The first photo album of 2008 is up and running in the Photo Album.  Check out Brittany Osmon, Whitney Buckmon, Terese Gober and the rest of the Seminole Softball team. Photos are from Game 1 of the doubleheader against Troy, and feature a test of the “new” parking garage cam.  Enjoy!

ON FSU still having a chance at the NCAA, “That’s all you can do is give yourself a chance,” Rich said. “I think this by far is the best of us coming together.”

“Now we’re not feeling sorry for ourselves,” Hamilton said. “We realize now this is who we are and this is all we have. They are developing a unity, chemistry and passion that I think is a little special. It shows tremendous character under some of the most adverse circumstances and adversity that I’ve ever faced in my 30-something years of coaching.”

“You want to be playing your best basketball in February,” Rich said. “Right now we’re just trying to play good basketball and aren’t concerning ourselves with our goals at the start of the season. I know it sounds cliche-ish, but that’s why we’ve been able to put three together. We’re not looking ahead to the next opponent, but just looking at the game at hand.”

“We came out today trying to execute our game plan, be patient and know that if you swing the ball, eventually they’d break down,” said Ralph Mims, who had 12 points and a key 3-pointer late. “We executed our plays, figured out what type of system they were trying to run and we just capitalized on them.”

On his steal and coast to coast slam dunk to put FSU up 59-49, “That was probably the dagger that put them away,” Rich said.

“Basketball games are about streaks,” Douglas said. “They had their runs and we kept our composure. We didn’t lose our focus.”

“I thought our players stepped up and played good solid man-to-man defense down the stretch, made big plays, hit our free throws and had some stops,” Hamilton said. “I thought that made a difference in the game.”

“It was important to get off to a good start because the last time we didn’t,” Rich said of FSU’s 69-66 loss in Tallahassee to N.C. State on Jan. 26.

On Trevor Ferguson’s 17 points, “I thought they did a great job of looking for him,” Rich said of Ferguson. “They really screened for him and were very creative in the way they got him open. He moved better than we thought he would. He really got them back in the game.”

“I would rather sit on the bench and win,” Ferguson said.

“I thought our starters were just awful,” Lowe said. “We came out and missed a couple of wide-open shots and really didn’t pick it up on the defensive end. We’re back at home, in our building, [with] a chance to get us a win. And we didn’t have that thing we were looking for — that group. As a group they were bad, so we had to go to the bench. You’ve got to kind of call it the way you see it. That’s the way it was.”

“We’ve had days where we played well on the defensive end but we didn’t play well on the offensive end,” Lowe said. “We’ve had days where we played well on the offensive end and didn’t play well on the defensive end. But this start was a combination, really, and it wasn’t good. I can’t explain it. Actually, we had pretty good practices, had energy. We missed a couple of wide-open shots early and it was like we just kind of put our heads down because we were wide open, and didn’t get back and didn’t get the stop the way we needed it. I don’t know why missing a shot would do it, either, because I never cry about missing a shot. But I think that affected us maybe, and they just didn’t play well. The starters didn’t play well.”

“We tried to let those guys (the bench) play as much as we could because they had energy, and they were executing and defending and doing what we asked them to do,” Lowe said.

“We (the coaches) do everything we can to have these guys ready to play,” Lowe said of the staff. “We prepare. We have strategies. We can’t rebound. We can’t make the shots. We can’t get in front of a guy to defend them. So, strategy-wise, I think we prepare ‘em pretty good.”

“Then we had to go out and do it,” he said. “This is not something where I’m calling out my players or anything like that. I’m just saying this was a bad game for us. It was a bad game for our players,” Lowe said. “We’re the team. It was a bad game for us. But you’re asking what happened out there, we missed a couple of open shots early, we didn’t get stops defensively, they got offensive rebounds and that was it. … It’s a team effort, and we just didn’t have it.”

“I won’t do that,” he said. “I’m just calling the game as the game, but I’m not going to question anybody’s pride.”

“All we can do is apologize to the fans,” guard Marques Johnson said. “I don’t know what it is, but we’re not playing hard or something. There is no explanation for this. A five-game losing steak, we’re finally back at home - you would think we would excited to play. But we came out slow and sluggish, for some reason, obviously.”

“You keep working,” Lowe said. “Let’s go on to the next one and try to have a better performance. That’s it.”
 

Go figure, Bianchi decided to be a “cafeteria” writer, by picking and choosing what to include and how to interpret it.

Sarah Hamilton salvaged the split with Troy, by striking out 14 in Game 2 yesterday. Whitney Buckmon (pictured) continues her fast start to the season with a .444 average. She stole her 10th base against Troy in Game 1. More thoughts about the team and the first 2008 Photo Album later today.

Folks, I have a feeling things are going to get a tad bit worse than the self-imposed discipline.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-bianchi2708feb27,0,2548953.column

Which do you prefer? Are you the type that like a 2-1 pitching duel or a 15-10 home run derby? Vote and comment!

