On December 4, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projected the then 7-1 Florida State basketball team as a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Since then, the ’Noles have registered comfortable wins against UConn in New Jersey and vs. Southeast Missouri State and North Florida at home to improve to 10-1.
After the UConn victory, Lunardi dropped FSU to a 4-seed. And now, after two more triumphs, he’s downgraded the No. 11 Seminoles again in his latest tournament projection. Lunardi has 5-seed Florida State in the South region, opening play against 12-seed Murray State in San Jose, CA. Should FSU win that game, it would face the winner of 4-seed Oklahoma and 13-seed UC-Irvine.
The Seminoles’ slide is most likely attributable to the fact that, while none of their last three wins have been in question, they’re not blowing out their opponents by ridiculous margins, a factor taken into account by the new (terrible) NET rankings. FSU’s current NET ranking: No. 30.