ChantRant

Will Jimbo tweak FSU's offense for E.J.?

Good article by B.J. Bennett on Southern Pigskin about Chris Thompson emerging as possibly "the impact player for a team getting top ten attention this pre-season." Bennett also suggests that Jimbo could be altering the playbook to suit E.J. Manuel's skills. That caught our eye, so we asked Bennett to elaborate on those possibilities. His response:

"I think you can look at the Gator Bowl and the final three quarters of the Chic-fil-A Bowl as a partial representation of what Florida State's offense might look like. Obviously those games featured simple gameplans as Manuel was a reserve as oppossed to the full-time starter, but I think the plays called put Manuel in a position to be successful and highlighted his strengths. He will obviously be trusted more in the passing game as the veteran starter now. Manuel is a faster, more athletic quarterback than Ponder and he has a stronger arm. While you saw Ponder use his legs often, his running plays were frequently improvised with him running away from pressure. Manuel can be more effective as a consistent ball-carrier. Also his arm strength will bring back the jump ball and downfield pass, I think. I expect FSU to continue to look to use their speed and athlecisim to their advantage by spreading the field and isolating their playmakers.

"Manuel is an athletic rarity. He has a strong arm and can be effective both throwing from the pocket and rolling out towards the sidelines. His long strides can also help him run away from and by defenders. I think the key in utilizing Manuel is taking full advantage of his versatility. With him, you can attack defenses a variety of different ways. I think that will give Florida State many options with their gameplans."

Seminoles hang tough for win number 20

This season Florida State was 16-0 when leading at the half. And that trend looked like it would continue as the Seminoles thoroughly dominated the Miami Hurricanes over the first twenty minutes on both ends of the court.

Then came the second twenty minutes.

Leading by twenty points at intermission, 36-16, Florida State saw its lead nearly evaporate on a barrage of circus like three pointers as the ‘Canes closed to within three, 62-59, with just under a minute to play.

But thanks to a very timely bucket by Okaro White and a defensive effort by Michael Snaer on the subsequent inbound play that forced Miami to call its final timeout, FSU held on for what Leonard Hamilton described “as close to a must win as you can get,” winning by the score of 65-59.

The Seminoles were rolling early, jumping out to a 16-2 lead on the strength of four three pointers, two each by Snaer and Deividas Dulkys forcing Miami to call timeout to regroup.

By the first TV timeout the ‘Noles were 6-8 from the floor (75%) including all four of their three point attempts. On the flip side the Seminoles defense held Miami to just 1 of 6 (17%).

What do the Jersey Shore kids and the Hurricanes' A.D. have in common?

They're both outta Miami. First, Snooki and her well-tanned crew packed up. Now, Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt jilts U.M. for Texas Tech. Apparently, some say, because the whole South Beach thing had a little too much bling for a teetotaling midwestern guy and his family.

Hocutt's departure from Coral Gables is just the latest espisode of turmoil in Miami's program. But wait, there's more. The Orlando Sentinel reports the Hurricane's new head man may be...a former gator. And the plot thickens.

College Park Curse continues for the Noles

by Bill from Tampa

Too little offense and not enough defensive stops when the Seminoles needed them resulted in Leonard Hamilton’s seventh consecutive loss at Maryland, this time falling to the Terrapins 78-62.

But more so was the lack of defense by FSU in allowing the Terps to shoot 52%, with freshman Terrell Stoglin leading five Terrapins in double figures with 17 points.

“That was not typical of how we play defense,” Leonard Hamilton said afterward.

“We lost the game on the defensive end and therein lies the demons that raised their ugly heads in this game tonight.”

The ‘Noles did a decent job in holding leading scorer Jordan Williams to 11 points with Bernard James, Terrance Shannon, and Jon Kreft managing to hold the sophomore sensation mostly in check.

But it was Stoglin, Adrian Bowie in the first half, and Dino Gregory in the second half with 12 of his 14 points in the second period, who beat FSU with off the dribble or with wide open jump shots.

That was something Hamilton made mention of in the pre-game show in that FSU could not just concentrate solely on Williams and forget about the other shooters the Terps had. Unfortunately they did, as far too many shots taken by Maryland were of the wide open variety.

Of note was the 7-14 three point shots the Terrapins made that disappointed Hamilton.

“Gary Williams said this was the best game his team had played all year,” Hamilton commented. “I feel we contributed to that … Maryland is not known as a three point shooting team.”

Case in point, Maryland was 0-1 from the arc in the entire game vs. NC State last Sunday night.

Does No Singleton Mean No Dance?

By Ryan for ChantRant

If the NCAA Tournament started today, FSU would almost be guaranteed a seed in the Big Dance. Sitting in third place of the ACC with a 19-7 record (9-3 ACC), it would be quite the snub for FSU to be left out of the field of 68. Resident Bracketologists Joe Lunardi of ESPN has FSU as a 9 seed, and Sports Illustrated’s Andy Glockner gives the Seminoles an 8 seed, which shows both feel Florida State is solidly placed right in the middle of the pack.

However, despite FSU’s success, the loss of All-American candidate Chris Singleton still hurts, and to the media, it affects seeding as well. Last weekend, the NCAA invited members of the media for a two-day mock tournament selection seminar, where various members of the media learned how the selection process is done, and make their own mock bracket.

