Florida State vs. No. 6 Virginia, Noon NBC, ESPN2
Anyway, sometimes people think beating the same team three times in one season is tough. And it can be, if teams are evenly matched. Virginia won both games over FSU by 12 points, though. It looks as if the Cavaliers are clearly the better team this year. Just defeating the Seminoles three times doesn't worry me so much. Clemson took down Georgia Tech tonight in the ACC tournament and for the third time this season. UConn also beat Memphis today and for the third time this season. If one team is definitely better than another team, the better team probably will beat the other team three out of three times most of the time. However, the extra motivation the Seminoles might have, no matter how how contrived, does worry me. I said it when it happened Jan. 18. I remember wishing we hadn't thrown the alley-oop, thinking, why poke the bear, the Seminoles could come back around this season. And now they are. Hopefully the Wahoos are ready to go because it looks like they will be getting a fired up FSU squad.
Note: Only a few more hours to go to vote in my poll on the right side of the page: How well do you think Virginia will do in the ACC tournament?
My headline for last week's game, "UVa faces Maryland for final time as ACC rivals," almost wasn't true. The Terrapins would have played the Cavaliers on Friday at noon had they beaten Florida State on Thursday. The Seminoles prevailed, however, 67-65, meaning the Wahoos instead face an FSU team it has beaten twice this season on Friday. That is probably a better matchup for UVa than Maryland, since the Terps just beat the Cavaliers, right? Well, yeah, probably, but a lot of time has passed since UVa beat FSU twice and there was an incident at the end of the second game that at least one Seminole hasn't forgotten about.
My headline for last week's game, "UVa faces Maryland for final time as ACC rivals," almost wasn't true. The Terrapins would have played the Cavaliers on Friday at noon had they beaten Florida State on Thursday. The Seminoles prevailed, however, 67-65, meaning the Wahoos instead face an FSU team it has beaten twice this season on Friday. That is probably a better matchup for UVa than Maryland, since the Terps just beat the Cavaliers, right? Well, yeah, probably, but a lot of time has passed since UVa beat FSU twice and there was an incident at the end of the second game that at least one Seminole hasn't forgotten about.
Those two games were a world ago. The first game in Tallahassee was Jan. 4 and Virginia's first ACC game. Joe Harris left the game early with a concussion but UVa cruised to a mostly easy victory, 62-50, behind 16
points from Justin Anderson, 14 from London Perrantes, and 11 each from Malcolm Brogdon and Akil Mitchell. Okaro White was the only Seminole to score in double figures with 15 points. Just two weeks later, UVa hosted Florida State in Charlottesville. Virginia raced out to a 14-3 lead and never looked back, leading 45-26 at the half. The Cavs won, 78-66. Harris led the team with 18 points, making four 3-pointers. Brogdon had 16 points, Mike Tobey had 13 points, and Anderson finished with 10. White finished with 15 points again for FSU, as did Aaron Thomas. Devon Bookert scored 12 points.
The most interesting part of the game was the very end. With under 30 seconds left, Brogdon threw an alley-oop to Anderson. Anderson was whistled for a technical for hanging on the rim, even though it looked pretty minor to me. During free throws for FSU, there was a bit of a scuffle the refs had to break up. Then in the handshake line, White tried to punch Perrantes. Basically, FSU did not like the UVa alley-oop with the game all but wrapped up. I remember FSU not trying on defense. Personally, I thought UVa should not have done it either, but then the refs made it worse by calling the technical. Had the players not been milling around during the foul shots, maybe there would not have been a fight.
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| Okaro White |
In the postgame for the Maryland-Florida State game Thursday, White was already talking trash about the 'Hoos. It seems as if he hasn't forgotten about the pair of beatings the Seminoles received from the Wahoos this year. He basically said UVa wasn't that tough and that FSU has more players that come from tough backgrounds. He also said that the alley-oop at the end of the game in Charlottesville was disrespectful. Obviously, we don't know how Virginia's players will react to this on the court but it did cause a retweet of a story about UVa's Teven Jones in the Daily Progress that ran some time ago.
Here it is if you haven't read it: http://www.dailyprogress.com/sports/virginia-guard-teven-jones-beats-the-streets/article_8e5fdcce-eb55-11e2-9bed-0019bb30f31a.html
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| Boris Bojanovsky |
The main thing UVa needs to do on the court to win the game is hold down other 'Noles not named Okaro White. He had 15 points in both games this season but everyone else struggled, with the exception of Bookert and Thomas in the second game. Ian Miller had 17 points vs. the Terps on Thursday and is averaging 15 ppg over his past six games but had just nine and six vs. UVa this year. Seven-foot-three center Boris Bojanovsky had probably the best game of his career vs. Maryland with 12 points, 12 rebounds, and the game-winning dunk with a second left in the game. But against Virginia this season, he had just four and two. Thomas, Miller, and White all average 13-14 ppg. The Cavaliers need to allow two or less to get to their average. If all three get there, the 'Hoos could be in trouble.
Another reason FSU will come out with some fire is it is squarely on the NCAA tournament bubble. A win over UVa might not even be enough for the 19-12 Seminoles, but it would certainly help. UVa is in the tournament and is playing for seeding. If the Cavaliers lose, they might fall to a No. 4 seed. If they beat the Seminoles, they should lock up a No. 3 seed in my mind.
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