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Seminole Baseball Started Strong - FSU swept the Dukes over the weekend, behind some surprising early season power and newcomer Mike McGee.

Seminole Softball struggled - The Noles managed to pull out Game 1 on Saturday behind Britanny Osmon’s two run game winning home run. (I’ll get down there soon for some 2008 photos of the team.)

FSU Basketball - The Noles kept their slim tournament hopes alive by beating Boston College.

With Leonard Hamilton calling it a “typical ACC blowout”, Florida State held on at the end of the game to beat Boston College 66-63. It was the first time this season the Seminoles had won back to back conference games. For the Eagles it was their eighth loss in nine games.

Matt Zitani’s backdoor layup on a nice bounce pass through the lane from Julian Vaughn gave the ‘Noles their largest lead of the game at 53-39 with 8:40 remaining in the game.

But following Bilko Paris’ three ball to cut it 56-47 at the 4:42 mark, FSU found ways to almost lose the game. First, Jason Rich launched a three pointer with more than twenty seconds left on the shot clock. Hamilton then decided to air the ball out with more than four minutes on the game clock. That possession ended with an air ball from Toney Douglas.

A botched pick and roll play saw Douglas lob the ball over the head of Ryan Reid. Paris converted that turnover into a quick layup at the other end making it 60-55 with 1:22 left.

The Seminoles followed that with a shot clock violation and BC continued to chip away when a rebound sailed just over the outstretched hands of Rich and Ralph Mims right into the hands of Shamari Spears. The putback and the foul made it a two point game, 62-60, with 23.5 seconds remaining.

The ‘Noles did an excellent job getting the ball into the hands of Mims on the inbound pass who was immediately fouled.

After converting the free throws, FSU made the biggest defensive play of the game when Uche Echefu stripped the ball handing it to Douglas who was then fouled. The subsequent free throws with ten seconds left essentially put the game out of reach.

But just to make it exciting Spears nailed a three at the buzzer for the final margin.

The victory marks the first win over Boston College in four tries with the total margin for all four games just ten points.

But prior to the game turning into a nail biter for FSU fans, the Seminoles played an overall good game particularly on defense.

Several positives Hamilton touched on after the game was his team’s effort on defense notably Douglas in holding Tyrese Rice to just three points in the second half.

Also, Hamilton was pleased with the production from his frontcourt. While they weren’t great numbers, all three big men “found significant ways to contribute”, Hamilton said.

The trio of Echefu, Reid and Vaughn combined for 17 points and 17 rebounds.

Lastly Hamilton noted free throw shooting in particular Mims and Douglas converting the front end of three crucial one and one situations.

The offense did struggle a bit the entire game but did manage to shoot 43%. Hamilton credited the sagging man to man defensive system BC runs to account for the ‘Noles struggles in that area.

“We were not in an offensive flow the entire game” Hamilton commented. “I was very uncomfortable all day with our ball reversal and ball movement.”

Despite that FSU never trailed in the game and there was only one tie, 2-2, and lead 12-2 before five minutes had been played. But BC’s defense began to close down the dribble penetration lanes.

Despite that the ‘Noles accomplished one of the keys of the game plan in working the ball and scoring inside by scoring 30 points in the paint.

FSU was led in scoring once again by Douglas with a game high 20 points. Mims added 14.

Four Eagles were in double figures led by Rice’s 17.

With the win, Florida State improves to 16-11, 5-8 keeping its slim NCAA hopes alive and most certainly improves its chances for the NIT.

Next up with be a road trip to Raleigh to take on North Carolina State on Wednesday.

There’s a lot of news out there, if you haven’t read it, I’ll sum it up here and link to the bigger articles:

Scott Carter is reporting that the fire sale in the FSU Athletic Department continues. Bob Minnix is the latest to resign from the Dave Hart camp. He joins Charlie Carr, Pam Overton, Kim Record and Mark Meleney on the list of former FSU employees.

FSU Softball swept Jacksonville on Tuesday night, 3-1 and 10-0. Terese Gober picked up her third victory of the year and Tallahassee local, Sarah Hamilton improved to 2-0 with the victory in game two. Highlights include home runs by Brittany Osmon and Robin Ahrberg. Whitney Buckmon leads the team with a .474 average and 7 stolen bases on 9 attempts, while Allison Collins leads in the power department, with 3 home runs and a .594 slugging percentage. The Noles take on ACC opponent North Carolina Saturday at 1pm and 3pm, and Sunday at noon.

FSU Basketball beat Clemson. Seminole fans remain delusional and play the mathematics game in hopes of a tournament birth. Andrew Carter has his thoughts on it, and point out just how bad Clemson played the other night.

FSU Swimming and Diving is having a pretty good season, so is FSU Tennis. Check out Seminoles.com for more on both of them.

Jimbo Fisher continues to keep local talent at home, with the commitment of C.J. Mizell, LB, Leon High.

And here’s the weekly poll:

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