A quick reminder, the FSU Baseball Team takes on North Florida tonight at Dick Howswer Stadium at 6pm.  The Noles remain undefeated in ACC play after last weekend, and look to continue their winning ways against UNF.

I read an article by Emily Badger of the Sun Sentinel. Full article, here. I’m happy to predict the Seminoles Starting QB in the fall. That man, is Drew Weatherford. Why? One quote from Xavier Lee, which sums up why he hasn’t been able to win the job the previous couple of seasons.

“The terminology is extremely different,” Lee said. “Trying to memorize it and focus on the actual play — I think about the old plays, and it kind of confuses you sometimes. It makes you think too much instead of actually playing.”

And one other quote, which seemingly sums up Lee’s attitude at FSU.

“The first question I asked [Fisher] was, `Is it going to be a fair playing ground?’” Lee said. “Because … it’s been biased ever since I got here, I just want to know if I’m going to get a fair shake. He said it’s going to be as fair as possible: `The best man will play.”’

I’m sure Drew is struggling a bit too, but knowing that he’s a video rat, gym rat and doesn’t have the bitterness that Lee appears to have. Mark my words, Weatherford will be #1.

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Seminole Baseball: FSU takes on ACC opponent Boston College at Dick Howser Stadium this weekend. Game times are 6pm, 6pm and 1pm. FSU is ranked #1, but suffered its first loss of the season to Jacksonville on Wednesday. The Noles are looking to rebound and keep a perfect ACC record intact. I’m sure Sweet Caroline will be played all weekend, making the boys from Boston feel at home. Blah!

Seminole Softball: The Noles take on Virginia Tech Saturday at 12pm and 2pm and on Sunday at 12pm in ACC action. The Seminoles rebounded from a bad Judi Garman Classic last weekend, by beating FAMU on Wednesday. Let’s hope that victory was a fresh start for the Noles, who need to keep their bats hot. And, can anyone get Tiffany McDonald some freakin’ run support? Please?

Women’s Basketball: Sweet 16 action for the Hoops Team. The 10th seeded Noles take on the 3rd seeded LSU Tigers Saturday night at 11:30pm on ESPN2. Sue Semrau has done a great job with this program, and maybe they can pull off a huge upset. Tune In!

FSU Baseball suffered its first lost of the season to Jacksonville University. The Noles lost to the Dolphins 5-3, as they left 12 runners on base. Caleb Graham gets the loss, but only 1 run of the 5 in his 4 innings of work was earned.

Like I said recently, errors eventually kill you.

“Obviously, Al was too anxious,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “We seemed to be extremely anxious as a team. Mississippi State showed a lot more poise and maturity.” 

“We were extremely hyper and aggressive to the point that it became a fault,” Hamilton said. 

‘I just wish we could have turned the ball over half those times and see what would happen,” Hamilton said. 

On being down by just seven with 1:26 left in the first half, “We thought we almost hit the lottery,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. 

“I felt that took some of the emotion out of our players going into the locker room at the half,” Hamilton said. 

On Swann’s performance, “I thought he had a calmness and maturity about him that was a little different,” Hamilton said. “Obviously when Al went out we had to go to him a little bit more.” 

”We had to do a big job on Thornton, but what about Swan,” Mississippi State forward-center Charles Rhodes said. “I haven’t ever seen a shooter shoot like he did tonight. Swan looked like Thornton tonight. It’s a good thing they weren’t clicking.” 

“They outplayed us. They out-executed us,” Swann said. “It’s not too special, because we lost. I could score 50 points and if we lose, I don’t care.” 

On his first foul, “It was me gambling,” said Thornton, who finished with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting in 22 minutes. “I was being aggressive, being me. I wish I could take that 

one back. The second one was questionable.” 

“I wish I could come back next year and help them get there,” Thornton said. “It was a very emotional locker room. You could tell by the look in everybody’s eyes.” 

“They’re going to be OK next year,” Thornton said. “I think they’re going to do great things because the NIT is one of the worst feelings.” 

“He’s been the perfect senior,” Swann said of Thornton. “Anything you needed from him, he was always there - on the court or off the court.” 

On his short speech to the team after the game, “Its been real,” Thornton said. “[I told them to] be motivated from this situation. I know it hurts. It hurts me.” 

”We went at him, forced him to guard us and got some calls,” Mississippi State coach Rich Stansbury said. 

