#13 Bonnies (20-11) vs #3 Seminoles (24-9)
The Florida State Seminoles excite with their wins even if they are not a very exciting team to watch. They took down Duke and North Carolina in the regular season and did so again in the ACC tournament to earn the conference’s automatic bid.
#3 Florida State Seminoles (24-9) vs #14 St. Bonaventure Bonnies (20-11)
Friday March 16
East Region – Nashville, TN
2:45PM
Moneyline: No money line currently listed
Spread: Florida State -6
O/U: 129.5
Florida State
In the March Madness field they are one of a few teams that can win by just harassing you on defense for 40 minutes.
Their offense can be maddening but the way these guys play D they are almost always in the game in the final minutes.
This first round matchup will be interesting to watch because it seems that the Seminoles play best when they are the underdog – which is not the case.
That is because they seem to have shot makers as opposed to scorers.
Bernard James is solid in the post and the rest of the team is comprised of some very streaky shooters. If guard Luke Louks is getting them to fall then this team really gets a lot of confidence. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
St. Bonaventure
The Bonnies might be the least likely team to make the Tournament. They had their best regular season in a long time and followed up with an even better Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament taking the title and automatic bid.
Drawing Florida State was no prize but they just might have the best player on the floor from either side.
That player is senior forward Andrew Nicholson (from Canada).
Maybe no other player is hotter right now as Nicholson hasn’t scored less than 19 points in any of the Bonnies last 12 games including 6 double-doubles. He will likely draw Bernard James on the other end which will make it very difficult to put up another big game.
Guard Demetrius Conger is a nice player but he won’t like being guarded by Michael Snaer either. They don’t really have anywhere else to turn.
Spread Pick: Florida State -6
O/U Pick: Under
Score Prediction: Florida State 63 – St. Bonaventure 54