AROUND THE ACC

Not many teams have suffered losses as heartbreaking as Florida State has this season. In their five ACC defeats, the Seminoles have lost by a total of only 17 points. Florida State jumped out of the gate with nine wins in its first 10 games, and after defeating Massachusetts Sunday night, concluded its non-conference schedule with only one blemish. But life hasn't been easy for Florida State since it began the ACC portion of its schedule. Five close losses, including overtime defeats at Duke and at home against Miami, have prevented the Seminoles from separating themselves from the middle of the ACC pack. Despite these setbacks, Florida State has maintained a positive outlook. "You have to find a way to draw strength from the learning process," head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "You have to find something positive to hang your head on." The Seminoles currently sit in seventh place in the ACC, and are still very much alive for the NCAA Tournament. Nonetheless, only one of the Seminoles' five ACC victories has come against an opponent with a winning conference record-Virginia. Although Florida State's upcoming game at N.C. State Feb. 15 provides the perfect opportunity to get a marquee ACC win, Hamilton refused to speculate on his team's NCAA chances. "We are not at that stage in the development of our program to look past that next game," Hamilton said. Parity in the conference has made it difficult for analysts to predict the number of bids the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee will give out to ACC teams come March. With no guarantees, the Seminoles are aware they must find ways to win close games. "Our youngsters have been somewhat resilient-when we've had a setback we've regrouped." Hamilton said. "Our team is still trying to develop an identity. We're still trying figure out who we are and how we're going to represent ourselves night in and night out."