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FSU Basketball: Noles have mixed recent success vs. top ranked teams

By Jason Parker

ATLANTA - MARCH 14: The Florida State Seminoles celebrate after defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 73-70 during the semifinals of the 2009 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament on March 14, 2009 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA - MARCH 14: The Florida State Seminoles celebrate after defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 73-70 during the semifinals of the 2009 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament on March 14, 2009 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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FSU basketball will face the top ranked team in the country for the 19th time in program history when Duke comes to the Tucker Center on Saturday.

When the schedule came out for this season for the FSU basketball team, plenty of people looked at the first three games of the ACC slate and all of a sudden got a headache – one that was amplified when the games actually came around and the Seminoles were playing two of the top four ranked teams in the country.

After the Noles lost by double digits to No. 4 Virginia last weekend, head coach Leonard Hamilton’s team got a win this week against Miami and now prepares for an even bigger challenge – a meeting with the top ranked team in college basketball as the Duke Blue Devils come down for their once in a blue moon game in Tallahassee these days.

18 times before, the FSU basketball team has faced the top ranked team in the country in the previous 71 seasons of action – and while that didn’t mean something good during the first few decades (losing the first 11 games), the Seminoles have had some recent success when No. 1 comes up on the schedule with a 4-3 record since.

Eight of those 18 game have come against this weekend’s opponent, Duke – with the Seminoles going 3-5 against the Blue Devils and all three of those victories coming inside the Tucker Center.

  • 1/6/92 at Duke L 86-70
  • 1/30/92 vs. Duke L 75-62
  • 2/17/99 vs. Duke L 85-59
  • 1/6/02 vs. Duke W 77-76
  • 2/7/02 at Duke L 80-49
  • 1/29/04 at Duke L 56-49
  • 3/01/06 vs. Duke W 79-74
  • 1/12/11 vs. Duke W 66-61

Since FSU basketball joined the ACC during the 1991-92 season, the Seminoles have faced a total of 11 top ranked teams – the eight games against Duke and three against North Carolina, including the only other win over a top ranked team when the Noles won in the 2009 ACC Tournament.

Before joining the ACC, the Seminoles played a variety of teams ranked No. 1 in the country at the time and lost them all, starting in 1958 against West Virginia followed by Ohio State (1961), the 1972 title game against UCLA, Indiana (1975), Kentucky (1978 NCAA tournament), North Carolina (1985) and UNLV (1990).

Next. 3 takeways from ‘Noles win over Miami. dark

During the Hamilton years, FSU basketball has been known for playing up or down to the level of their competition – and while it can be frustrating when they lose to teams like Wake Forest last season and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi back in the early 2000s, getting wins over top ranked teams can sometimes make up for it.

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