FSU basketball: Thoughts on Noles with No. 2 seed in ACC Tournament

No. 11 FSU basketball (15-5, 11-4) cost itself the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament with its loss to Notre Dame Saturday afternoon.

It’s a loss I should be numb to because we’ve seen the same script in all five losses. They will either begin the game with zero energy or come out flat in the second half or both.

The thing that disturbs me the most about it is something they can control every time they step on the court. I’m not saying they should win every game, but if they lose, at least play like you want to be there and if the shots don’t fall, so be it.

With the Notre Dame loss, the Noles are the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament with a double-bye.

The Noles beat every team on their side of the bracket except for Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. They beat everyone in the other bracket except Syracuse, where they would have been a No. 1 seed.

If the seeds hold, FSU basketball will take on Virginia Tech in the quarterfinals. It doesn’t matter which seed the Noles received for the tournament. They are the best team in the conference when they want to play like it. The only question is how badly do they want to win?

Can they play with good energy for three consecutive games? We’ve seen it at times this season. I thought we would have seen it Saturday with the ACC Regular Season Title on the line. We did see it in the second half, but it was a little too late after digging themselves into such a hole in the first half. The referees didn’t help either, and they won’t help with the games taking place on Tobacco Road.

I don’t know what to expect from this team. FSU basketball could run roughshod over all three opponents or lose in the quarterfinals. Here’s to hoping Leonard Hamilton can find some fire within them and sustain it over the next few weeks.