FSU basketball: Reporter projects Noles to make the Final Four

No. 11 FSU basketball (14-4, 10-3 ACC) are favorites to repeat at ACC Regular Season Champions. The Noles have two games remaining against teams they are favored to beat.

They should be the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament with a double-bye, and project as No. 3 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA Tournament is all about who’s playing well and getting the right matchups. ESPN and CBS project the Noles as three seeds, but each outlet has them in different brackets.

The ESPN projection has the Noles taking on No. 14 UNC-Greensboro with a potential matchup against No. 2 seed Ohio State in the Sweet 16 if upsets are avoided. The No. 1 seed is Baylor in this FSU bracket.

The CBS projection has the Noles taking on No. 14 Navy with a potential matchup against No. 2 seed Alabama in the Sweet 16 if upsets are avoided. The No. 1 seed is Illinois in this FSU bracket.

CBS reporter Seth Davis has faith in the Noles to make the Final Four along with three other No. 1 seeds:

Illinois would be the weakest of the No. 1 seed teams as they have six losses this year. However, they have 13 games (8-5) against teams in Quad 1. The Noles only have six games against Quad 1 teams (3-3).

I know I was critical of the Noles with their performance against North Carolina. They are quite capable of making a run, but the question is can they play five games at a consistent level without taking their foot off the gas while playing against good basketball teams.

The good news is they have the propensity to play to their level of competition, so that bodes well as they get deeper in the tournament.

There’s also the notion of knowing it’s losing and go home. The next two games should tell us a lot about the Noles. Two wins and the Noles could catch fire at the right time to go on a Tournament run and make the Final Four.