FSU vs Auburn preview and game thread
For the past several years Florida State has played down to the bubble in the early season. And this year is no different. After an early going that would have put FSU solidly in the Tourney (8-10 seed) the Noles blew it by losing at home to Princeton. Now they have to beat a much improved Auburn (10-3) team just to remain on the bubble.
The Tigers are led by 2nd year head coach Tony Barbee and the combination of a few wins and a beautiful new arena has some actual excitement building around this program. Auburn hasn't beaten anyone of note (best win is USF), but two of their 3 losses are to strong teams (Seton Hall and Long Beach State), which contrasts greatly with last season when they lost 7 of their first 9 Division 1 games. Auburn was one of the three or four worst major conference teams in the nation last year (and they still beat FSU), but this is no longer the case.
Last year Auburn's offense was abysmal, and this year it's been upgraded to just bad. In the five games they've played against top-200 teams, they've only scored more than a point per possession once. They don't have any glaring weaknesses, but they're not particularly good at anything either. Their defense was average last season, and this year looks to be somewhere around 100th. They put a tremendous amount of pressure on interior shots. They're 7th nationally in blocked shots, and 37th in defensive 2-pt%.
Florida State will counter with a 3-guard lineup for the 2nd consecutive game. The combo of Bernard James and Xavier Gibson playing together was horrible in the first half against Princeton, but once the staff split them up following the break FSU played their best offensive half of the season, and most importantly the Noles only turned the ball over 5 times in the final 35 minutes of the game.
The game tips at 6pm from the Donald L Tucker Center, and will be broadcast on ESPN3. The Noles are a 12 point favorite in Vegas, and Pomeroy has them -13.
148 comments
|
Add comment
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
auburn's not in the !vy League,
are they?
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!!!
by GoNolzOhio on Jan 4, 2012 5:29 PM EST via mobile reply actions
whats with this 6pm start? lets see how many students are present.
Seriously Turtle, Smoke More Weed
Deckerhoff on the radio mentioned a few minutes ago that the game was moved to 6pm
in anticipation of the Noles possibly playing in the Orange Bowl. After that possibility went up in smoke, they just decided not to change the start time back to 7pm.
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!!!
Starting the new year at home just might be what this team needs!
Thanks TBlock
Seriously Turtle, Smoke More Weed
didnt do that the entire 1st half against princeton
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!!!
So we've scored more points in the first 4 minutes than we did the entire 1st half againt Princeton?
Formerly known as Randall W. Spetman.
Allbarn is bad
so many open looks for us, missing the open guy on offense for them
Seriously Turtle, Smoke More Weed
with this drought, auburn fans now know what we go through quite regularly.
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!!!
I wanna be mad at Snaer for not taking that wide ass open shot,
But that reverse layup was puuuuurty
Formerly known as Randall W. Spetman.
semi-related topic:
Ryan Reid was called up to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Although he is not getting any time yet.
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!!!
naah. We just burned a few lefraud jerseys in the parking lots of various bars after
his “Decision.”
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!!!
what the crap? 32-8
are we actually hitting shots on offense?
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!!!
Auburn is atrocious
Finally nice to see som fluidity on offense.Auburn looks lost on what to do against the length of fsu’s D
by UnconqueredJag904 on Jan 4, 2012 6:42 PM EST reply actions
is this on radio?????
Running late at work
by BostonNole on Jan 4, 2012 6:42 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
Ham's strat
video of this game will not prepare teams to play against us
Seriously????
That ball movement at the end of the half????
I’m amazed.
Who is this team?
And what have they done with the FL St Seminoles?
seriously, guys.
50 points.
63% shooting
5 turnovers.
Can I strangle several members of this team for putting us through what went down last friday?
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!!!
at Clemson, at VaTech, home vs. UNC?
is that hard?
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!!!
I was considering going to that Duke game.
The tickets are outrageous.
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!!!
made the shots we took
we still turned the ball over, but we played smothering defense (and AU’s bucket had a lid on it) and made 60 some odd percent of our shots. now watch us regress to the mean in the 2nd half
"I guess they have a reputation of being more of a tricky team and not being tough. You hit ‘em in the mouth, and they don’t like it. Other teams that have beat them just hit them in the mouth, so that’s what we started out with.’’ - Nick Moody
I think we've scored more points than we did in the entire Harvard game
Gonna be hard to get to mean tonight :)
Trying to go Showtime...
So typical
(I’ve seen at least 2 attempts at Alley-Oops in the last 30 sec.s
New Team
Did we get a new team over the last few days?
by gonoles#1 on Jan 4, 2012 7:14 PM EST via mobile reply actions
yea, I was wondering what Block was talking about there,
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!!!
Mr Rogner
Any idea why Dulkys has regressed so badly since his early career at FSU?
Just seems so…unpolished and flat. Very odd
Formerly known as Randall W. Spetman.
The types of slumps he goes through have to be mental.
Even in his good year (sophomore) he had a big slump in the middle
by Michael Rogner on Jan 4, 2012 7:42 PM EST up reply actions
gibson being aggressive?
are these the bizzaro noles?
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!!!
80-46
this is the second game in a row where I can’t believe what I am seeing.
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!!!

by 






























