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Once again, Florida State took a step down in the NCAA Tournament projections of Joe Lunardi, ESPN’s resident bracketologist, following the Seminoles’ home breakdown against the Louisville Cardinals. Let’s keep in mind that the season is still young, so projections like Lunardi’s could still swing wildly in either direction. Also, I’ve yet to find an accredited graduate program that confers degrees in bracketology.
After being projected as a 7-seed a week ago, Lunardi now has the ’Noles as an 8-seed in the big dance. At present, he has them matching up with 9-seed Butler in Pittsburgh, which would certainly mean a de facto home-court advantage for the Bulldogs, which are based in Indianapolis.
Moreover, were FSU to advance, they’d most likely face projected 1-seed West Virginia— and the Mountaineers would also not be playing far from home in this prospective South regional showdown. On the other side of the same region lurks a possible second-round contest between 2-seed Duke and 7-seed Florida.