On Jamont Gordon, ”He was almost able to get into the lane at will,” Hamilton said. “He is a special player who creates unusual problems for other point guards.” 

“It’s very obvious we got some roles really defined, like Jamont Gordon’s ability to be a point guard,” Stansbury said. “You could say the first 15 games people questioned his ability to be a point guard. I don’t think there’s a person out there in that gym that questions his ability to be a point guard (now).” 

“I told you guys that things are going to change for us,” Gordon said, minutes after the win. “Things are going to turn around.” 

“The last three games, we had the chemistry in there,” Slater said. “We are playing together, and everyone is on the same page. We work on it in practice and it is finally working out for us.” 

It was probably not the performance Al Thornton had in mind as Florida State’s season came to an end in losing to Mississippi State 86-71.

Although he scored 16 points in the game, it was anything but a typical game for the senior forward. Thornton picked up two fouls in the first 4:10 of the game sending him to the bench for the duration of the first half having scored just two points. The second foul, a rare charging call, came as Thornton fumbled a pass between his legs. Trying to recover the ball he slammed into the defender as he turned towards the bucket.

That play exemplified the kind of night he and the Seminoles had all game. When all was said and done, the ‘Noles had racked up 25 turnovers that led to numerous easy transition baskets for the Bulldogs, 17 in the first half alone.

Thornton’s shakiness seemed to rub off on his teammates especially his frontcourt teammates as Thornton, Ryan Reid, and Uche Echefu each had 5 turnovers.

For Thornton it was apparent early on he was just not his usual self when he missed two free throws at the 17:04 mark. He ended up shooting just 3 of 9 from the stripe although he shot well from field connecting on 6 of 10.

Leonard Hamilton summed it up this way.

“For whatever reason, we were so hyper. I’d like to think that it was Mississippi State’s defense, but we never gave them a chance to defend us early on.”

In their first seven possessions, FSU managed to turn the ball over three times.

Foul trouble didn’t help either especially on Thornton who picked up his third and forth fouls within the first five minutes of the second half to find a seat once more on the bench.

“When Al went for that steal that I thought was a bit risky and you see him pick up a charge, something you almost never see him do, I think he was just trying to make things happen,” Hamilton said.

After FSU took a 6-5 lead, FSU scored just one basket over the next five plus minutes. Even after Thornton sat down the Seminoles self destructed and committed three more miscues on its next four possessions with errant passes and fumbling the ball away.

The ‘Noles seemed to be tight and got caught up in the Bulldogs pace by playing too quickly.

If it had not been for Isaiah Swann, FSU could have been down even greater than the 42-29 halftime deficit they found themselves. Swann’s 17 first half points on the strength of five three pointers kept the Tribe relatively close. His fifth pulled FSU to within seven at 36-29 with 1:50 left in the half.

Hamilton called timeout to calm the team down in order to keep the deficit under ten points. It didn’t work as FSU imploded with a couple more turnovers leading to run out baskets by the Bulldogs.

Just to add insult to injury, Barry Stewart launched a three from near half court. The shot was short but Jarvis Varnado grabbed it over the head of Toney Douglas and put it in just before the buzzer sounded. No foul was called on the play despite Douglas being knocked down and holding his head.

Once Thornton was back in the game to start the second half he did his best to rally the Seminoles scoring seven points in the first four minutes. But his fourth foul at the 15:19 mark sent him to the bench once again.

FSU made an attempt at a comeback pulling to 63-52 after Thornton stole the ball in front of the Bulldog bench and took it the distance picking up the foul on the play. Bulldog head coach Rick Stansbury protested claiming Thornton stepped out of bounds on the play picking up a technical in the process. Indicative of how the game was going for FSU Thornton missed both technical free throws.

It would be the closest FSU would get the rest of the game although Swann’s three made it 70-57 with 7:59 to play. But with the Mississipi State defense as swarming as it was it was obvious even with that much time remaining that FSU was not going to pull out the game.

The one bright spot for the ‘Noles was Swann’s offense. The junior guard was 10-17 fro the floor including 9 of 13 from behind the arc. Swann pulled down 5 boards as well.

Douglas was the only other Seminole in double figures with 12. The rest of the team combined for just 12 points.

FSU was battered on the boards as well 39-31 giving up 20 offensive boards in the game to just 9 for the ‘Noles.

Mississippi State put six players in double digits.

