2008 Florida State Basketball Predictions & Season Preview
Written October 5, 2008 by Jack Jones
It seems that Florida State has made some strides in recent years, but this year’s Seminole squad is probably going to be more in rebuilding mode. They lost some talented seniors in Jason Rich, Ralph Mims, and Isaiah Swann, who contributed 37.9 ppg to the offense a year ago. The six incoming freshman though have been highly touted, so if veterans Toney Douglas and Uche Echefu can help the youngsters learn quickly there is a chance this team could surprise us. The problem is we think they are more likely to end up near the bottom of the ACC and out of the NCAA Tournament for the seventh straight year. For every $100 bet on Florida State to win the national title you could win $10,000 at Sportsbook.com.
Echefu leads the frontcourt with his 10 ppg and 7.3 rpg. His numbers should improve this year if he can get some help around him. Last year he played nearly 30 minutes per game while having to do it all down low. Ryan Reid is another solid player down low, but he’s more of a defensive specialist who only scores on occassion. Except Leonard Hamilton had him working on his scoring this year so he could contribute on both sides of the floor. Two new recruits should also see a lot of time here, one is McDonald’s All-American Chris Singleton and the 6′11″ Xavier Gibson.
Douglas is the leader of the team and will hold down the backcourt for Florida State. He led the league a year ago in steals while ranking 8th among returning players in scoring. Other than Douglas though there will be a lot of freshes. Luke Loucks is a 6′5″ point guard who is a great passer. Pierre Jordan is a solid outside shooter. Derwin Kitchen was an All-American while playing junior college at Iowa Western. The lengthy 6′5″ Deividas Dulkys comes over from Lithuania and can shoot the ball well too.
Final Analysis
This team needs to have a steep learning curve if they want to make the NCAA Tournament. It’s been a long wait for fans, and who knows how much more failure they can handle before showing Hamilton the door. While we know Douglas is going to produce, the rest of the team is full of question marks. In making our ACC basketball predictions, we don’t see this team finishing better than 10th in the league, but if you want to bet them to win the national title then do it at Sportsbook.com, where you can get a 100% bonus on your first winning wager.
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