Seminoles look to get lucky against the Irish in March Madness
Two teams that played well in the 2010-11 college basketball season face off as Florida Sate takes on the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in a third round Southwest Region matchup on Sunday in Chicago.
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#10 Florida State (22-10, 11-5 ACC) vs. #2 Notre Dame (27-6, 14-4 Big East)
Date/Time: Sunday, March 20, 9:40 PM EST
Venue: United Center in Chicago, IL.
Broadcast: TBS
Money Line: Florida State +190, Notre Dame -230
Spread: Notre Dame -5
Over/Under: 133
Bernard James scored 10 points, spawning a go-ahead run in the second half while Derwin Kitchen scored 15 points and Florida State won an NCAA tournament game for the first time in 13 years by knocking off seventh-seeded Texas A&M 57-50 on Friday.
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The last two seasons have seen the Seminoles lose in the first round to Gonzaga and Wisconsin by single digits. The last tournament triumph for the boys from Tallahassee came in 1998 against another team from the Lone Star state, TCU.
Florida State, which leads the nation in field-goal defense, held Texas A&M to 31.4-percent shooting.
The Seminoles were happy to have guard Chris Singleton back for the NCAA Tournament, but the junior forward struggled in his return from a broken right foot, finishing with just five points. A big drop off for the team’s leading scorer (13.8 PPG).
Meanwhile, the Irish had a rough go with a scrappy Akron Zips team and led by just four points at the half in the second round of the Southwest Regional on Friday. However, the Irish shook their first game jitters and scored the first nine of the second half en route to a 69-56 victory.
Ben Hansbrough finished with 15 points to lead the Irish while Tim Abromaitis chipped in14, Scott Martin pitched in 9 of his 11 points in the second half, and Carleton Scott tied his high with 14 rebounds.
FSU defeated top seeded Duke back on January 12, and with its recent drubbing of A&M, look like a real bracket buster in the making.
However, Mike Brey, who was named Big East coach of the year, and has guided the Irish into the tournament for the second straight time and for the fourth time in the last five years, will throw everything the Irish have at the Seminoles on Sunday.
And that’s a lot.
Offensively for the Fighting Irish, they shoot 46.6 percent as a team from the floor and 39.2 percent from three-point range. Notre Dame also finished 10th in the country in assists as a team, averaging 16.7 per contest. Their leading scorer for the season was Big East Player of the Year Hanbrough, who averaged 18.5 points per game.
If Singleton gets hot, the Seminoles may have a decent shot. But even so, we’ll lean towards the Irish to win.
The odds makers have the Notre Dame Fighting Irish as a -5 point favorite with an over/under of 134.5.
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