Hamilton credited the Bulldogs for the win saying “we got beat by a better team.”

So the Seminole season has cone to an end finishing with a 22-13 record.

Hamilton said afterwards how the staff had to improvise all year due to injuries and defections and that “we are a much better team than we showed in this game.”

“We saw on ESPN, from point one they knew Stanford was coming out [of this bracket],” Tanae Davis-Cain said. “But as underdogs, we don’t care about TV. We play hard for ourselves. Once we saw the brackets come out, we knew we’d get Stanford. This was payback.”

“We knew from the beginning what we had to do: We had to contest every shot they put up,” said Florida State center Britany Miller, who videotaped her dancing teammates afterward. “Coming into this game we knew we had nothing to lose. We treated this as a regular-season game where you have to go into somebody else’s home court and win.”

“Ten years ago, this program was 0-16 in our conference,” Semrau said. “It took a lot of players to come and believe that this could be a good basketball school, and not just a football school. These are three of them right here [Williams, Gladden, Freshour]. It was fun to see them succeed tonight. These players all have a lot of courage.”

“Earlier this year we came to this area and lost to USF. For us to lose then and beat a team like Stanford is amazing. We talked about fighting through and develop as a team and we would be a rewarded and it feels good to be rewarded,” added Semrau.

“It takes a lot of courage to come in here and win,” Florida State coach Sue Semrau said. I had a lot of players that believed we could turn this program around. 11 years ago this program was 0-16 in the ACC and it took a lot of players to believe the Florida State could be a basketball school and not just a football school. Shante Williams was able to come up big tonight. Stanford is a great basketball team and is a great program. This is a huge win for our program; you just need to credit the courage of our team to just play our style of play. Even if we aren’t the most talented team or the best team, we were able to fight and get a win here and that really makes me excited for the players on this team. 

“I felt pretty good today. All year long (my team) has been carrying me and it was about time for me to carry back,” Shante Williams said.

“I thought getting the ball inside was critical. Britany Miller was in foul trouble but for our big to step up was big for us. Shante really did what Shante does best with the ball in her hands and get back-to-back stops, which helped the run,” Florida State coach Sue Semrau said.

After the game’s final horn, the dazed Stanford players did the quick-handshake thing with their opponents then sprinted to their locker room, so as not to have to witness the spectacle of the Seminoles whooping on the Maples maple as their fans tomahawk-chopped themselves silly.

“Rebounding was a huge key for us. It was one of the defensive keys before the game we focused on. I thought we got good position and were able to hold our own against a great rebounding team,” Semrau said.

Added Williams, “We had a great week of practice, they had a different team and we had a different team. This is my last year so we had to go all out and give all our effort.”

“Candice Wiggins is an awesome player and she caused problems for us. For Harden and Gladden to step up like that was huge for us,” said Williams. 

Commenting on playing on Stanford’s home floor Freshour said, “It was awesome. We were excited before the game and we are still excited now. Our team did an awesome job of fighting the crowd and even though we had a hard time hearing some plays, we fought through it.

“Florida State just had us from the get go,” coach Tara VanDerveer said. “They made a lot of big shots while we struggled. They broke us down off the dribble. They are very physical. … We seemed to play the whole game extremely tight, and didn’t have good shot selection. We’re just really, really disappointed.”

“I don’t think it was nerves or anything that got to us,” Wiggins said. “They just kept making the shots, and we didn’t get it done.”

“They were a very similar team, but we were able to hit some shots last year and get some separation,” Stanford junior Candice Wiggins said. “This year, it was the other way around. They hit some shots and got separation.”

“We had such high expectations for ourselves,” freshman Melanie Murphy said. “We thought we were going to the Final Four. Losing tonight is such a big disappointment.”

“It’s really, really disappointing because we did not get it done,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “And on top of it, we were playing here, which I think is harder on our team. It puts pressure on people.”

“I told them at halftime they were trying too hard and they needed to relax,” VanDerveer said.

“We weren’t playing well, we were lucky to be up,” Smith said through tears.

“I thought Jayne (Appel) was very steady,” VanDerveer said, “except for the fouls. She played with a lot of poise.”

by Troy Hebert

Part One - the coaching staff
Part Two - the depth chart

This is part three. Let’s look at the storylines around spring practice…

Today is a new day in Seminole Nation. This afternoon around 3:30 pm - a new team will be born over on the practice fields behind Dick Howser Stadium (**come get a free mini-bat tonight, by the way**) in the shadow of Doak Campbell Stadium.

