Duke, Florida State set to play for ACC Tournament title

Duke

Duke, Florida State set to play for ACC Tournament title

By Jake Lloyd

Mar 15, 2009

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Florida State has a lot to play for Sunday. That’s an understatement.

When the 22nd-ranked Seminoles (25-8) take the Georgia Dome court to face No. 9 Duke (27-6) in the ACC Tournament championship game, they will be playing for their first title.

Ever.

“We came a long way since the preseason with six new guys coming in,” Florida State senior Toney Douglas said after upsetting No. 1 North Carolina 73-70.

“But I think that we’re still hungry. We never end up being satisfied.”

The game is at 1 p.m. on WRAL. Duke has won 16 ACC Tournament titles. Winning these things is nothing new to the Blue Devils.

That, however, does not mean they will take Sunday’s game any lighter than the Seminoles. For starters, only one active player in Duke’s rotation — Greg Paulus — played on that team.

Senior David McClure played sparingly during Duke’s 2005 championship run and took a medical redshirt in 2006. Everyone else of note on this year’s team was still in high school.

So it’s safe to say the Blue Devils are as hungry as the Seminoles for a championship.

“As a group, it would be a great way to help us in the latter part of March,” McClure said. “Personally, it would be great just to get back there.

“We won a couple championships early in my career, but I really wasn’t much of a factor. … There would be no better way to end with these guys than to go out and get one.”

Duke’s coaching staff isn’t worried about the players getting ready for the game, especially considering that they didn’t think they brought enough energy in their 67-61 semifinal win over Maryland.

“I think our guys will be equally motivated,” assistant coach Chris Collins said. “(Most of) these guys have been together for the last three years and have had ups and downs and have kind of fought through some adversity, taken some tough losses early in tournaments.

“To see them play through and now have a chance to play (for the title), they understand what this means.”

The Blue Devils know it will be anything but easy. They’re as familiar with Florida State as any team, having played them twice — including less than two weeks ago.

In that game, the Seminoles gave them all they could handle in Durham. Duke pulled out a tough 84-81 win in the final minute, but Florida State put a real scare into the home crowd.

Duke won the teams’ first game, way back on Jan. 10, 66-58 in an ugly affair.

“We just played them last week and our players know how good they are,” Collins said. “We won a one-possession game on our home floor on Senior Night, and we had to scrap and claw for every possession.”

Playing Florida State is never easy because of its defensive versatility. The conference’s best defensive team is led by ACC defensive player of the year Douglas, who can lock down guards on the perimeter.

He can afford to get burned because he has 6-foot-9 forwards Chris Singleton and Uche Echefu and 7-1 center Solomon Alabi — the league’s leading shot-blocker — behind him.

Gerald Henderson made several clutch plays down the stretch of the Blue Devils’ recent win over Florida State. But just as important, Duke held its own by grabbing 36 rebounds to the Seminoles’ 39.

Against an undersized Maryland team Saturday, Duke was outrebounded 37-32 and beaten to many loose balls. The players know a repeat would likely equal a loss against the more physical Seminoles.

“We know how to attack them, but we’re definitely going to have to pick up our rebounding and stop getting outrebounded every game,” Nolan Smith said. “We have to box out and just be very aggressive.”

The Blue Devils will also have to try to contain Douglas, who has scored 52 points — the most of any player in the tournament — in two games.

But the Seminoles have gotten offensive contributions from others recently, including 11 points each from Alabi and guard Derwin Kitchen against the Tar Heels. And Singleton made one of the biggest shots of the game, a long-range jumper down the stretch.

It all adds up to a big challenge for the Blue Devils as they try to tie North Carolina for the most tournament titles with 17.

“They’ve been a team that throughout the year has kept getting better,” Collins said, adding that after Duke’s game at Florida State, “We felt by the end of the year they were going to be as good as any team in our league.

“You could just feel it and you could see how hard they were working. I’m not surprised to see them there.”

Most Recent Comments

RE: Duke, Florida State set to play for ACC Tournament title

from a state fan for 6o years all i can say is GO DUKE--- TO H-LL WITH THE TAR HEELS.

RE: Duke, Florida State set to play for ACC Tournament title

Duke can't let another player like an Eric Hayes on FSU's team beat them up like Hayes did yesterday. Everybody's got to be on top of their form.
Go Duke!

RE: Duke, Florida State set to play for ACC Tournament title

As long as Douglas does not score over 27, DUKE has a chance.

RE: Duke, Florida State set to play for ACC Tournament title

Yeah...will be a VERY tough game. It will be interesting to see how we guard Douglas. In both Duke wins (something uncch could not do), he lit us up scoring 18 and 27 points, respectively.

RE: Duke, Florida State set to play for ACC Tournament title

This is going to be a tough game. FSU is very big and athletic, DUKE will work hard and probably use the drive and kick a lot. Need the outside shooting to be good like today. FREETHROW shooting was better against Maryland, oppossed to the Boston College game. Played very good defense.

LETS GO DEVILS.......LETS GO DEVILS......LETS GO DEVILS

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