MBB: Duke @ Florida St (Sat, Jan 12th, 2pm ET, ESPN) Pre-Game and In-Game Thread

[OldPhiKap]

For such a flat state, the FSU campus is surprisingly hilly.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

For such a flat state, the FSU campus is surprisingly hilly.

Well FSU is kind of in that part of Florida that's more like Georgia Alabama...than like the main peninsula of Florida...

[budwom]

Other than BC and Georgia Tech, is there any arena in the ACC that's not difficult to win in? As can be seen from Duke's road win-loss record over 18 seasons (shown in an earlier post in this thread), the difference between the hardest place to play (based on win/loss record) and the 8th-hardest is just one (1) "standings game" (the difference between 7-6 and 7-4).

I take you all the way back to last year when we lost at BC, so I'm not sure how easy that is.

[CDu]

Well FSU is kind of in that part of Florida that's more like Georgia Alabama...than like the main peninsula of Florida...

I grew up like 75 minutes from Tallahassee. It's very different on the Panhandle than it is in what most people think of Florida. And yes, "South Georgia" is very applicable to the Eastern part of the Panhandle, and "South Alabama" is very applicable to the Western part.

[Kedsy]

I take you all the way back to last year when we lost at BC, so I'm not sure how easy that is.

Well that was only the 2nd time we'd lost there since BC joined the ACC. There's a difference between "easy" and "guaranteed win."

[rasputin]

I remember watching that game and thinking it was the "posterchild" for any and all "Duke gets all the calls" crap. Still do. Should be an interesting/rough game. FWIW, I like the mid-afternoon Saturday games as it doesn't result in the long wait to get to the tip, like many 9pm or NCAA tourney games do. This will be two Saturdays in a row I get to double-dip with hoops and NFL (Go Cowboys!!),

There was also the comment by Billy Packer, I think it was in the FF semifinal in 2001 against Maryland, something along the lines of "Duke is starting to get the calls." A less overt comment, but on a bigger stage.

[Nugget]

There was also the comment by Billy Packer, I think it was in the FF semifinal in 2001 against Maryland, something along the lines of "Duke is starting to get the calls." A less overt comment, but on a bigger stage.

Packer didn't actually say that -- what he said was that the Maryland fans in particular (and the arena generally) were going nuts because they believed Duke was getting all the calls.

It was still irresponsible and furthered the narrative, but what he actually said wasn't quite as outrageous as we want to remember it.

Interestingly, I was reading John Feinstein's book about Coach K, Dean and Valvano last week and, while it was mostly a somewhat lazy rehash of material Feinstein has already used in other books, he included some comments from Coach K following the 2004 Final Four loss to U.Conn that I don't recall ever having seen before (my guess is they were made privately/off-the-record but Feinstein felt safe using them now, or perhaps they were contemporaneously published and I'm just forgetting them) in which Coach K explicitly said that Jim Calhoun was working the refs that entire game with "Duke doesn't foul" and "Duke gets all the calls"-type comments and that, in Coach K's view, the refs "bought into it" and called the game in a manner that he believed was biased against Duke.

I know that we as fans all saw it that way with the dozen+ whistles against Shelden, Shav and every other Duke player over 6 foot 4 after Okafor got 2 fouls in the first half. But, I don't remember Coach K making any public comments afterwards to indicate that he did, too.

[OldPhiKap]

Well FSU is kind of in that part of Florida that's more like Georgia Alabama...than like the main peninsula of Florida...

Florida is the state with the lowest high point.

Truth.

[Kedsy]

Florida is the state with the lowest high point.

Truth.

I had always thought it was Delaware, but I just looked it up and you're right: Florida beats Delaware by 103 feet (345 to 448).

[ChillinDuke]

I had always thought it was Delaware, but I just looked it up and you're right: Florida beats Delaware by 103 feet (345 to 448).

Pretty remarkable when you consider Florida is more than 26x Delaware's size (in sq miles).

- Chillin

[UrinalCake]

There was also the comment by Billy Packer, I think it was in the FF semifinal in 2001 against Maryland, something along the lines of "Duke is starting to get the calls." A less overt comment, but on a bigger stage.

Fantastic column by the late, great Al Featherston on the topic. Seriously, this belongs in the hall of fame of journalism.

Link

As for this game, I’m really hoping for a big showing from Bolden. He’s been steadily improving and in the ACC we’re going to be facing quality big men every night. Also looking to see if our freshmen can stay poised when faced with adversity on the road.

[sagegrouse]

I grew up like 75 minutes from Tallahassee. It's very different on the Panhandle than it is in what most people think of Florida. And yes, "South Georgia" is very applicable to the Eastern part of the Panhandle, and "South Alabama" is very applicable to the Western part.

