March 11, 2010

Andrew Skwara
Warchant.com Staff Writer

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Florida State owns one of the coveted first-round byes in the ACC Tournament, which helped launch the Seminoles into the title game for the first time in school history last year, but it couldn't have picked a tougher draw this time around.

The third-seeded Seminoles (22-8, 10-6 ACC) will play the winner of Clemson vs. N.C. State, which is the final game of today's first session, on Friday night. The Tigers won a pair of regular-season meetings versus the 'Noles while the Wolfpack won their only meeting in Tallahassee. Waiting in the next round will likely be Maryland, which has won a league-high seven straight games and also pulled off a season sweep of the 'Noles. The Terps face the winner of Georgia Tech-North Carolina in the quarterfinals.

That makes the Tigers, Wolfpack and Terps a combined 5-0 versus FSU, whose only other league loss came at top-seeded Duke.

None of that history seems to bother FSU junior guard Derwin Kitchen, who says this is exactly the scenario he and his teammates were hoping for.

"It's kind of set up perfect for us," Kitchen said. "Because every team that beat us this year, they're on our side of the bracket."

Kitchen has reason to be so optimistic when it comes to the quarterfinal matchup, regardless of who their opponent turns out to be. Clemson won the only regular-season meeting with N.C. State, 73-70, in Raleigh.

FSU, which has ranked among the nation's best in defensive statistics nearly all season long, played far out of character in an 88-81 loss to N.C. State on Jan. 12. Those 88 points are 11 more than the next-highest total the 'Noles, who give up a league-low 60.2 ppg, have allowed. The Wolfpack were extraordinarily hot, making 11 of 23 3-pointers (47.8 percent) with seven of those coming from Scott Wood, whose career-high 31 points were more than four times his season scoring average of 7.8 ppg.

In a far different style of game with Clemson at home on Feb. 28, FSU raced out to a 19-6 lead and led for most of the second half before falling behind in the final minute and losing 53-50. The 'Noles committed 20 turnovers, went just 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) from the free throw line and didn't have a single player score in double figures.

"You've got to give (Clemson and N.C. State) credit, but I think both of those games were more on us," Kitchen said. "The Clemson game, we just let that one get away pretty much. And N.C. State, they controlled the game pretty much the whole game. It's a mental thing."

It could also be described as a turnover thing. The Seminoles are 12-1 when committing less turnovers than their opponent, a stat sophomore forward Chris Singleton, who was recently voted the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, is fully aware of.

"In both of those games, we didn't come out and execute, and then our defense kind of faltered towards the end," said Singleton, who leads the ACC with 2.3 steals per game.

"We let our turnovers affect us and that really impacted the games. So we're still working, but we've been improving on our turnovers. We know we've got to do that with both teams."

FSU coach Leonard Hamilton says the Seminoles are fully capable of getting back to the title game despite the tough road ahead, but his players' own execution on the court on Friday is the first key towards getting back there.

"Regardless of who we're playing we've got to be at our very, very best," Hamilton said. "I think that every game takes on a different personality, and you've got to put those games behind you and you've got to focus on where you are now. I know those teams are going to come, they're at an area where they feel they need to continue winning to pad their resume. We feel like now ... we'd sure like to be playing here on Sunday. And you can't be here on Sunday unless you win the first game."

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