FSU basketball vs. Chicago State: Preview, how to watch, Vegas line, game thread

No offense to the players and coaches, but Chicago State (3-3) is a bad basketball team. Per Ken Pomeroy, they have the worst defense in the nation and the 5th worst offense. Under the old RPI, just playing them would be a huge blow to FSU’s resume. But under the new (and dumb) NET - hey, let’s blow ‘em out!

By the end of last year they had six scholarship players on the roster. One player returns this year. The rebuild of this program is the toughest job in college basketball.

I’m not going to bother breaking down their roster. Leading scorer Xavier Johnson is putting up an impressive 17.7 ppg, but against D1 opponents he’s made 10-44 shots.

The Cougars have three wins this year, and all are against sub D1 opponents. In the past three seasons they are 2-61 if you filter out the NAIA and other lower division teams they play.

FSU should be able to name the score. Ken Pomeroy’s site has a feature called ‘Fan Match’ which assigns a metric detailing how exciting the game is expected to be. Out of 42 games tonight, FSU-Chicago State is No. 42.

So what are we watching for? This is the final tune up before playing a top-20 Tennessee team, and so the players need to execute. Against an overmatched opponent you want to see them running the offense and defense, and staying focused. Good basketball teams play hard regardless of opponent or score.

How to watch

The game is on ACC Network Extra, which I believe means you can watch on ESPN3 as long as you get ACC Network on your normal provider. 7 PM

Who will win

Ken Pomeroy FSU 99.98% (seriously)

T-Rank FSU 100%

Vegas line OFF