After its second COVID-related pause of the season, the No. 17 Florida State men's basketball team returned to practice Tuesday with eyes focused on a week of games with major ACC and postseason seeding implications.

The Seminoles, who are 10-3 overall and 6-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, last played on Jan. 30 in Atlanta. They are scheduled to return to action Saturday against visiting Wake Forest before hosting No. 9 Virginia on Monday and No. 18 Virginia Tech the following Saturday.

It will be FSU's first games against all three opponents.

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While the Demon Deacons are enduring a sub-par season (5-8, 2-8 in the ACC), the Cavaliers sit atop the conference standings at 13-3 and 9-1, and the Hokies come in right behind Florida State at 14-4 and 8-3.

In the mind of Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton, that challenging slate could be just what his players need.

"I think the tougher your opponents are coming out of any pause is good," Hamilton said. "It gets you focused, and you realize that you have no room for error. So I'm really happy that we have three games in a week ... that's always good for us. It always gets the attention of your players."

With nearly a month left in the regular season, the ACC race is still wide open. Virginia, FSU, Virginia Tech and Louisville all have three or fewer ACC losses, and North Carolina and Georgia Tech sit just behind them with four.

With a strong return to action, the Seminoles could put themselves in prime position to contend for a second consecutive regular-season conference championship and No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament.

Unless one or more of the Seminoles' postponed games is added to the end of the schedule, FSU's final four contests after Virginia Tech will come against Miami, North Carolina, Boston College and Notre Dame. While three of those games will be on the road, only one (UNC) will come against a team projected to make the NCAA Tournament.

Notre Dame, Miami and BC are a combined 9-24 in the conference.

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With just a few weeks remaining in the regular season, FSU is currently projected by college basketball analysts to be a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Seminoles were slotted there this week in mock brackets by ESPN's Joe Lunardi, the NCAA's Andy Katz and CBS' Jerry Palm.

Lunardi and Palm both have the ACC sending six teams to the Big Dance -- Virginia, FSU, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Louisville and Clemson. Katz has Georgia Tech also receiving a berth in a play-in game, which would give the league seven teams.

A strong finish to the regular season would certainly elevate the Seminoles' seeding. Katz has Virginia as a No. 2 seed, while Lunardi has the Cavaliers at No. 3 and Palm has them at No. 5.

Virginia Tech is actually the highest-seeded ACC team in Palm's bracket; he has the Hokies at No. 4.

ACC powers Syracuse, Duke and Notre Dame would have to make a strong push in the final month to receive strong NCAA consideration. The Orange are 11-6 and 5-5, the Blue Devils are 7-8 and 5-6, and the Irish are 8-10 and 5-7.

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