Team #99 - Florida State

On Saturday February 19th, 2022, I saw my 99th Division One College Basketball teams. On this occasion, I took a trip to visit my sister at Duke. The Blue Devils just happened to be playing home against Florida State. Florida State is the 5th team that I have seen out of the ACC. The Seminoles comes into this matchup with a 14-11 record and has been a disappointing 7-8 in conference play. The most recent game for Florida State was Tuesday February 15th against Clemson. They won this game by a score of 81-80. Before beating Clemson on Tuesday, Florida State had lost six in a row. Caleb Mills has been the leading scorer for Florida State averaging 12.7 PPG. Mills was injured in the North Carolina game and he did not play in the win over Clemson. His status is unknown for this game. Duke comes into this matchup with a 22-4 record on the year and is ranked #9 in the country. They are currently in 1st place in the ACC with a 12-3 conference record. The Blue Devils most recently played at home against Wake Forest on Tuesday February 15th, a matchup that they won by a score of 76-74. The big storyline for Duke following the game against Wake Forest is the status of Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski. Krzyzewski missed the second half of the Wake Forest game. Future NBA top 3 pick Paolo Banchero has been the leading scorer for Duke, averaging 16.9 PPG. This is the second matchup this year for Florida State and Duke. Back on January 18th, the Seminoles stunned the Blue Devils beating them by one in overtime.

Let me tell you what an experience Cameron Indoor is. The first thing that amazed me is the camping out in Kville. Students are already camping out for the North Carolina game in two weeks. I was told they have been doing so since the two weeks prior. Tents are lined up along the whole side of Cameron Indoor. I loved some of the names that people gave them. "Bates Motel", "Head over Keels" just to name a few. Before the game I even saw Stanley Borden hanging out at a tent. How cool is that.

The Cameron Crazies are something. My sister is a grad student usher for the games, so we had to show up around 4PM. I talked to some of her fellow PT students that had been in line since 11AM to get a front row spot. I have never been at a college hoops game and just beer handed to me outside like I was at a party. In all my years, of going to college hoops this was a first. I was in the front of the line for what was the band side of the graduate student section. At about 4:30PM we entered the arena, I hung out in this section for the most of warmups. My sister came and found me, asking if I wanted to go to the other side near the end of the Duke bench. I was just along for the ride so that sounded like a good idea. After a change of wristband, I made it to the other side of the court. Only to be stopped by a security guard and forced to the back of the student section. After a quick call to my sister, I was escorted to the front row of the student section. Just in time Coach K to get announced.

Alright, now let's talk about the game. The atmosphere was like a rock concern. Music blaring the whole time, you are on your feet. You can't hear the person next to you. It is truly something you have to experience. Florida State hung around in the first half quite well. Matthew Cleveland looks like an NBA prospect for sure. He was able to get to the rim easily against the Duke defense. He managed 11 first half points. I really think that is the problem with Duke and may prevent them from making a Final Four. They seem to let guards go right by them. Mark Williams is a good interior piece to have but always seems to try and block every shot. This game was back and forth for the first 17 minutes of the contest. Florida State countered every Duke punch. But then Joey Baker happened. The guy hadn't made a three pointer in almost a month but as they say shooters keep shooting. That is exactly what Baker did in this contest. He had four three pointers in the first half and was tied for the leading scorer with AJ Griffin who also had 12 in the first half. Duke would use a 12-2 run to end the half up 52-41. One of the most fast paced halves I have seen all year. Florida State despite being down three starts put in a great effort. Leonard Hamilton is certainly a great coach in my opinion.

The 2nd half was all Duke. They would just continue to grow the lead and would never lead by less than eight points. I learned very quickly if you are an opponent you do not airball a shot in Cameron. Matthew Cleveland airballed a free throw and never heard the end of it the rest of the game. Duke played a very good defensive second half. It wasn't until that Duke took a lot of their starters out that Florida State cut the lead to below 20. The night was capped off for Duke with a three pointer by Michael Savarino the grandson of Coach K. Duke would go on to win the contest by a score of 88-70. Duke had 6 in double figures with Paolo Banchero leading the charge with 17 points. Matthew Cleveland had 16 for Florida State. I had an absolute blast at this game. Post game was a treat as well. I got my picture with NY Giants QB Daniel Jones. I talked to Leonard Hamilton wishing him good luck the rest of the season, he gave me a thumbs up. I also talked to the girlfriend of Theo John, said I missed him at Marquette. Said what's up to Sheldon Williams. It was so cool to see all these people. Oh and a side note, I made it on ESPN.