It's never going to be easy in the ACC. That's just not how life works in the best college basketball conference in the country.
But the No. 9 Florida State Seminoles have perhaps the toughest challenge of the season awaiting them in their first ACC game as they travel to Charlottesville to take on the undefeated and No. 2-ranked Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m., ESPN2).
"There's no secret to what they're going to do," FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "It's probably been the most effective system in the ACC consistently the last five or six years -- just them being who they are and getting what they want out of who they are."
What they are is really good and really efficient.
The Cavaliers play terrific defense, of course, and they're good enough on offense to offset a slow-down tempo that doesn't allow for a lot of possessions.
It's a recipe that has proven to work quite well for Tony Bennett. Over the last five-plus years, his team is 155-33 overall and 73-17 in conference play. Last season, his Cavaliers won the ACC Tournament championship and were also 17-1 in league play during the regular season.
"I'm still in awe of how you do that," Hamilton said this week.
Coming off their stunning and historic first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament a season ago -- Virginia was the first No. 1 seed to ever lose its first game -- the Cavaliers are back to doing what they've done as well as anyone else in the country for the last half-decade or so: Winning.
"The challenge for us is to understand going into the game that we need to cut down the turnovers," Hamilton said. "And you've got to be the best at who you are because you know they're going to be the best at who they are."
Florida State (12-1) is best when it's running and running and running some more.
The Seminoles' trademark the last few years has been getting in transition as much as possible and wearing teams down with their depth.
On Saturday, against the slow-paced Cavaliers (12-0 on the season), that's going to be hard to do.
FSU is one of five teams in the ACC averaging more than 80 points per game, while Virginia leads the conference in scoring defense; the Cavaliers' opponents are averaging just 51.4 points per game.
"I feel like this game is going to be a test of two different styles," sophomore forward Mfiondu Kabengele said. "It's going to be a test of each other's will. Virginia, they're going to play their style of play regardless of circumstances. So whoever is able to impose their will the most (will win the game)."
The Seminoles are an experienced bunch, but they also have a handful of newcomers who have no idea what it's like to face Virginia's pack-line defense.
Trent Forrest has gone up against it twice now. He played 22 minutes as a freshman in Charlottesville when the Seminoles knocked off UVa on Dwayne Bacon's game-winning 3-pointer. And he played 22 minutes again last season when the Cavaliers came back from a 10-point halftime deficit to knock off the Seminoles at home, 59-55.
It was one of the tightest games Virginia played all season in the ACC.
"It definitely helps once you go through it," Forrest said of facing the Cavaliers' style. "We understand what they're trying to do, offensively and defensively, so it should be a very good game."
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