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FSU Basketball: 2016-17 Schedule Instant Reaction

By Jason Parker

Dec 29, 2015; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida State Seminoles guard Dwayne Bacon (4) drives to the basket against the Florida Gators during the first half at Stephen C. O
Dec 29, 2015; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida State Seminoles guard Dwayne Bacon (4) drives to the basket against the Florida Gators during the first half at Stephen C. O /
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The FSU basketball schedule for the 2016-17 season was released Monday and has plenty of games and dates that will be interesting for the ‘Noles.

When FSU basketball joined the ACC a quarter century ago, they knew exactly what they were in for: while the football team was dominating, the men of the hardwood were going to have to work twice as hard to complete with what was then (and still is) the best basketball conference.

No one said it was going to be easy, but the Seminoles have held their own of late, being the third winningest program in the ACC since the 2005-06 season started to go along with the first ACC title in school history during the 2011-12 season.

In the 2016-17 season, the Seminoles will again have their work cut out for them as the season schedule was released on Monday. It can be found by clicking this link, but here are three quick takeaways we got from it:

No. 1 – The Seminoles will be tested by a four game ACC stretch in January

The entire conference is tough as a whole, but head coach Leonard Hamilton and the Seminoles will be met by one stretch of four games in 12 days that could kill a lesser team. FSU basketball will host Duke on Jan. 10th, travel to UNC on the 14th before hosting Notre Dame and Louisville on the 18th and 21st, respectively.

That’s three tournament teams from last year and a fourth that would have gone had they not administered their own probation. With the game against the Blue Devils being just the fourth conference game of the year, we’ll know real quick if the Seminoles are for real.

No. 2 – FSU basketball will be road warriors at the season’s end

In the last five and a half weeks of the regular season, the Seminoles will be inside the Tucker Center just four times in the final 11 games. Included in that span is road games at Syracuse, Notre Dame, Miami and Pittsburgh.

Spending that much time on the road when you could still be on the bubble fighting for a tournament berth makes all those home games earlier in the season against Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Clemson that much more important.

No. 3 – The non-conference slate isn’t a cake walk either

Being a part of the best conference in college basketball means that the focus tends to be on how tough those games are. Before the Seminoles even enter league play, the non-conference slate is full of postseason teams from last year that will provide quite the challenge.

FSU basketball will host Minnesota and rival Florida while hitting the road for tournament games in Brooklyn against Temple and either West Virginia or Illinois. The ‘Noles will be in Washington D.C. to take on George Washington and in South Florida for the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic against Manhattan.

Needless to say, if the Seminoles want to keep their 20 wins a season average going during the 2016-17 season, it’s going to take plenty of work. The season tips off on November 12th at 1 PM when the ‘Noles host Charleston Southern.

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