With the Seminoles' tournament line hanging in the balance of today's regular-season finale against Miami and subsequent performance in the ACC tournament next weekend, the conference ran through a rash of important games -- all of which affected the Seminoles' tournament resume.
WEDNESDAY
Clemson 74, Miami 70 (OT): The Hurricanes have no postseason hopes but they ALMOST boosted FSU's hopes tremendously. Since a 17-0 start, Clemson is just 3-9 with a 6-9 record in conference and should be on the bubble as well. The bad news is the Tigers have been FSU twice because they've got a decisive interior matchup advantage. FSU win on Saturday at Miami and a Clemson road loss to Virginia Tech gives the Noles the better conference record and the higher seed.
N.C. State 73, Wake Forest 66: Not much to talk about here, FSU has beaten both of these teams and neither is a threat to make the tournament although N.C. State could probably sneak into the NIT.
Maryland 85, Duke 77: Maryland has been on a tear since FSU smoked them by 20 earlier in the season. Duke played much like Duke has this season, they are good enough to get a 4 seed in the tournament but don't be surprised if they are one and done. Who's going to take the shots in crunch time? Pawlus? It bears repeating that FSU was 2-1 against these two schools this season.
THURSDAY
Virginia 69, Virginia Tech 56: The Commonwealth schools battled for first place and the Cavaliers showed their advantage at the guard position. Sean Singletary has to be 1st team All-ACC. I don't think he'll be player of the year.
Georgia Tech 84, North Carolina 77: Ouch. This one hurt. It's bad enough FSU is 0-3 against the Tar Heels and Yellow Jackets, but now the Jackets have a signature win and a good opportunity to have a better record and a higher conference tournament seed than the Noles.