NCAA Tournament Instant Preview | The Florida State Seminoles

Follow Down The Drive on Facebook/twitter and check out the store.

The Basics

This is the 14th appearance for the Seminoles. Its also the second consecutive season that the Noles have advanced to the round of 32. Hamilton has been at the helm in Tallahassee for 10 seasons. This is arguably the best Seminole team since the Final Four outfit of 1972.

How They Got Here

The Noles got hot down the stretch run of the ACC season. In the tournament that hot run continued as they beat Duke and North Carolina on consecutive days to claim their first Tournament title since joining the ACC in 1991. The Noles have beaten UNC and Duke twice during the course of this season. In the tournament they escaped 66-63 against St. Bonaventure to set up Sunday's game.

Style of Play

The Noles play at a fast pace averaging almost 69 possessions per game. But that pace doesn't translate to a run and gun style of play. The Seminoles are a team that really works inside for good shots. 48 per cent of their field goal attempts come at the rim which is a crazy high percentage for a team in this era. FSU doesn't shoot a ton of three point shots. But they do make a pretty good percentage of them. 35 per cent on the year. Defensively they play mostly man to man. They do a good job defensively, allowing just .92 points per possession which is among the top 20 in the country. The big bugaboo for the Noles is turnovers. Almost 1/5 of all possessions end in a turnovers.

Players To Watch

Its Michael Snaer and Bernard James. They have a very complimentary inside outside game. James is a big guy who can give Yancy Gates some trouble inside. Think Gourgui Dieng but bigger and waaaaaay stronger. Snaer will be where this game turns IMO. He can ignite the Noles and absolutely kill teams. But he played terribly against the Bonnies and didn't really look like himself