Virginia has blazed its way to a dream start. The Hoos sit 6-0, hold three quality wins, are ranked third in the nation and hover miles above the rest of the ACC.
Veteran leaders and glimmering but erratic young talent comprise a sturdy roster. The spotlight fixes more directly on Reece Beekman with each passing game. Inconspicuous Kihei Clark pilots the operation.
The Hoos have established themselves as a polished national power, a sturdy wall clock surrounded by dusty, half-finished Rolexes.
But the season marches on, and new challenges rear their heads. Saturday’s game against Florida State should, on paper, be a straightforward affair. The Seminoles are incomprehensibly horrendous, utterly embarrassing. Only rudderless and flailing Louisville saves FSU from status as the laughingstock of the ACC.
And yet, Leonard Hamilton teams always haunt Virginia, and the Noles just scared Purdue. This could be closer than forecast.
The opponent
Red. The undesirable color stains Florida State’s results. Loss. Loss. Loss. Loss. Win! Loss. Loss. Loss. Loss.
It’s miserable, even from an outsider’s perspective. One can’t help but empathize with the helpless Seminole fans.
Four non-power-conference teams claim wins against Florida State: Stetson, UCF, Troy, Siena. The losses came by a combined 39 points. Power-conference squads dealt FSU its other four losses: Florida, Stanford, Nebraska, #5 Purdue. The closest margin of defeat? Nine points.
Florida State’s sole victory arrived against Mercer, by 9 points. KenPom ranks the Seminoles 160th, with the 152nd-best offense and the 170th-best defense (Virginia: 6th, 3rd, 17th).
Put bluntly, nothing has worked for Florida State. We can throw around stats all we want, ridiculing the Noles for their atrocious shooting percentages and terrible rebounding numbers. Or we can acknowledge that this runs far deeper than simple deficiencies. This is a team failing to coalesce, a team failing to be a team.
But Florida State, as always, is a big team. Hamilton’s leading quartet of guards, which accounts for most of the Seminoles’ points, is 6-foot-5, 6-foot-5, 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-7. Tall. Reece Beekman and Kihei Clark are 6-foot-3 and (a generous) 5-foot-10. Yikes.
Height is no substitute for talent, though, and Virginia has far more of it. FSU’s Caleb Mills and Matthew Cleveland are dynamic scorers, yes, but they have at times looked lost on the floor, drowning in a sea of ineptitude.
FSU also lacks a developed big man. Sophomore Naheem McLeod stands at 7-foot-4, but he averages fewer than 17 minutes per game, a testament to his rawness. Freshman Cameron Corhen is 6-foot-10, but he doesn’t play much more than McLeod.
Hamilton has work to do. But that Purdue game? Wow. A different team. The game remained tight throughout. Purdue escaped, 79-69, but the performance likely reinvigorated FSU. Perhaps that could give the Seminoles an edge.
Virginia is the favorite, and the Hoos should cruise. Just perhaps not quite as easily as the numbers suggest.
Florida State at Virginia will tip at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday and air on ESPN2.
Image – Virginia Athletics