The position battles will rage on, the lines will be drawn in the sand. It’s now or never for the Seminole Dynasty. This once proud program has been relegated to punch lines and pot shots at our aging Coach, our fickle fans, and our status as an Elite Football Team.

Continue Reading “Part 3 - Can FSU Right the Ship?” »

Florida State Seminoles vs Miss. St. Bulldogs 3rd Round NIT
Tip off 7:00 PM; Television ESPN

Records:
FSU – 22-12, 7-9 ACC; Road overall 4-8; RPI 41, SOS 20
Miss. St. –20-13, 8-8 SEC 14-2; Home overall 15-3, RPI 64, SOS 27

Last Five Games:
FSU – 4-1; Miss. St. – 4-1

Miss. St. vs NCAA tournament teams: 4-6 (FSU – 4-10)
Miss. St. vs common opponents: 2-2 (FSU – 5-2)

Last Game:
FSU put six players in double figures in beating Michigan 87-66 in what was Tommy Amaker’s last game as head coach for the Wolverines.
Miss. St. demolished Bradley 101-72 with a barrage of 15 three pointers.

Key Stats:
Scoring offense – FSU 74.6 ppg; Miss. St. 77.1 ppg
Scoring defense – FSU 68.5 ppg;  Miss. St. 68.6 ppg
Free throws – FSU .764; Miss. St. .656
FG percentage – FSU .480; Miss. St. .462
FG percentage defense – FSU .452; Miss. St. .401
3-pt FG percentage – FSU .375; Miss. St. .360
3-pt FG percentage defense – FSU .339; Miss. St. .315
Rebounding margin – FSU +.2; Miss. St. +2.8
Assists – FSU 12.44; Miss. St. 14.76
Turnover margin – FSU –1.91; Miss. St. +.73
Steals – FSU 7.97; Miss. St. 6.76
Blocked shots – FSU 113; Miss. St. 216

Projected Starters:
FSU
Al Thornton 19.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg
Uche Echefu 7.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg
Isaiah Swann 9.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg
Toney Douglas 12.7 ppg, 2.8 apg
Jason Rich 10.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg

Miss. St.
F 6-4 175 SO Richard Delk 5.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg
F 6-3 200 SR Dietric Slater 10.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg
C 6-8 240 JR Charles Rhodes 13.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg
G 6-4 175 SO Reginald Delk 9.9 ppg, 20.0 rpg
G 6-4 225 SO Jamont Gordon 16.2 ppg, 5.2 apg

Florida State takes to the road to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Tuesday night. After the pasting the Bulldogs put on Bradley Saturday afternoon, FSU figures to have its hands full if it wants to move on to New York and the semifinals of the NIT.

Expect Mississippi State to take a lot of three point shots. The Bulldogs average 22 per game. A team that will push the tempo Mississippi State will take the deep shot in transition. This will test the Seminole defense which has been very good at defending the perimeter shot.

An area of concern for FSU will be rebounding. Mississippi State utilizes a team rebounding concept where it’s not unusual to see the guards get in to grab the rebound. It’s a concept that the ‘Noles have not grasped and have a -7.4 rebounding margin against the Bulldogs.

Starting with point guard, the Seminoles will have a difficult matchup with Gordon. A big guard who could be mistaken for a linebacker, he leads the team in scoring, assists (171), and rebounds (7.2 rpg). He uses his size and strength to get to the basket.

Gordon has a capable backup in Ben Hansbrough, the brother of North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough,. Hansbrough can dish it out as well with 110 assists on the season.

The second leading scorer is Rhodes. Despite his size, Rhodes is quick using his footwork well and has strong hands. He is second on the team in blocked shots with 61.

Backup forward Jarvis Varnado leads the team in that category with 65 despite playing only 13.5 minute a game.

The Bulldogs as a team average 6.5 blocked shots a game.

Mississippi State will play an aggressive defense that has done well as evidenced by their 40% FG percentage defensively.

For the Seminoles to be successful they are going to have to have that same scoring balance they had against Michigan to keep the defense from focusing in on Al Thornton. Of course they will have to be patient when they have the ball and play the swarming defense that created numerous turnovers and points against Toledo and Michigan and not get rattled in what should be a hostile environment.