Florida State basketball: Stetson preview

With 12 minutes to play versus South Florida and FSU clinging to a 2-point lead, Leonard Hamilton made some changes. First, he took Xavier Rathan-Mayes off the point and turned the job of running the team back over to Devon Bookert. Second, he went several possessions in a matchup zone. The Noles responded with a run to put the Bulls away, and now we get to see if those changes were temporary or a tweak moving forward.

Either way, this is a game where Ham will likely take a long look at these things. The opponent - Stetson - is over-matched, and regardless of who is running the show FSU should be able to build a double digit lead for most if not all of the second half.

Stetson is coached by former FSU assistant coach Corey Williams (who also has three other former FSU staffers working for him). Rebuilding Stetson is no easy task for the 2nd year coach, as the Hatters haven't had a winning record since moving into the Atlantic Sun conference in 2001. They've never been to the NCAA Tournament.

Stetson (3-9) certainly won't have a winning record this year. They have seven scholarship freshmen as Williams attempts to remold the roster to fit his system.

The Hatters' leading scorer - sophomore Brian Pegg - has missed three straight games with an injury. It is unknown if he will play today. 5-10 freshman Divine Miles, who turned down offers from high major schools, is averaging 10.2 per game. And 6-8 senior Kentwan Smith is averaging just under 10 a game and has knocked down 50% of his 3s vs D1 opponents.

Expect Stetson to really slow the game down, and to take a lot of 3s. Winning the 3-point lottery is really their only hope of pulling the upset. They have one of the worst defenses in division I.

This is an odd 2 pm tip time and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3. Pomeroy has the Noles as 17-point favorites.