglas is one of the best in that category. Aside from him, though, the Seminoles don’t have a lot of scorers. They won’t be able to keep up with the Tar Heels.

 

WINNER: North Carolina      MARGIN: 8-10

 

 

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Comments

chronwell's picture

Chris Singleton and Ed Davis

Submitted by chronwell on Wed, 2009-01-28 16:55.

I saw the 'Nolez play Duke earlier this season and I was impressed by Singleton. Dude is McDonalds All-Am and he can bang in the paint.If he can stick around fro a couple years , he will be a force.Same for Davis, who needs more PT but he plays behind 2 stars( Green and Psycho T).
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