THE CONTENTS: No. 2 Duke travels to treacherous Tallahassee Saturday to battle unranked Florida State in the Blue Devils' first conference road game of the season at 2 p.m. You can see the game on ESPN with Mike Patrick and Jay Bilas and hear it on 620 AM.
SO NO MORE NBA ANNOUNCERS?: Yea, ACC season pretty much means Patrick the rest of the way.
THE EXPOSITION: The Blue Devils (13-1) are coming off a win over Davidson that first seemed like it would be surprisingly easy, then looked like it was going to be surprisingly hard, and finally ended up unsurprisingly in the middle.
It's the conference opener for the Seminoles (13-2), who rolled past Texas A&M at Corpus Christi in their last contest. FSU's two losses have come at Northwestern (very unimpressive) and tightly at Pitt (very impressive). The 'Noles also own victories over Florida, Texas Tech, Western Kentucky, and most impressively right now, Cal.
Duke leads the all-time series, 26-6, although over the last three seasons (the Greg Paulus Era, as it will likely be known in the future), FSU has given the Blue Devils plenty of trouble, as the teams have split the last four contests. Furthermore, Tallahassee has proven to be a difficult place for Duke to play, with notable Seminole upsets occurring in 2001 and 2006.
THE PROTAGONISTS: Aside from that little six or seven-minute stretch Wednesday night when Davidson went on a 21-6 run, the Blue Devils looked very good against the Wildcats. One thing that jumps out now is their increased balance offensively. Early in the season, most of the offense centered around Kyle Singler; now, Duke can run sets through Singler, Jon Scheyer, Gerald Henderson, Brian Zoubek, and even one time last game, David McClure in the post. The key, of course, remains hitting open shots. When the Blue Devils did that toward the end of the first half and the beginning of the second Wednesday night, they looked pretty hard to beat.
That offense becomes even more dangerous when combined with what people are now arguing may be the best defense in the country. Duke followed up its second-half 13-point stranglehold on Virginia Tech by allowing Davidson just 12 points in the game's first 14 minutes. Again, aside from that Wildcat run, when Stephen Curry was getting into the lane at will (which he does to a lot of teams) and Davidson was getting some easy ones in transition, the Blue Devils looked strong defensively. Coach K still loves switching screens on the perimeter, which you would think creates mismatches, but the team was rotating so well from the weakside that it didn't really matter.
THE ANTAGONISTS: Toney Douglas still runs the point at FSU, even though it seems like we've been saying that for years. Douglas is also the 'Noles' leading scorer at 18.4 per game. Inside, Uche Echefu and Ryan Reid are also veterans who have been on teams that have beaten Duke, and neither one of them is afraid of sending a message early in the contest. Echefu, averaging just over seven points per game this season while recovering from a few minor injuries (knee and groin), has a nice touch from the outside and can step out and hit the trifecta.
The FSU offense has struggled this year, averaging just over 67 points per contest, and ranking 219th in offensive efficiency according to Ken Pomeroy. Florida State's defense, however, has held opponents to 60.6 points per game thus far this season--the exact same number as Duke. But, when you adjust that number based on possessions and all that statistical jazz, the 'Noles re a little less impressive (Pomeroy ranks them 20th in the nation in defense, with Duke sitting at the top spot).
THE CONFLICT: Can Florida State score enough to keep up with Duke?
WHAT THE LOCAL MEDIA ARE SAYING: From Corey Clark of the Tallahassee Democrat:
The Blue Devils have too many good players — seven of which are former McDonald's All-Americans — who are capable of having big games to just focus on one. Of course, that might be why they're No. 2 in the nation.
TIM'S FAVORITE PLAYER IN FSU HISTORY IS...: Anyone who routinely points out the size of his cojones after hitting big shots deserves this award. When you throw in the fact that he looks so much like a cliched alien, I mean, how can you not say Sam Cassell? (Apologies to Bobby Sura).
DUKE SHOULD BE A LITTLE WORRIED BECAUSE...: It has a weird history with Florida State. The FSU teams that have knocked off Duke haven't been particularly good, and some of the Blue Devils' squads they've beaten were. Consequently, Leonard Hamilton and a lot of his veterans won't be intimidated in any way Saturday afternoon.
DUKE SHOULDN'T BE THAT WORRIED BECAUSE...: The Blue Devils shut down a fairly one-dimensional offense Wednesday night that's one dimension is the best scorer in the country. Duke faces another team Saturday that has only one main scoring option, and Toney Douglas ain't got nothin' on Steph Curry.
THE DENOUEMENT: The Seminoles are going to try to be physical with Duke early and get them off their game and settling for jump shots in what should be a hostile environment (this, I believe, is known as the "Vince Carter Strategy"). FSU has already won some tight games against good competition and hung very closely with the only team ranked higher than Duke. That being said, Florida State simply does not have the offensive firepower to keep up with the Blue Devils, provided Duke doesn't have one of its clunkers from three-point range.
THE VERDICT: Duke, 78-61.
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