The idea was to show how challenging it is to select the 37 At-Large bids, and the NCAA threw some wrenches in the plan, including having Virginia Tech win the ACC Tournament, thereby guaranteeing them a bid. The remainder of the regular season was not played out, so FSU stood at 18-7, yet to play a game without Singleton.

The loss of Singleton undoubtedly played a factor in the media minds, as they gave FSU one of the last four seeds (a play-in game for the Number 11 seed against Gonzaga). That is a big difference from the 8/9 seed that experts place FSU at right now.

How does FSU keep from being one of the last four selected? Winning, and winning handily. They started that over the weekend, defeating Wake Forest by 18. They have four games (two at home, two on the road), that starts Wednesday against Maryland.

The Seminoles are in a good spot right now, as they have a chance to finish out the season with 20 wins, 10 of those conference wins. They have one “bad” loss (Auburn), but other than that, they have played to the level of expectations.

4-0 and possibly 3-1 (UNC being the lone loss) would still put FSU in a solid position for a good seed. 2-2 or worse? FSU could be fighting for their bubble lives, especially without a good showing in the ACC Tournament.

The whole scenario is reminiscent of 2008-09, when St. Mary’s star Patrick Mills broke his hand during a game. The Gaels, who started 18-1 and were ranked as high as No. 22, would stumble following the loss of their best player, going 7-5 to end the regular season. Mills would come back, and while St. Mary’s did reach the West Coast Conference Finals, it was too little, too late, as they were the first team left off the bracket.

For FSU to keep from being the next St. Mary’s, they have to take the balanced attack from Wake Forest, and bring it to Maryland on Wednesday. The selection committee will be watching.

Pat Robertson's TV network tees it up for Graham Gano

If you kick field goals for a living, it doesn't hurt to have a good connection to The Big Guy above. Former FSU kicker Graham Gano, still wearing garnet and gold as a Washington Redskin, is obviously well-connected. In this recent appearance on CBN-TV, Graham talks about his how he became a kicker and his recruitment by Bobby Bowden. We're not pushing a religious message here, but it's interesting to know that even missing a crucial three-pointer doesn't shake Graham's faith.

Opponent Watch: Oklahoma boasts 29 returning players with starting experience

The Oklahoma team coming to Doak this fall is, in a word, loaded. Not to mention deep and talented. They might even be ranked no. 1 when they take the field on September 17th. Here's how OU Coach Bob Stoops described his 2011 Sooners on Ivan Maisel's latest ESPNU podcast.

“This past year we were a young football team. Most of our key players were freshmen and sophomores, at least a good number of them. So we didn’t lose very many seniors that had significant playing time a year ago. We do have a lot of depth and experience coming back that’s young. And to be honest, we don’t have very many seniors this coming year (2011)…And the way they played a year ago -- the freshman class we played last year was without question by far the best recruiting class that we have had.”

Noles pass first test of life without Singleton

The big question coming into Saturday’s game against Wake Forest was how Florida State would perform in its first game without the injured Chris Singleton.

For the first 10:24 it appeared like the answer was not very well. The Seminoles had five turnovers, were 2 of 12 from the floor, and trailed the Deacs 14-6.

That’s when Hamilton called a timeout. And whatever he said in the huddle appeared to resonate with his players. Because when all was said and done the ‘Noles easily handled the Demon Deacons 84-66.

Most likely he said something like move the ball more, attack the basket harder, and be more patient for the perimeter shot. Before that FSU was mostly settling for long jumpers, albeit wide open ones, as Hamilton noted after the game. But they still were not going down.

Once Florida State began to drive the ball more to the rim the offense was dramatically improved with the main beneficiary of that being Bernard James, who finished with a team high 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting to go along with 8 rebounds.

Even the perimeter shots began to go down once FSU focused on getting the ball to the rim.

“The first nine minutes of the game I thought we were sleep walking," Hamilton said afterwards. The other 29 minutes I thought we executed very well.”

“We had great shots inside and outside in those first nine minutes that weren’t going down. But we became more efficient once we started moving the ball. We had better angles to drive the ball.”

The remainder of the first half saw a tight back and forth game that was tied at 30 with the ‘Noles picking up the game tempo getting out more so in transition. That is, until Terrance Shannon fouled JT Terrell way outside with a three with seven tenths of a second on the game clock. Terrell made all three free throws to go up 33-30.

Best Jimbo interview we've heard this year

On Wednesday, Jimbo joined Pollack (David, former UGA All-American) and Bell (Mike, former FSU student) on 790 the Zone in Atlanta. Good stuff here as Jimbo opens up about everything from recruiting, to why the defense improved, similarities between E.J. and Christian, and the Noles' close losses in 2010. And it was nice to hear Fisher go beyond coach-speak, answering outside-the-box questions like how much weight he gained eating mama's home cooking on recruiting visits.

Ka-CHING! Jimbo hits paydirt in year two

As anticipated, FSU put the golden handcuffs on its first-year coach. On Wednesday, Jimbo got a jumbo raise, signing a five-year, $13.75 million contract. The interesting part wasn't so much the big payday, but how it locked up Fisher through 2016. Remember how Jimbo's contract as offensive coordinator guaranteed him $5 million if he didn't become head coach by 2011? Well, his new contract calls for Fisher to cough up $2 million if he scrams before 2016.