With Carolina On Her Mind, McCallie Lauds Florida State

We have all heard about the strength of the ACC on the men's side this year, but for Joanne P. McCallie's squad, the conference is much more competitive from top to bottom than in years past, too.

Typically, the only teams capable of challenging for the crown are Duke, North Carolina and Maryland, and then a bunch of interchangeable parts round out the bottom of the conference. This year, Florida State is tied with Maryland for the conference lead with two losses and is No. 11 in the country, right behind No. 10 Duke and No. 9 North Carolina, both of which are tied for third in the conference. Virginia, the fifth-place team, is currently ranked No. 22. Georgia Tech was ranked for five straight weeks earlier this season, and Boston College and Wake Forest have received more than a handful of votes most weeks.

In Thursday's press conference for Sunday's 5 p.m. game against the Tar Heels, McCallie took time to shift the focus from the Tar Heels to the surprising Seminoles and the conference as a whole. She attributed the parity to better recruiting by all the schools--gone are the days when prospects only look at the big three in the ACC. When asked specifically what she thought of Florida State, McCallie offered them high praise by saying they reminded her a lot of her own Final Four team at Michigan State in 2005. McCallie even addressed the Seminole players by name, a sharp break from her normal use of jersey numbers to talk about the opposition. That's what a loss to a team will do for you. Here it is, straight from the source:

"It's a remarkable thing to see all the schools, everybody, just everybody, be better. Just everybody. Any game we take on this year, it just seems like everybody is better in certain ways. I think the conference is remarkable that way. It is very different from last year. There was such a break last year. There were so many times when the games were not as challenging. Not at all the case this year. The parity has been fantastic."

"Different kids are going different places. There used to be the long-term dominance. Again, you just look at three schools over and over and over again. And even before those folks arrived at Maryland (head coach Brenda Frese and her staff that arrived in 2002 and took a 10-win team to a national champion in 2006), Maryland wasn't even on the map. I just think that more kids are broadening what they choose to do. You see some of the student-athletes that have come to Florida State, they're pretty good. They're pretty good, those kids could play at any school in the ACC."

"I think there is a general parity across the country. We have all talked about maybe one school that has separated, but after that I think you can toss it up."

"They [Florida State] are interesting. To be quite frank with you, they remind me of my Final Four team. They do because of the component parts they have. They have a great shooter [Mara Freshour], a prolific shooter who can hit threes easily. So they've got that piece. Then they have a lean, athletic post player, the lefty Jacinta [Monroe]. She does her part. Then they got, I think their total X factor that changes them completely from last year to this year, is the freshman, [Cierra] Bravard. Bravard is playing with big-time confidence.... She is a big girl, and people are expecting perhaps a lot of moves out of her, and she just uses her body so well that she takes up a lot of space, commands a lot, and Jacinta is able to swoop right around where she needs to go. I think their point guard [Courtney] Ward is outstanding. She is a great point guard. And then they've got Cain, [Tanae] Davis-Cain. Well, she is a go-to player that can play off the bounce and make those broken plays. I think they are a very extraordinary team. I think they are interesting."