FSU basketball rises in new NCAA Tournament projection— but for the better?

The Florida State basketball program has struggled with injuries from the onset of conference play, but as the Seminoles continue to get healthier, so has their record in ACC play. And Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology projection reflects as much, as he has the ’Noles moving up a line in his most recent forecast.

FSU is now up to a 6-seed in Lunardi’s ESPN prediction, facing 11-seed Lipscomb in the opening round in the South region’s Tulsa venue. The winner of that game would get the victor of 3-seed Purdue, a team that FSU has already defeated this season, and 14-seed Bowling Green.

Whichever squad makes the Sweet 16 from that draw would face the emergent of 2-seed Kentucky, 7-seed Cincinnati, 10-seed Minnesota, and 15-seed Montana. Since the most likely opponents would be either the Wildcats or the Bearcats (so many cats), Florida State would then be challenged with a de facto road game in Louisville against either home-state UK or Cincy, which is just across the Ohio River from Kentucky. The region’s top seed is Virginia.

Lunardi’s last two draws have included FSU as a 7-seed, but playing its first two contests in Jacksonville, which prompts an obvious question: would you rather be seeded lower, and playing just a few hours from home amid fervent supporters, or seeded higher, in other squads’ backyards?

The Seminoles are also a 6-seed per the latest Team Rankings and CBS predictions, and a 7-seed according to our own SB Nation picks and across Bracket Matrix averages.