How FSU Basketball Can Secure a Double Bye In ACC Tournament

FSU basketball lost a chance at getting a No. 2 seed with Tuesday’s loss, but can still have a break from the first two rounds of next week’s action.

For the talented players that make up the FSU basketball team, it was all right there in front of them on Tuesday night. A win over Duke would have kept them in the running for a share of their first ever ACC regular season crown and the No. 2 spot in the next week’s ACC Tournament in Brooklyn, New York (with North Carolina being No.1 based on their win over the ‘Noles.)

Alas, the Seminoles came up short in the five point loss to the Blue Devils and now find themselves in a dog fight for one of the four coveted ‘double bye’ spots in the 15 team field. With the current format for the tournament, the top four seeds don’t have to play the first two rounds and would just have to play a maximum of three total games over the weekend.

Right now, FSU basketball is sitting in the three way tie for one of the final two double by spots if the tournament started today – meaning if they were the No. 5 seed, they would get a first round bye but have to play starting Wednesday instead of Thursday.

While the good news is that the ‘Noles can’t finish any lower than fifth place even with a loss to Miami on Saturday (based on tiebreakers, but more on that later), head coach Leonard Hamilton would love to get an extra day of rest.

Here’s a look at how the ‘Noles can get one of those coveted seeds and have an extra day of sight seeing in the Big Apple…and how they could also continue to be playing earlier than they want to:

FSU Basketball gets the No. 2 seed if…:

The ‘Noles go out and beat Miami on Saturday and get a Louisville win over Notre Dame. The Cardinals’ loss early this week actually helped FSU basketball, as they get the second spot based on tiebreakers over both teams (and Duke if they beat UNC).

Florida State Seminoles Basketball

FSU Basketball gets the No. 3 seed if…:

FSU handles business against Miami, but Notre Dame beats Louisville and North Carolina beats Duke. That would put the Seminoles all alone in third place with a 12-6 conference record. The ‘Noles actually can get into this spot even with a loss to Miami, but it involves a lot of tiebreakers so it’s eaiser if they just beat the ‘Canes.

FSU Basketball gets the No. 4 seed if…:

Wins by both Duke over North Carolina and Notre Dame over Louisville would get the Seminoles the final double bye spot (with a win over Miami) since Duke would hold the tiebreaker based on having a better record against UNC than FSU would this year. If they lose to Miami, Florida State would need wins by UNC and Louisville to keep this spot.

FSU Basketball gets the No. 5 seed if…:

A loss to Miami along with wins by Duke and Louisville (and a Wake Forest win over Virginia Tech) would actually mean the Seminoles would become the best of the teams in conference play with an 11-7 record…and an extra day of action inside the Barclays Center.

Needless to say, plenty of FSU basketball fans will be cheering hard for Louisville in their game at 2 PM before watching the Seminoles and Hurricanes tip off at 4 PM. While the chances