FWIW, the beautiful white sand beaches of the Florida Panhandle are an extension of what we in in the Carolinas called the "Sand Hills." They are an ancient seacoast of sand, scrub and pine trees. They, among other uses, lend themselves to golf course construction. Thereby, you have Pinehurst and Augusta National, all part of the same strip, and horse country in Camden and Aiken SC. I believe the ancient coastal strip extends all the way to the Forida Panhandle.

[jimsumner]

Pretty remarkable when you consider Florida is more than 26x Delaware's size (in sq miles).

- Chillin

But most of that is in swamps or sink-holes.

[NYBri]

Florida is the state with the lowest high point.

Love the construct of that sentence.

[DavidBenAkiva]

FSU has historically been a difficult-ish opponent for us when we go to Tallahassee. Even when they aren't great, they sometimes nip us there. It's not an easy place to play. The lighting is bad, the crowd isn't great, it's just a bad combination. So, yeah, this one should be a step up from Wake.

Centers: We're finally starting to run out of freakish 7-footers at FSU.

I really enjoy these write-ups, CDu!

One note: We are not done with FSU 7-footers, not by a long shot. They are a permanent feature of the FSU roster. Next year, Leonard Hamilton has two more 7-footers coming in, including 7'1" Balsa Koprivica and 7'3" Naheem McLeod. The former was, at one point, a top 10 recruit in the class of 2019 that still has signs of good athleticism and fluidity of movement at that size. I'm less familiar with McLeod, although his nickname seems to be "Big Duke" and he is a Top 150 or Top 200 player.

[CDu]

I really enjoy these write-ups, CDu!

One note: We are not done with FSU 7-footers, not by a long shot. They are a permanent feature of the FSU roster. Next year, Leonard Hamilton has two more 7-footers coming in, including 7'1" Balsa Koprivica and 7'3" Naheem McLeod. The former was, at one point, a top 10 recruit in the class of 2019 that still has signs of good athleticism and fluidity of movement at that size. I'm less familiar with McLeod, although his nickname seems to be "Big Duke" and he is a Top 150 or Top 200 player.

Thanks DBA!!!

And good to know about the monster pipeline not running dry yet for Hamilton. He has made quite it a point in his career to stockpile enormous-but-usually-underskilled project bigs. Sounds like McLeod fits that model, but maybe Koprivica is more skilled than Hamilton usually gets.

[devildeac]

Fantastic column by the late, great Al Featherston on the topic. Seriously, this belongs in the hall of fame of journalism.

Link

As for this game, I’m really hoping for a big showing from Bolden. He’s been steadily improving and in the ACC we’re going to be facing quality big men every night. Also looking to see if our freshmen can stay poised when faced with adversity on the road.

That is indeed another great article by AF/OF. It's long so I'll summarize:

billy packer was indeed a huge d-bag.

[BigWayne]

FWIW, the beautiful white sand beaches of the Florida Panhandle are an extension of what we in in the Carolinas called the "Sand Hills." They are an ancient seacoast of sand, scrub and pine trees. They, among other uses, lend themselves to golf course construction. Thereby, you have Pinehurst and Augusta National, all part of the same strip, and horse country in Camden and Aiken SC. I believe the ancient coastal strip extends all the way to the Forida Panhandle.

In other words, "south of the gnat line." Good to visit in the middle of winter.

[Kedsy]

I really enjoy these write-ups, CDu!

One note: We are not done with FSU 7-footers, not by a long shot. They are a permanent feature of the FSU roster. Next year, Leonard Hamilton has two more 7-footers coming in, including 7'1" Balsa Koprivica and 7'3" Naheem McLeod. The former was, at one point, a top 10 recruit in the class of 2019 that still has signs of good athleticism and fluidity of movement at that size. I'm less familiar with McLeod, although his nickname seems to be "Big Duke" and he is a Top 150 or Top 200 player.

And McLeod goes to the same high school that I went to, though in my day the basketball team's center was around 6'3".

[budwom]

FWIW, the beautiful white sand beaches of the Florida Panhandle are an extension of what we in in the Carolinas called the "Sand Hills." They are an ancient seacoast of sand, scrub and pine trees. They, among other uses, lend themselves to golf course construction. Thereby, you have Pinehurst and Augusta National, all part of the same strip, and horse country in Camden and Aiken SC. I believe the ancient coastal strip extends all the way to the Forida Panhandle.

Panhandle/Redneck Riviera* sand is ultra white, almost like powder...quartz based I believe, quite different from the usual, coarser east coast sand.
Tried a vacation once at Gulf Shores Alabama, not bad. Different.

* term is widely used by locals, not a Yanqui insult.