Why FSU Basketball deserves top three seed in NCAA Tournament

FSU Basketball knows they are heading into March Madness, but there is no doubt that they should be no lower than a three seed in this year’s field.

Come Sunday evening, the FSU basketball team will have the confirmation that they have known about since the early parts of this season – that the Seminoles will be heading to a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance, just the third time in program history that the Noles have been dancing for at least three straight seasons.

It’s never been in doubt that the Seminoles were going to be heading back to the 68 team field – this is a team that lost just one none conference game and has won 14 of their last 16 games that included a spot in the ACC Championship game for just the third time in program history (with the two losses coming against teams that may end up as number one seeds).

Still, some bracket predictions have had FSU basketball sitting in the tournament as a fourth and – in some insane cases – a fifth seed even with their recent string of great performance on the court.

I’m here to say it like this and I don’t care who gets offended by it: if the Seminoles are anything lower than a number three seed when the bracket is announced Sunday evening, the selection process is a joke and it needs to be blown up and started all over again.

It has nothing to do with being a homer as a FSU grad or the fact this is a pro-Seminoles site, but to do with the fact that the Noles are arguably the hottest team in college basketball right now and have a resume that can’t be matched by many other teams in the game.

First off, start with the fact that this is a team that finished the regular season with the most wins in program history and – if they don’t win a single game in the tournament – would finish with the second best record in program history behind the 1971-72 team that played for the national title.

That won’t be a big deal to the selection committee, but having a 13-5 regular season record in the ACC this season – arguably the best conference in basketball this season – looks really good considering the three teams who finished ahead of them in the standings will likely be seeded first or second in the big dance.

When it comes to bad losses on the resume, the Seminoles do have two – a loss to Pittsburgh two days after losing a heartbreaker to then top seeded Duke and a five point loss to Boston College – but have a resume of impressive wins that includes a 6-4 record over ranked teams, including wins over teams that won the regular season title in the ACC and SEC and tied for the Big Ten crown.

In the 13 appearances that FSU basketball has made in the tournament since seeding started in the 1980s, the Seminoles have been a three seed a total of four times and never been higher – if a fifth time doesn’t take place this season, something is beyond wrong.